Wednesday 8th April 2026
Blog Page 1395

Tignes announced as destination for Varsity Ski Trip 2014

Cherwell
-
0
Tignes announced as destination for Varsity Ski Trip 2014

In an excellent geese-ridden launch video, the Varsity Ski Trip committee has announced that the 2014 trip will be hosted by Tignes ski resort for the second year in a row.

Sam Burnell, president of the committee, comments: “Although lots of people (myself included) like to mix it up resort-wise from year to year, we felt that Tignes still had a hell of a lot to offer. It was so successful despite having been relatively uncharted territory in 2013.”

Part of this year’s decision is owed to this resort’s high ‘snow reliability’, which the Telegraph Ski Resort Guide describes as ‘difficult to beat… the resort height of 2100m generally means good snow-cover right back to base for most of the long winter season.’ Anywhere else, points out Burnell, the snow-cover may have been too much of a “gamble”.

Previous experience in Tignes has also allowed the committee to identify areas for improvement, suggesting a slicker trip this year. Accommodation in Tignes Le Lac will be used alongside that in last year’s Tignes Val Claret, providing ample opportunity for highly-sought after accommodation upgrades. The addition of Le Lac, promises the committee, will also serve to lift the quality of all rooms as they are chosen from a wider selection of accommodation options.

“Rest assured that the change will not restrict anyone’s involvement in events and activities,” says Burnell. There will be plenty of easily accessible shuttles between the two areas for the duration of the trip. Having people already based in Le Lac will significantly improve the logistics of getting people to and from the Opening and Final night parties.

Other eagerly-awaited entertainment highlights include a fresh take on the long-standing comedy night. The hugely successful funiculaire and pool parties will also be enjoying a celebrated return, but with a sizeable increase in ticket availability in anticipation of last year’s immediate sell-out. The committee is currently grappling with the idea of hosting pool parties on two separate nights in order to accommodate as many guests as possible.

The base price for the 2014 trip is £333, including only a £4 increase on last year’s price. Burnell explains that this comparatively small rise represents a significant and very useful increase in the trip’s overall budget. Should the trip’s proposed improvements prove forthcoming, this may seem well worth it. 

Failed Novelists: the epitome of unselfconscious cool

Isaac Goodwin
-
0
Failed Novelists: the epitome of unselfconscious cool

You’ve probably, at some point in your Oxford life, heard of the Failed Novelists Society, whether it’s through the occasional review in one of the student papers, or finding yourself signed up to their Freshers’ Fair mailing list. If you haven’t come across them before, they are an open creative writing group in Oxford. Welcoming anyone from undergraduates to tutors to townies, every Sunday at 2 o’clock, the group gather in Teddy Hall welfare room and show their work. Pieces are read and discussed, and feedback is offered.

We met with Dòmhnall Iain Dòmhnallach, their President, to find out more about a group of people who, it emerges, are completely unselfconscious and just love writing. Dòmhnall puts three small books on the table, admitting that they look hilariously self-published, but that’s just how it has to be. It’s hard to disagree, but it’s part of the charm. Two of the books are anthologies. “Every year we do an anthology, which is partly a celebration of, I’d like to say, the best writing in Oxford. We have prose, poetry, sometimes drama, everything. I think it’s the only Oxford-only creative writing anthology that takes everything.” It allows people to celebrate their work and to “see it in print in a way that you can have a party and celebrate it with your friends, because sometimes you submit to a magazine, you get the magazine in your pidge, and then that’s it”.

The group has just published a new work, The Failed Novel, a book which was produced collaboratively. We wonder about the drive behind this. “We are, of course, failed novelists, and degrees and things get in the way of writing your own full novel, so you can always say you’ve written a novel if you’ve written it with other people.”

It’s been done before by the group, in various, hilarious, ways. Once they did a ‘choose your own adventure’ type story, the “turn to page 63 as the monster attacks you” kind of thing. “I’m told,” says Dòmhnall, “that someone nearly failed their degree trying to edit that one!” Another time, they tried handing chapters on, so you would read the previous one and then write the next yourself.

