Sunday 12th April 2026
Blog Page 1406

The Campaign: Skin Deep

Anu Henriques
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The Campaign: Skin Deep

Skin Deep is an online Oxford based race forum. It was created with the intention of giving matters surrounding race a platform. On the forum, people are welcome to discuss issues of race, racial representation and racial identity. It is a space in which we can explore why race is important and why racial equality is paramount, whilst challenging how race is represented in literature, the media, business, and education.

The forum is open to anyone and it is the equal responsibility of every member to share and encourage a conversation that educates cand informs people to recognise the value of heritage, taste, style, racial sensibilities, stories, traditions, imaginations and cultures and their contribution to society and civilization as a whole.

The forum was initially set up to encourage conversation amongst Oxford students, as this is where we felt the gap in a racial discourse to be most prevalent. However, it seems to have grown beyond that, especially since the ‘I, too, am Oxford,’ campaign, which was inspired by an ‘I, too, am Harvard’ article that was shared on the forum.

There seems to be a desire to transform our University towards becoming the most inclusive environment possible, something that the ‘I, Too, Am’ movements as well as other forms of race resistance within and outside of the University have called for.

There is a lot of room for change in the representation of race in the curriculum, the student and staff bodies. In an attempt to move the discourse further, a conference is taking place at Lady Margaret Hall as a follow up to the ‘I, too, am Oxford’ campaign, entitled ‘BME conference: Dissidence in an Era of Diversity’. This feautres panels focusing on activism in the age of new media, diversity in the academy and multiculturalism in the media. The conference is meant to be a place where students can explore solutions for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) issues and hear from people who are attempting to tackle these issues in a more active manner.

Again, the organizers welcome everyone to join in – the more perspectives the better. These are the kind of conversations that should be encouraged and Skin Deep seems to have been a good way of circulating these ideas and initiatives, as well as cultivating a safe space for people who may in the past have been uncomfortable talking about issues of race.

Very few pieces on Skin Deep, if any, have been written by Oxford students or any of the members themselves. What we think would be even more engaging would be to explore what we, as members of Skin Deep, think about race, sharing lived experiences, ideas and theories. In response to this, we are creating a ‘zine’ this term, and have put a call for submissions for writers, artists, photographers, designers, creative types, anyone interested in continuing this open conversation about race and racial identity.

The online forum tends to maintain itself, and I am sure it will continue to do so in the future. The zine, however, will take a lot more work, but hopefully the result will encourage people to get involved with it as a long term project that can continue the discourse on race in Oxford.

#BringBackOurGirls: Is digital activism effective?

Rachel Dobbs
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#BringBackOurGirls: Is digital activism effective?

On the 14th of April, at least 300 female students were abducted from a boarding school in Chibok, a rural town in the state of Borno in north-east Nigeria, by a group commonly referred to as Boko Haram. This is a fundamentalist Islamic group – the name ‘Boko Haram’ roughly translates as, ‘Western education is forbidden’ in the local language of Hausa – which violently promotes a version of Islam where it is forbidden for Muslims to take part in any activity that is associated with Western society, including secular education, participation in elections or wearing Western dress such as shirts and trousers.

It is thought that the group took the girls, who were a mixture of Christians and Muslims, into the remote and inaccessible Sambisa forest which borders Niger, Chad and Cameroon, although this hasn’t been confi rmed. They have subsequently released a video showing around 130 of the girls in full-length hijabs, and another threatening to sell the girls as ’slaves’. It is still not known for certain where the girls were being held, although it seems that around 50 were able to escape on the initial journey. The Nigerian government did not comment publicly until the 4th of May, two weeks after the kidnappings, and President Goodluck Jonathan took almost 20 days to offi cially promise to find the girls.

The government silence following the events in Chibok fuelled a great deal of confusion and growing public anger. Several sources gave conflicting reports of the number of students taken, with numbers ranging from 100 to more than 300, whilst the Nigerian military back-pedalled on the reported rescues and claimed that, whilst they had not actually rescued any of the girls, their original report had not been intended to “deceive the public”. As media out- lets rushed to cover the story, people across Nigeria protested against the apparent government indifference to the situation and took to social media to express their anger and distress. On the 22 April Ibrahim M Abdullahi (a lawyer in the Nigerian capital of Abuja) sent the first tweet featuring the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. By 7 May this hashtag had been tweeted 1 million times, reaching its daily peak three days later where it was tweeted 434,910 times in 24 hours. High profile political figures such as Michelle Obama, David Cameron and Pope Francis have joined the campaign, along with large numbers of celebrities.

