Glasgow WUDC 1981

The first Worlds was hosted in Scotland in January, 1981 by the Glasgow Union and organized by Clark McGinn. 43 teams competed from 7 nations. Registration was £10 but teams from outside the British Isles paid no registration as they were at a financial disadvantage for travelling so far. In exchange for this fee there was a promise of "a bed for every competitor". There were four days of debating with a day off in the middle to visit Edinburgh, and then the finals. Steve Coughlan and Andrew Taylor took home the first place honors for the University of Toronto, defeating John Rankin and Marcel Mongeon of McGill. Andrew Taylor also took home the best speaker award. It was a strong year for Canada; three of the top four teams were Canadian. Not many English schools attended; they thought Glasgow was too far from home.

It was Scotland. It was winter. It was raining. The Canadians couldn’t believe how warm it was. The Americans couldn’t believe how cold it was. While reports from the championship are rare the history of APDA reports "the creation and infrastructure of that tournament took on soap-operatic dimensions". One indirect result of the championships was the foundation of APDA itself. As 4 US debaters (Princeton's David Martland & Richard Sommer and Amherst's David Bailin & J. J. Gertler) toured Scotland after the championships plans for APDA were drawn up in the back of a Ford Cortina.


Info from Kenny Harris (Finalist)

The Queen Margaret Union "B" team who reached the finals in in the very first championships consisted of Kenny Harris (me) and Kenny Dyer. We came joint third, and I won third placed speaker of the tournament. The launch of the tournament was pretty much the idea of the then Convenor of Debates at Glasgow University Union, Clark McGinn - but as host Union they did not take part.

This History of the World Debating Championships comes in 3 parts. From 1976 to 1990 it is taken almost word for word from the 1991 Toronto WUDC Tournament booklet. Who wrote it isn't known but it was provided by Randal Horobik. At the start of the section on Worlds in 1981 is an extract from an e-mail by Clark McGinn, Convenor of Debates, GU Union 1980 -81 and 1981 and Convenor of the First World Debating Competition, 1981. The history since 1991 has been compiled initially by Colm Flynn and edited by many contributors to Wikipedia. Unfortunately Wikipedia deleted the history due to copyright concerns so we are back here. Hopefully anyone who contributed to the Wiki article before it was deleted will be happy to see their work preserved here.

E-mail from the founder of Worlds

Here is an e-mail from the original convenor and in effect the founder of the World Universities Debating Championships

Background



On TAUSA and Honeywell - these were ad hoc competitions - from memory, TAUSA had no Australian/NZ (or Irish??) teams involved while Honeywell had no Irish, NZ or Canadian. Both were invitation competitions whereas the First Worlds set out to be (a) more open and (b) cover all of the world (or at least, initially, both North Americans, both ANZ and all four British Isles and the Caribbean).There are more details in the Minute Books of the GUU debates committee.


Ironically, my first idea for Worlds had been a TAUSA-like competition with the top 3 teams from each region who would have arisen out of local competitions and then 'Mace-like' be flown-to the Union to have the final rounds - but in 1981 in a UK recession, there was no sponsorship at all - so I made the competition into an open tournament. Thankfully!


With regards.
Clark McGinn
Convenor of Debates, GU Union 1980 -81 and 1981,
Convenor, First World Debating Competition, 1981,
Observer Mace, 1982,
E-SU Tour, 1981.

Advance info on Glasgow WUDC 1981

Here is a copy of a letter giving details of the first World Debating Championships held in Glasgow in 1981.

Glasgow WUDC 1981 Tab

Here is the tab from the original World Debating Championships held in Glasgow in 1981.  It was provided by the convenor Clark McGinn

World Debating Competition
Tournament Rankings and Rosters


Champions:

Toronto (Steve Coughlin Andrew Taylor)

Finalists:
McGill Law School (Marcel Mangeon John Rankin)
Ottawa
Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow 'B'

"Semi-Finalists":
Edinburgh
Amherst
UCL
Princeton
Dalhousie
York (Canada)
Trinity College Dublin (Phil)
Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow 'A'