How does the newest collaborative effort work? “This year we realized that the problem with writing a collaborative novel in term time is people have so much else on, so we tried to make the easiest, well, most encouraging, way of making a novel. We’ve done a sort of Arthurian quest narrative like the Holy Grail. It’s completely ridiculous, but great fun. The idea is that every character can hear a noise, but they don’t know the source of the noise, so the quest is to find the source, and you get a wonderful array of variations on that.” It does sound a lot of fun, but there is still the lingering question of how they managed to keep it a unified work. Dòmhnall explains, “The idea is that characters from some chapters will reappear in others – the books has involved a lot of talking to each other, trying to get things together. It’s not really much of a novel, in that there isn’t much of a central plot driving it – it’s the central theme and characters that unify it. The big gimmick is there’s one character who appears in every chapter who’s on his own quest in search of a yoghurt where you take the lid off and there’s no clod on the bottom of it – completely ridiculous!

This is primarily just a bit of fun!” This is what really comes across about the group: it’s a place where anyone can come, share their writing, not take themselves too seriously, and just do it for fun. “We’re quite evangelical about trying not to make it cool.” A lot of these things tend to be self-consciously hip – the Failed Novelists successfully avoid this, and in doing so actually sound incredibly cool and unselfconscious. Sometimes they have ‘juvenilia nights’ – sessions reading out their angsty teenage poetry, or awful childhood epics. Sometimes they get experimental – once a guy took Kubla Khan and entered it into Google Translate, putting it through every language until it finally came back to English. “It’s really strange – you do get this weird echo of Kubla Khan, you can tell it’s that, but it also sounds incredibly weird.”

And yet, this environment is also a great place to get real feedback on work. “Some creative writing groups in Oxford – not naming names – ask you to submit applications and things, which I just feel is almost a defence mechanism. The good thing about letting anybody turn up is complete strangers can criticize you and there’s none of that pressure which comes with being a cliquey tight-knit group of people sitting in an independent bookshop.”

The Failed Novelists sounds like a wonderfully relaxed, open place to share work and receive comments. In all, a really great idea – we’re definitely going along to the next meeting.

Shark Tales – Series 3 – Episode 5

Tess Colley
-
0
Shark Tales – Series 3 – Episode 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS06-P4G-WA

 

 

Houmous Girl: 8th week Trinity

An Oxford Observer
-
0
Houmous Girl: 8th week Trinity

Rower Lad sat alone in his room.

There was a knock at the door. Hastily, he pulled on a pair of joggers, primarily to prevent his sturdy knees from knocking together at 20,000 hertz. “Coming!” he called in the confident, booming tones of a 4-year-old schoolgirl.

As he shuffled to the door, visions flashed through his head of his previous encounters with Houmous Girl. Glimpsed from afar in the library, elaborately miming a botched vasectomy to illustrate a point about female reproductive rights to Obnoxiously Opinionated Guy. Haloed with light in the freezer section at Tesco, tucking her hair behind her ear. Turning away in sorrow from their abortive date. With a last ember of hope burning in his heart he reached out and opened the door.

“Rugby Lad.” He said. “What a pleasant surprise.” His tone dripped with sarcasm, but Rugby Lad was still mastering the finer nuances of joined-up-writing, and in no position to notice.

“You left your phone at mine last night,” said Rugby Lad, proffering a greasy Samsung to his lovelorn friend. Rower Lad took the phone with a grunt of thanks and shut the door on the date-wrecking prop forward. As he trudged back to the solace of his bed he glanced through his notifications, deleting shrill parental texts and wondering if anyone would ever favourite any of his tweets. With a broad thumb he flicked open a Tinder notification he had no interest in pursuing- and stopped.

The message was from a girl he had matched with in the hazy bygone aeons of fresher’s week. At the time, high on the lethal fumes of a UV paint party, he had given his 8th match of the week no more thought. But as he looked, he recognised those actually from-Primark vintage shorts, that seemingly-from-paradise smile, that look-how-wacky-I-am-as-well-as-basically-just-being-quite-hot fourth photo where the girl in question was pretending to dive into a bumper-size tub of…Houmous.

So how about that drink?

Rower Lad grinned as he typed out a joyous response, and his heart swiped right and right and right again.

Interview: Lucy Watson

Erin Goldfinch
-
0
Interview: Lucy Watson

After only joining E4’s popular structured reality show Made in Chelsea in the fourth season of the show, Lucy Watson quickly became a firm fan favourite thanks to her withering put-downs.