As #BringBackOurGirls exploded across the internet, so too did scrutiny of just how effective such ‘digital activism’ can be in tackling real world issues. It has been two years since “Kony 2012” – the viral video that called for the arrest of LRA militia leader and war criminal Joseph Kony – a campaign that is perhaps most notable for the huge contrast between the global buzz it created and the subsequent lack of
any discernible results. Similar concerns have been voiced about the current campaign, particularly by conservative commentators who believe that outrage on social media has little offline currency and serves mainly as a balm for the conscience of the West. At the height of the movement Republican Senator John McCain stated that, “Tweets and hashtags are appreciated. They may make people feel better but they do not liberate prisoners”, whilst his onetime running mate Sarah Palin posted, “I kinda-sorta doubt a tweet will intimidate the kidnappers much.” The backlash was perhaps not helped by a picture posted on Instagram by model Irina Shayk – where the girlfriend of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo poses topless with a sign featuring the hashtag – which has been heavily criticised for attempting to seek personal publicity from the crisis. Can ‘hashtag activism’ actually be a useful form of protest? Is the West just tweeting while the rest of the world burns?

It would be ungenerous to argue that the #BringBackOurGirls campaign has had no effect at all, particularly when the events that followed the abduction are viewed in the context of terrorism in Nigeria over the last decade. Boko Haram has killed over 2000 people since 2009 and is by far the most long-lived of any terrorist group in Nigeria, operating since 2002. Violence against schools in the North-East of the country by the group are commonplace (it is believed that one of the reasons why so many students were at the Chibok school was that many other schools in the region had been forced to close), for example in March another school attack saw 29 male students killed. Such incidents are frequently ignored by the Nigerian government and the terrorism of Boko Haram is often subsequently unnoticed by the international community. Now, however, global attention has pushed the Nigerian government into unprecedented levels of action which has included accepting foreign assistance – a subject Nigeria is notoriously prickly about. The UK, US, France, China and Israel have all now sent counter-terrorism teams to Abuja, undoubtedly in response to international pub- lic pressure. There is also hope that the negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram might soon come to fruition. In the last week, reports have appeared stating that the group is willing to conduct a gradual release of hostages in return for the freeing of Boko Haram prisoners in Nigerian jails. This appears to be a significant concession from the original demand for the group’s top commanders to be released.

It seems, therefore, that hashtag diplomacy does have some uses. However, if the allegations that it is chiefly an exercise in allowing the West to feel good about itself are to be dismissed, then complacency over small victories must not be allowed to set in. It may have done some good but a week after its peak, #BringBackOurGirls is already disappearing from social media (it was only featured in around 40,000 tweets on May 19, less than 1/10 of its highest level) and the Nigerian schoolgirls have not, as yet, been brought back.

Shadow minister to discuss HE funding with University

Robert Walmsley
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Shadow minister to discuss HE funding with University

University officials are set to meet with the Labour MP Liam Byrne, who is Shadow Minister for Universities, Science and Skills, to discuss “the current challenges of HE funding”. Attendees at the meeting will include Byrne, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, the Registrar and the Director of Communications and Public Affairs. Items of discussion that have been suggested for consideration at the meeting include variable fees, postgraduate support and research funding.

The OUSU VP for Access & Academic Affairs Rachel Pickering received an email about the meeting on Thursday 29th May. Pickering received the email, as part of an itinerary for the day of the meeting in question, as she is due to discuss Oxford’s access and support packages with the University  after the meeting between the Shadow Minister and University officials.

The meeting follows comments by the Vice-Chancellor, in Michaelmas Term 2013, that raised the prospect that tuition fees could be raised £16,000 per undergraduate every year. In response, over 20 JCRs and OUSU Council passed motions condemning the speech by the Vice-Chancellor.

OUSU President Tom Rutland commented, “It is unacceptable for the University to be secretly lobbying the Shadow Minister for Higher Education to introduce variable fees at an undergraduate level. Make no mistake: variable fees would mean an increase in the fees students will pay, and potentially a total lifting of the cap on fees that was raised just a few years ago.”