Convener Clark McGinn

Clerk to the Tournament Douglas Carson

Final Judges
Gerard T. Somers LLB
Prof. Nigel Grant
Alistair Burrow LLB
Charles P. Kennedy

Individual Competition Final Judges Prof. R.G. Tanner Sheriff John Bayne

Team Preliminary I to IV Semi Final I and II Final Team Members marks marks places
Toronto 76 60 1 Steve Coughlin Andrew Taylor
McGill Law School 71 71 2 Marcel Mangeon John Rankin
Ottawa 72 68 3=
Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow 'B' 69 72 3=
Edinburgh 66 65
Amherst 69 62
UCL 68 61
Princeton 67 61
Dalhousie 67 61
York (Canada) 67 60
Trinity College Dublin (Phil) 71 59
Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow 'A' 67 57
Dartmouth 67
Oxford Union B 67
Western Ontario 65
Air New Zealand/Victoria (NZ) 65
Royal Institution (Canada) 65
Auckland 65
Swarthmore 65
Alberta 64
Concordia (Canada) 63
Vassar 62
Sydney 62
McGill 62
Queen's (Canada) 61
Colgate 61
St Mary's 61
Chicago 60
Dundee 60
Trinity College Dublin (Hist) 58
St. Andrews 58
Fordham 58
Iona 58
Royal Military College (Canada) 56
Cornell B 56
Trinity Ontario 56
California 55
St Lawrence /Oberlin 55
Brown 55
Oxford A 54
Rhode Island 54
Newcastle-upon-Tyne 51
Cornell A 46


Individual Competition
Andrew Taylor (Toronto) 1st
Gerard Winter (Air NZ/Victoria) 2nd

Letters about Glasgow WUDC 1981

Here are some letters from the about the first World Debating Championships held in Glasgow in 1981

Glasgow WUDC 1981 Format

(extract from letter sent by Clark McGinn to participating teams)


1. Everyone will speak in the preliminary rounds numbers 1-4 on the days mentioned above. Debates will be in the form of two teams proposing the motion and two teams opposing with each speaker having seven minutes to speak in (with points of information allowed). The motions for the preliminary rounds will have 1 philosophical/abstract, 1 humerous, 1 exempore and 1 political/pragmatic. This is to try and give representation of the four major styles of debating used throughout the world. Notice of the philsophical and pragmatic rounds (PI) and the political motion (PIV) will be given in this letter but details of PII and PIII will be given on arrival as well as details of the semi-final motions. The motion for the final is also enclosed in this letter.

With each team speaking in four preliminary rounds this means that each team will speak in each of opening and closing proposition and opening and closing opposition. The teams will also be divided into pools of 16 so that every team will speak before every judge judging that pool. By these methods it is hoped that any advantage obtained in the draw with respect to position or judges will be removed. From the preliminary rounds a toatl of 12 teams will go through to the semi-finals and thereafter 4 to the final on the thurdsay night. which will be televised and shown on British network.

Clark McGinn

Convenor of Debates

Galsgow WUDC 1981 Timetable

Timetable:


Monday 19th January
12pm Lunch in the Union. Teams may register between 10am and 4 pm
1pm Informal Beer Bar debate
4pm-6pm First preliminary round followed by tea.
7:30pm- Onwards. Various entertainments and functions designed to titilate and amuse

Tuesday 20th January
Up till 9am - Breakfast
10am - 12pm Second preliminary round
12pm - 1pm Lunch
1pm-3pm Third preliminary round
3pm - 4pm Afternoon Tea
4pm - 6 pm Fourth Preliminary Round
6pm-7pm Dinner
7:30pm onwards Traditional Scottish Ceilidh Night.

Wednesday 21st
Up till 9am - Breakfast
Free morning
1pm-3pm First Semi Final
3pm-4pm Afternoon Tea
4pm-6pm Second Semi-final
7:30 onwards Union Burn's supper with all the traditional trimmings (including a lot of Scotch Whisky)

Thursday 22nd
Free Morning
12pm-1pm Lunch
1pm-3pm Individual speakers Competition
3pm-4pm Afternoon tea
6:30pm-7:30 Dinner
7:30pm onwards Grand Final followed by Buffet and post debates party

Friday 23rd
Morning: Closing Seminar