She tells me it was intially a love of drama that drove her to sign up. “I studied acting when I was younger and I actually got into drama school in London. I decided to quit soon into the course, as it was very theoretical and I wanted to perform. When I was approached about Made in Chelsea, I thought about the pros and the cons, and for me at that time, there were more pros.”

After four seasons of the show, has being in a structured reality show lived up to her expectations? “I’m not really sure what I expected. It’s become a real family – we spend so much time with the crew and the team off camera, that is just feels really natural now. I was never nervous or worried, but obviously at the beginning it’s strange seeing yourself on television.”

Lucy’s time on the show has had no shortage of emotional drama. Having fi nally succumbed to the charms of fellow cast-member Jamie Laing and riding off into the sunset with him at the end of season six, viewers were stunned to discover at the beginning of this season that Laing had cheated on her only days afterwards.

Lucy recognises, however, that going through such emotional experiences in front of the cameras is par for the course on a reality TV show, “I knew that if I was going to do the show, I had to do it with integrity. I couldn’t predict what was going to happen, but my reactions to things are real. It’s hard to watch something back that’s emotional or difficult, but it’s the nature of the beast.”

What in particular has she learned about love and dating from her time on the show? “To not trust anyone? Haha. No, I think there are some valuable lessons, and that’s why the show is so popular, because it’s relatable.

“It’s really hard to walk away from someone in a relationship if they have cheated or behaved badly, because you can’t just turn off your feelings. But you have to set a standard and stick to that. If you make exceptions, you compromise your integrity. You have to know that you can do better.”

Watson pulls no punches on camera and few cast-members have been spared her no-nonsense attitude, particularly some of the more bitchy residents of Kensington and Chelsea. However, she wasn’t always so comfortable with speaking her mind.

“I was bullied when I was younger and at some point I decided to take responsibility for the way I was being made to feel. I have high standards morally and I judge other people on those. I don’t think in any given situation there is any choice other than right and wrong.

“I like to stay on the side of right, and I’ll make sure that my opinions are heard if I feel strongly about something.”

This season has also seen the shocking revelations that Alex Mytton had cheated on girlfriend and fellow cast-member Binky Felstead. Speaking from her own experience, Lucy firmly believes that cheaters don’t deserve second chances. “The relationship will never be the same and the person who cheats will fundamentally never change as they have got away with it.”

That was certainly Lucy’s approach to ex-boyfriend and resident MIC lothario Spencer Matthews, whom she ditched after discovery his infi delity. She admits that it is quite strange to work with both her exes, Spencer and Jamie.

“I would never have spoken to Spencer again had we not been on the show. It does force you to be in situations that aren’t always completely comfortable because we are both inevitably going to film together at some point.

“That being said, Spencer and I have managed to have an amicable relationship now, so I suppose it was a good thing that we had the time together on the show.”

In 2012 Matthews also appeared on The Bachelor, another reality TV show in which he had his pick of beautiful women vying for his affection. Lucy is suitably diplomatic regarding his decision to take part. “I think he was clever to take advantage of a commercial opportunity, although I’m not sure that he was necessarily realistic about fi nding ‘the one’ on a television show like that.”

Matthews is just one of the MIC cast-members to appear on another reality show, with Hugo Taylor also appearing on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!, and it’s not a career move Watson would rule out. “I have been able to achieve so many wonderful things, and meet some amazing people, so I’d never say never.”

The pressures of parading one’s private life in front of the cameras can make real-life romance diffi cult and Lucy is not certain whether, if she were to date someone not in the cast, she would want them to appear on the show. “I’m not sure. Ultimately, if I dated someone they would be a part of my life. The show is supposed to follow my life, so for authenticity I think it would be important to cover any relationship. Although, perhaps not in the early stages. There seems to be a disappointing pattern of couples on the show!”

Creaming Spires: 8th week Trinity

Ophelia Balls
-
0
Creaming Spires: 8th week Trinity

As the promise of the summer beyond Trinity beckons, to far-fl ung cities or to a City internship, the golden evenings hold more promise than ever. Exams are finished and for a few blissful weeks, Arzoo’s is fully booked almost every night.

There’s only really one ingredient for a great crewdate – an ability to embarrass, and at this tail end of the year, enough data has been gathered to ensure that no one goes unsconced for long.