Pickering commented, “I was deeply angered yesterday to receive a communication, which cited a ‘takeaway message’ of ‘variable fees’ for Liam Byrne, the Shadow Minister for Higher Education on his visit to Oxford next week. I stand with the University that the Government should ‘invest in education at all levels’, but this should be through increased public funding of the Higher Education sector.”

Xavier Cohen, who is a member of the Oxford Activist Network, responded to the news by commenting, “This is a blatant act of unilateral lobbying from the unelected leader of our University to further marketise education. The problem Andrew Hamilton faces is one of funding, but to choose to secretively push for a market solution that will increasingly discourage less well-off students from applying to our university rather than publicly call for greater government funding is a betrayal of even the most basic conceptions of justice and democracy.

 “I urge students who care about education to take the initiative to bring motions to their common rooms condemning Andrew Hamilton’s actions in the strongest possible terms.”

A University spokesperson commented, “Oxford University is not lobbying on behalf of variable fees or any other system of tuition funding.

“University representatives intend to use next week’s planned meeting to discuss a wide range of higher education issues with Mr Byrne, including student funding. They will repeat the point, which the University has made many times in the past, that there is a wide gap between the current tuition fees limit and the true cost of many undergraduate degrees. In Oxford’s case this true cost is at least £16,000 per undergraduate per year. The University is not lobbying for any particular solution to this problem. It will, of course, be discussing with Mr Byrne options that have been already been aired, including variable fees. More important to the University however, is that that all political parties should be fully aware of the funding gap when they come to formulate their higher education policies.“

Sporting Rock Stars: John McEnroe

Jamie Farmer
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Sporting Rock Stars: John McEnroe

Tennis has had its fair share of sporting superstars. Famous names like Borg, Federer, Connors and Sampras have thrilled audiences with their skills on the court. Yet none have quite courted such a mix of controversy, skill, and entertainment value as this week’s sporting rock star, John McEnroe.

To understand the impact the young American made upon entering the Tennis scene in 1977, you have to imagine a time when sport was different than it is today. It was a time when sport was more about what was done on the field and not off of it. It was not common to see footballers intimidating and surrounding referees. In the ten- nis world, competitors like Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors simultaneously wowed and charmed audiences with their combination of athleticism and their sporting conduct; both on and off the court. Back then there was less of a celebrity culture associated with sportsman, their private lives were not splashed over the front pages, and they were left alone and were respected athletes. When American John McEnroe at 18, entered the ATP tour fresh out of Stanford University, things were about to change.

If you fancy a bit of procrastination type “John McEnroe Tennis Tantrums” into You- tube. He was famed for his outbursts, arguing regularly with umpires’ decisions, something audiences had never seen at Wimbledon. The current champion at the time, Borg, was almost the opposite, cool, collected and dubbed the “ice man” by his contempories. McEnroe, however, was nicknamed “superbrat” by the British media.

In 1981 at Wimbledon, he was fined $1,500 for calling an umpire “the pits of the world” in a First Round match. This shocked the typical middle-class tennis audience to the extent that he was booed regularly at matches. His catchphrase, coined in the same tournament, “you cannot be serious” is still replayed today. At a tournament in Stockholm in 1984, he demanded another unfortunate umpire to “answer my question…jerk!” slamming his racquet into a juice cart next to the court, which led to a suspension. His on-court antics led to a fall-out with the All England Club. After refusing to give him honorary membership, an honour normally accorded to those who win their first major championship, he refused to attend the traditional champion’s dinner naming the club’s members a bunch of “70-80 year old stiffs”.

Indeed, it is easy to forget that he was an exceptionally gifted tennis player. He was an aggressive performer, but he was also wily, perfecting the style of serve and volley, and managing to serve the ball almost with his back completely turned to his opponents, hiding which direction he would place the ball. Despite the controversy, he was massively successful, ending Borg’s dominance at Wimbledon, winning seven grand slam singles titles, nine grand slam doubles, 77 ATP listed singles titles, and reaching world number one in 1983. His total career earnings to date are $12,000,000. In addition, he still plays on the ATP champion’s tour and is familiar to current television audiences as a co-commentator at Wimbledon.

Swimming the English Channel: An Oxonian’s experience

Abby Taylor-Baptie
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Swimming the English Channel: An Oxonian’s experience

It’s not every day that you have an earnest conversation with another person about the rationality of finding a patch of jellyfish and swimming through it, but this was a topic of great importance last week when I met with Marisa Schubert, a fourth year Oxford medic and aspiring English Channel swimmer.

