Farsity

Controversy marred Varsity 2013, as organisational failures proved detrimental to the success of the tournament.

The problems were so great that this year’s champions are still undecided. York Sport President Charlotte Winter praised the performances of York’s sportsmen and women, but was critical of Hull’s management of Varsity 2013.

York may have returned from Hull on Sunday with the Varsity trophy, since they held a slender 43.5 – 42.5 lead, but their triumphs have been overshadowed, because the fate of the tournament remains unknown.

All fixtures were supposed to be completed on or before Sunday, however the clay pigeon shooting, worth 12 points and initially planned to be held last Wednesday, was eventually rescheduled for tomorrow, three days after the completion of the tournament. The result of this will now decide this year’s tournament.

York only found this out late on Sunday afternoon. Thus participants from both teams had no clue as to who were the victors of Varsity 2013, even at the awards ceremony.

Commenting upon the pressure that had been placed upon York’s shooters, the club’s President, Charlotte Williams, said: “We’re a small sports club with around 25 regular shooters, we aren’t a very competitive club, more about being able to introduce people to the sport. Varsity will be the first competition for three out of the nine people in the team.

“Most of our team is made up of people who before university had never held a gun, whilst there are a few very experienced competitors, we are a novice team and therefore our event being the decider has put pressure on us.

“Shooting at their home ground might provide Hull a slight advantage as they will know their targets more, they will be strong competitors as they came 5th in BUCS last year – not a team to be underestimated. We will try our best, and nobody can ask more of us.”Questions have been raised regarding the whole organisation of the tournament, with the final timetable only being sent to York on Friday night.

An infuriated Winter told Vision: “I think following this weekend we need to really look at Varsity as an event. The organisation was really poor – receiving the timetable on Friday when the event is on Sunday is ridiculous.”

Winter also pointed to the confusion regarding points allocations which constantly blighted the progress of the tournament, as teams were unaware of which university was winning overall, and the requirements for victory

Complaints were also raised regarding the final allocation of points, which saw events such as clay pigeon shooting and mountaineering be worth more points overall than some of the higher profile sports.

The problems were further emphasised by Hull’s failure to book the Beverley Road Baths for last Wednesday, which resulted in the proposed swimming events being cancelled before the proceedings were supposed to take place. Toby Wong, York’s scholarship swimmer, told Vision: “I’m disappointed the event was cancelled as it was much anticipated, and we were hoping this race would prepare us for the BUCS competition the following weekend, which is one of the most important events all year.

“In addition we haven’t competed against Hull for about two or three years, as every year they seem to have pulled out last minute, so we were hoping to swim and compete with them.”

The absence of a contingent of stewards or officials to greet the influx of York students on Sunday morning set the tone for the day, as in the opinion of many, Hull failed to reach the standards that would be expected of the hosts.

York darts player Dylan Chambers remarked: “The thing that probably annoyed me the most was the complete lack of any information regarding where any sport was. We finished at three and I had absolutely no idea where anything else was.”

Possibly the most comical problems were seen at women’s football. The fixture was moved from the 3G to a grass pitch ten minutes from kick-off, hampering York’s players who had inappropriate footwear for the slippery turf. In addition, the match was also curtailed eight minutes early, with the referee, provided by Hull, having to leave to attend a christening. On this matter Winter commented: “The referee answering his phone and then leaving early from the women’s football game pretty much summed up the day.”

The half-time interval was also shortened, and onlookers noted that the referee seemed uninterested throughout the contest. York’s President Megan Phillips told Vision: “It was shocking that the organisation of the fixture was so poor, and the ref was clearly a let down on Hull’s part too.” UYWAFC later posted on Twitter: “Questioning if our game even counts after such poor ref-ing and cutting the game short by 10 mins… Still we won the cup match #varsity13.”

York’s darts players also had similar complaints about the unsuitability of their venue, Stacks, a pub which is situated off campus. On the matter, York captain Nick Hall commented: “The darts at Varsity yesterday was, whilst a good contest, plagued by a couple of unfortunate circumstances. Firstly the venue was a fair bit off campus which meant that any York sports person who wanted to support the event before or after their game could not. The justification for this was that the boards in their students union were not very good; whilst this is the case, the boards in the venue we played at were worse.

“It costs at most £25 for a new dartboard, like we provide for university games. As well as this there were a number of other unfortunate issues that affected the game. However Hull darts did themselves proud with their second ever University win and deserve to be congratulated.”

The tennis and squash events were also played at venues located off campus, making it challenging for students to lend support to their university, therefore hampering the atmosphere of those encounters. A tweet from The Hullfire, Hull’s student newspaper, referenced that only six people were in attendance at the tennis match, which was hosted at the David Lloyd in Hull.

Players and spectators alike also criticised the quality of some of the venues, with the standard of the football pitches and netball courts being questioned. With this being the first time Hull had hosted the tournament, the complaints cast doubts as to whether they would be fit to host another Varsity tournament in the future.

The problems extended further beyond the venues, as Hull’s participants were also culpable for damaging the reputation of the event. Hull’s men’s lacrosse side had already been beaten twice by York this season in BUCS, and they entered Sunday’s contest with the added encumbrance of being drunk. Their inebriation did little to aid their performance as they crashed to a resounding defeat.

York’s lacrosse captain William Chun told Vision: “We consider Hull to be one of our main rivals. Every game we play against them is usually to a very high standard and intensity.

“However, when we started we realised half of their team were drunk and drinking from the sidelines. As the game progressed this turned into Hull becoming overly malicious to a point it was too dangerous to play.

“By the last quarter most of my first team players refused to play in case they got injured. I feel like Hull players turning up drunk ruined what could of been a very high standard and enjoyable game”.

Hull’s lacrosse President has since issued an apology for the actions of the club.

Paul Harsent, Vice President for Sport at Hull University Student Union, declined to comment upon the criticisms of the organisation of Varsity 2013, but acknowledged that the actions of Hull’s lacrosse players will be investigated into as a result of Sunday’s events.