There’s normally one on every crewdate. The team’s skipper. He knows the true art of throwing a penny, issues shoes with authority and aplomb, and has a lifetime ban from At Thai. He’s loud, he’s brash, he’s probably sexist, but for tonight, he’s bloody good fun. 

Now that he’s caught (dominated?) your attention, how do you end up going home with him? You can always stay quiet, but he may deem you boring and lose all interest. And I just don’t have fun trying to please some guy all night.

Or you can get caught in an overzealous sconce war with him, using embarrassment as a seduction technique. This is my preferred method. You’ll either emasculate him or he will pronounce you his ‘dream woman’ and propose on the spot. (This once happened twice on one crewdate. Big Bang has a lot to answer for…)

Slip away somewhere between the bar and Parkend, because I despise a) queuing and b) the entry fee. Go and ‘explore’ his college instead. I’ve ended up naked in lakes, run amok amongst deer, sighed on bridges, rolled across mounds…the list goes on. The sex is often outdoors, somewhere strange (be safe, kids!), but if there’s an itch that just needs to be scratched…

The worst part is normally the walk home the next morning, as articles of your clothing are often marooned deep inside fl owerbeds and strewn over paths – no one wants to be the girl who has to get dressed between the bedroom and the gate by picking up abandoned tights as you go. And somehow everything seems worse when you still have army stripes faded into your face.

Memories of 1966: How should we treat the legends?

Joel Nelson
-
0
Memories of 1966: How should we treat the legends?

The memory of 1966 is flagged up every time the World Cup approaches. Images of Bobby Moore in Wembley Stadium are dredged up, the story of Geoff Hurst’s hat trick is mentioned and it is often said that that team was the finest England has ever fielded. This is undoubtedly true but it is interesting and enlightening to learn what happened to these footballers who were supposedly deified by their country.

[mm-hide-text]%%IMG_ORIGINAL%%9972%%[/mm-hide-text] 

It is not a story one would expect. It is a well known complaint of those who lived through the golden age of football that the players in that era received such little pay. The sums received were paltry, just a little more than one would expect to receive from fairly menial labour. As a prize for winning the world cup each player received a £1000 bonus, which, after taxes, was reduced to £600. After playing their last games in the 1970s, the 1966 England team could not expect to retire comfortably. They had to continue working. Many became managers, experiencing some notable success.

While none of them complained about this, it was to be expected, there is a certain pathos in the fact that so many of the former World Cup winners were forced to sell their unique collections of sporting memorabilia. Nobby Stiles announced in 2010 that his World Cup shirt, medals and other items of memorabilia accrued over a highly successful sporting career were to be auctioned so that the former footballer could ‘leave something’ to his three sons. He still lives near the Old Trafford Stadium and accrued almost £300,000 from the sale of these items. Alan Ball had to do the same. His World Cup medal and tournament cap were auctioned to raise money for his family. Since their retirement from football these players have largely been ignored and neglected by a country, which professes to love them. Only two players received a knighthood: Geoff Hurst and Bobby Charlton. They received their KBEs almost thirty years after the final. By contrast Bradley Wiggins was granted one almost immediately in the aftermath of his successes in the 2012 Olympics.

Bobby Moore died with an OBE, the same accolade granted to Gary Barlow, and the other players, were granted MBEs in the late 1990s. The honours that are flung at current sporting successes are notably lacking for these figures. Certainly none of them have vanished entirely from the public eye. Most of the surviving players can be met at Sporting Conventions where they sign memorabilia for devoted fans. However their birthdays pass by without note, their achievements remain criminally unrecognised and it is only as another World Cup draws close that rightful attention is momentarily directed towards them.

It is a curious fact that Pele is probably more famous in England than the names of Roger Hunt, Jack Charlton, Nobby Stiles, Alan Ball, George Cohen, Martin Peters or Gordon Banks. It is therefore strange that the sun washed image of a triumphant Bobby Moore on his teammates’ shoulders is so reproduced in the run up to the World Cup. When commentators recall the ‘spirit’ of 1966 they neglect the fantastic talents, which made victory on such a spectacular scale possible.

The 1966 World Cup final has been so idealised that it seems to have lost it’s meaning and, along with that, the lessons it could teach today’s footballers. They deserve a great deal more from their country than they have received. No more of them should have to sell their medals and it should be recognised that an almost forty year wait for an MBE is an insult. They are England’s greatest players, humble yet supremely talented, and if we take as much pride in the 1966 victory as we profess to then we should offer them a great deal more appreciation than they have received since their retirement. Gary Lineker, I would say, deserves to be forgotten. These men do not. Either the players who earned England its sole, lonely star should be properly recognised, appreciated and congratulated or pundits should stop mentioning them.

Sporting Rock Stars: Maria Sharapova

Jamie Farmer
-
0
Sporting Rock Stars: Maria Sharapova

Sharapova is like a tea bag. Put her into hot water and you’ll find out how strong she is.” Judy Murray has never been famed for her similes, but to take hers to its logical conclusion, we can say with some assurance that Maria Sharapova is one strong cup of tea. It seemed apt considering she has just won the 2014 Ladies Singles French Open Title to look back on the career of this tennis goddess.

Maria described her latest victory as the “hardest” she had faced in her 13 year career. Having dispatched Simona Halep of Romania (6-4, 6-7, 6-4) she now looks on to gain her second Wimbledon title.

She was the youngest ever girl to reach the final of the Australian Open Junior tennis championships at 14, and then she burst onto the tennis scene at the tender age of 14 playing in a WTA tournament at the Pacific Life Open in 2002.

Success followed swiftly. She won her first Wimbledon title at just 17, beating Serena Williams in the 2004 final as 13th seed, being the third youngest person to win the title. That same year she won the WTA Tour Championships.

Sharapova’s start to her career was all the more impressive considering the number of strong competitors she had to encounter in the woman’s game; names like the Williams sisters, Justine Henin, Lindsay Davenport, Kim Clijsters, and Amélie Mauresmo. She by no means dominated. When she initially broke to the number 1 spot in the world it was swiftly taken back by Lindsay Davenport after just one week in October 2005.

Despite the early success, rather than im- prove with age and experience, Sharapova seemed to be on the decline. Suffering from a reoccurring shoulder problem, she failed to hold onto the number one spot for a significant amount of time, succumbing to several high profile defeats, most notably in the Wimbledon tournament of 2008, having already relinquished top ranking in the world after the French Open of that year, where she lost to no154 Alla Kurdryavtseva in the 2nd round of the tournament.

Her rotator cuff tear severely damaged her career. In 2009 she was forced to take time out to recover from surgery, and dropped out of the top 100. Since then her serve has no longer had the power it once did, and as a result she has committed a significantly higher number of double faults.

Despite this, true to form, and like the proverbially strong cup of tea that she is, Sharapova returned with aplomb in 2011. She regained her spot in the top ten with a number of important victories on the tour, and came second in both the Wimble- don and Australian Open Championships. Within a year she held both the French and Australian opens. She has now won a career grand slam, and can also include an Olympic silver medal from London 2012 on her CV. Her playing style has been the subject of much praise too. Her highly individual style includes the unconventional use of the re- verse backhand, and the Sharapova “grunt” which apparently reached 101 decibels at the 2005 Wimbledon.

With over 30 tour titles, five grand slams, and innumerable modelling contracts, she’s not just a sporting star, but a style icon too.

2013-2014: The year of watery victories

Samuele Volpe
-
0
2013-2014: The year of watery victories

It has been a positive season for those representing Oxford across the sporting spectrum. Although there has been the odd spot of despair, much inclement weather, and a few occasions of the two combined, sport in the city of dreaming spires has flourished. Varsity successes have been plentiful – Cambridge’s Vice-Chancellor even admitted that we were better sportspeople than them – and there have even been a couple of national victories to celebrate too.

To begin with a heartwarming tale from early in the year, November saw University College’s ‘ergathon’ which sought to raise money for the late Olympic medallist Acer Nethercott, who after coxing for the University had gone on to represent Great Britain and win a silver medal, only to sadly pass away over due to a brain tumour during the Summer.

Elsewhere in the University’s sporting bub- ble there were several bruising encounters for the rugby union boys, who were unlucky to lose against both then-Premiership side Worcester Warriors, and the Russian national side. These defeats came after a testing schedule which had included several pre-season ties against top Basque sides. Meanwhile, the women’s Blues made a strong start to the year on the field, and were also part of a fundraising drive off it; a campaign to raise money to floodlight their training pitch involved engaging the men in a series of challenges, and then a naked calendar in aid of the Mind Your Head campaign was a massive success, going viral in the process. The side would then go on to win the varsity game convincingly, a credit to the University in more ways than one.

The Oxford judo club took home an impres- sive silver medal from the BUCS national cham- pionships, and the hockey club’s ‘Infrequents’ put a stunning 20 goals past Worcester in an entertaining – if one-sided – league match. Later in the year, the hockey men would win the BUCS Premier South title in stunning style too. The Varsity Ski Trip went ahead as usual at the beginning of the vacation, although this year’s was notable for a coach crash which left some hungover Oxbridge skiers briefly stranded.

The big engagement over the Christmas vacation was, however, the annual varsity rugby match at Twickenham. A tense opening gave way to Oxford dominance as Matt Janney – the man who was about to become famous as Emma Watson’s boyfriend – along with the indomitable John Carter put the Tabs to the sword. Drama was to ensue though, as last year’s hero Samson Egerton saw himself red- carded – becoming the first player to be sent off in the fixtures long history. This bump in the road barely threatened to derail a dark blue victory though; the Oxford side won in style.

Hilary began with the University’s female footballers putting the noisy neighbours from Headington in their place – with Oxford Brookes ending the match between the two sides on the wrong end of a six-nil thrashing after brilliant performances from the likes of captain Anna Green.

Unfortunately though, the award for Hilary’s outstanding sportsperson has to be given to the weather for the second year running. After the ‘#CherwellGreatStorm’ had threatened to derail Michaelmas, the rain (and floods) returned with a vengeance after Christmas, although both had luckily subsided by the time the college football season reached its climax. A Teddy Hall team which scored for fun won the league, whilst Exeter’s perennial nearly-men finally became Cuppers champions.

As the term continued the Varsity victories came thick and fast, with a fifth successive rugby league victory, a clean sweep in the badminton, netball and lacrosses victories, and yet another swimming success. Unfortunately the women’s footballers were less lucky, going down to two traumatic defeats in a rare disappointment.

The boxing club did an impressive double in the spring, winning the annual ‘Town vs. Gown’ event in February before going on to defeat the Tabs 7-2. ‘Town vs. Gown’ was particu- larly notable for the Dark Blue side’s successful female contingent.

The Easter holidays were packed with sporting treats; a tense varsity football match was followed by Cambridge’s chance for rowing revenge on the Thames, whilst there were goats galore at the subversive ‘Varsity Goat Race’. In the end, the spoils were shared, as Oxford dominated the waterborne event after Cambridge’s boat was subject to a broken oar, whilst the Tab footballers came out on top after a penalty shootout. Earlier in the holidays the women had dominated their own varsity boat race – the last time it will be held separately from the men – as both the main Blue boat and the light-weights took dominant victories at Henley.

Meanwhile, in the Alpine resort of Alpe D’Huez, our skiers slalomed their way to a BUCS silver medal in the last of the season’s snow. With Trinity came a combination of sun, thunder, and as always, cricket, and the stand-out early occasion saw the University’s female cricketers take on a star-studded MCC side which included internationals such as Claire Taylor and Charlotte Edwards. As expected, the MCC came out easy winners. The Oxford side made-up for this though, as they beat the Tabs in the Varsity twenty20 match, before the men’s match was washed out. The rugby season finally finished too, with St. Anne’s and St. John’s defeating Teddy Hall in the final of cuppers.

Five-a-side, tennis and cricket cuppers, and then summer eights, provided a fitting end to the college sporting year. A Trinity football side including two Blues players dominated the small-sided football tournament, then a combined New/St. Hilda’s side won the cricket competition, before Wadham and Oriel became the respective heads of the river on an overcast Saturday of 5th week.

It would also be remiss to forget to mention the all-conquering darts team who won the national title up in far-off Newcastle, or the go-karting team who successfully shoed the Tabs again.

All in all, it has been an encouraging year for this University’s sports teams, and after outgoing Sports Federation President Made- leine Sava told Cherwell back in October that a “huge aim of mine is to see an overall Varsity victory”, Cherwell Sport would contend that Sava can hand over to successor Thomas Carver with a clear conscience.

As such, although this article is ever-so-slightly premature given that most of the tennis and cricket varsity contests are still to come, we can look back on an uplifting year for Oxford sport. We might have fallen slightly in the overall BUCS rankings, but a strong varsity showing and a few stunning successes – let’s not forget BUCS darts glory, victory in the Athletics varsity, a or successful swimming, lacrosse, and netball seasons – bode well for next year.

Conflict of interest: Supporting England and Man United

Sam Rabinowitz
-
0
Conflict of interest: Supporting England and Man United

“Go on, Tony.” I couldn’t help it. He was supposed to be the enemy. The big rough opposition captain, trying to strangle England’s latest darling. But at that moment, for me, the match ceased to be between England and Ecuador. I’d spent the game diligently supporting my country, but suddenly things changed: this was United’s Antonio Valencia against Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling. This was a nasty Scouser trying to scythe down Our Tony. Gooner Jack then piles in, acting like a goon. Manchester United against the world. Go on, Tony.

The higher one’s team is in the football pyramid, the more likely one is to face this conflict of interests when watching international foot- ball. Not only might you spot a hero in the opposition ranks (as Wigan, Hull and Stoke fans did in the Honduras game), but you might be pitted against an enemy in your own. Even Liverpool fans, currently the impeccable patriots, given the tendency to see this England team as having been created in their team’s image, will face tribulations at the World Cup. No self-respecting Red will be able to resist taking some pleasure from the sight of Luis Suárez dancing around Everton’s Baines and Jagielka, Chelsea’s Cahill, and, possibly (if Glen Johnson gets injured or continues to play like a muppet), United’s Jones or Smalling, in São Paolo.

The partisan nature of club football renders this inevitable, to a degree. We spend all year in a frenzy in which it’s seemingly acceptable to hate some men because they play for a foot- ball team we don’t like. As a United fan, I cannot stand Steven Gerrard. He’s the captain of Liverpool, he understands that that job entails fighting with United players, he has an annoying demeanour and self-obsession, and, most grating of all, he has managed to cultivate a myth of himself as the modern embodiment of the nearly extinct quality of loyalty (despite having submitted a transfer request to join Chelsea).

In real life, these aren’t acceptable reasons to vehemently dislike someone that you’ve never met. But I do. The fact that this man captains England makes the most instinctive impulse for a football fan – supporting one’s country – more complex, more of an exercise in introspection, than it should be.

Gerrard, though, has at least managed to achieve the support of most fans of rival clubs when on international duty (including, of course, myself, once the proper matches begin). Rooney has had no such luck. For a brief period, the fans who scream “You fat bastard” at him from August to May will crush him with their ‘support’ in Brazil. And then, as he inevitably underperforms, it will dawn on those supporters that this is the Wayne Rooney they hate for most of the year. Back come the death threats.

Partisan club support exists everywhere, but there is also something particular about the English club game that gives greater impetus to the internal conflict that international football induces in fans. We often like to think that the Premier League is the best league in the world. It isn’t. What it can boast though is a more global array of talent than any other league. According to the latest figures (which constantly change, given player withdrawals), 124 players from English clubs have been named in World Cup squads, compared to 66 from Spain’s La Liga. A fan of an English club is more likely than a fan of a club in any other country to feel a tug on his heartstrings as a hero lines up for the opposition at the World Cup.

Clearly, there would be less of a problem here if club sides were forced to play more English players. This seems unlikely. The forthcoming Nations League may have a more subtle effect: if we see England play more regularly in actual competition, the feeling of supporting Gerrard, or Rooney, whoever the opposition, will become more natural.

For the time being, though, it’s simply something to which I (and many others) must quick- ly acclimatise, so that when Gary Cahill stops Chicharito from scoring a last minute winner in the quarter-final, I will collapse in genuine relief. Nevertheless, I can only hope that when England do win the tournament in Rio, it is Danny Welbeck, captain, who collects the trophy. The people’s choice. Well, my people’s choice.

1...1,3941,3951,396...2,577Page 1,395 of 2,577

Support Student Journalism

Cherwell is Oxford’s oldest independent newspaper, established in 1920. We are entirely student-run. By supporting us, you will contribute to keeping our paper in print and online. Every donation makes a difference.

Donate

Explore

Follow us

More

Oxford Student Publications Limited © 2025 - All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy

Website by Jamie Ashley