Of all of the ways to get to France, it’s pretty obvious that swimming is neither the cheapest nor the quickest way, and I write from experience in saying that catching the ferry is definitely an easier way to get across. I swum the channel nearly four years ago, and normally when I think about my swim, I struggle to remember exactly why I wanted to do it. I remember the pain in my shoulders for days and days afterwards. I remember everything I ate and drank tasting of salt for at least a week after I finished. I remember sporadic parts of the swim. The feeling of nausea from following the bobbing light on my support boat for the several hours that I swam in the dark. I remember the all-pervading cold of the water and the feeling of cramp in parts of my body that I didn’t know it was possible to get cramp in, during the second half of the swim. I remember being tormented by the tides, the excitement of being able to clearly see the coast of France after about eight hours of swimming turning into frustration as I was pushed backwards for the next six hours. I remember complete numbness as I crawled onto the beach at Cap Blanc Nez, and spending the whole journey back being sick over the side of the boat. But I often struggle to remember why I thought it would be a good idea to attempt one of the hardest swims in the world. However, speaking to Marisa reminded me of some of the excitement and anticipation that I felt before my swim, and challenged me to reflect on the importance of testing our limits as human beings, whether that is swimming for over fourteen hours in cold, jellyfish infested water, or in another way.

For Marisa, the dream of swimming across the English Channel started aged eleven, when she read the incredibly inspiring autobiography of Lynne Cox, an open water swimmer who once held the world record for the fastest time to make the swim, and who also, as if the English Channel wasn’t cold enough, has swam in in the waters of Antarctica. At this point, attempting the swim was a dream for Marisa, but not something that she thought would genuinely be possible for her to do.

However, over the next few years this dream has slowly evolved into a reality as she discovered her love of cold water and started to realise that attempting the crossing may be more than just a dream, but a real possibility. I can remember always being the swimmer who inched into the sea slowly, moaning about how cold it was and often being dunked by the people I trained with, so the love of cold water is something that I don’t really understand. However the realisation that making the swim might be a real possibility and the excitement, combined with sporadic feelings of ‘why on earth am I doing this?’ is something that I can relate to well. And I think in different ways, we can all relate to this.

One of the things driving Marisa to attempt the swim is for the sense of fulfilment in seeing how far she can push herself physically and mentally. For me, knowing that I swam the channel reminds me that I am capable of coping with other challenges and of pushing through the barriers that my own mind can put up, telling me that my potential is somehow limited. The day I swam the channel was the longest, most painful day of my life, but speaking to Marisa about her forthcoming swim has reminded me of why I wanted to swim to France and why I am so glad that I did. I’m not advocating that everyone gets in the sea and starts training to swim the Channel, but I think that it is important that every now and again we consider the dreams that we have, and whether they are perhaps more achievable than we believe.

Cricket: A Varsity win and a Varsity washout

Ethan Fogarty
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Cricket: A Varsity win and a Varsity washout

The Oxford University Cricket Club’s Varsity campaign got off to a wet start on Friday, as the men’s Twenty20 fixture was abandoned without a ball being bowled. Earlier in the day, the women secured a comprehensive victory against Cambridge, ensuring their dominant run of four straight Twenty20 victories.

The Oxford women’s team put in a dominant performance with both bat and ball to claim victory as the rain held off. Following a strong opening partnership of 28 by the Cambridge openers, good middle overs bowling and sharp catching saw Oxford restrict the Cambridge side to 77 from their 20 overs. Wickets were shared around the six bowlers used by Oxford, but the figures of captain Tina Gough (1-8 off 4 overs) and Ridhi Kashyap (2-10 off 4 overs) were particularly impressive. Oxford chase was comprehensive with a range of clean hit- ting and clever batting seeing the team chase the target in the thirteenth over. Eleanor Bath batted through the innings with a well-made 29 to see the team to victory, whilst an aggressive innings by wicket-keeper Lucy Stuchfield (31 off 24 balls) was instrumental in the team’s victory. This win marks the fourth successive Twenty20 victory for the women and they will be hoping to continue their good form when they face Cambridge again on June 20 at the Lords Nursery Ground.

Disappointingly for the players, the fans that had come out to watch, and the sponsors in attendance at the men’s, the match was not able to begin. Following a lunch reception for the players and guests, which included former England players and Oxford and Cambridge Blues Vic Marks and Michael Atherton, the rain continued to drizzle. Hopes were raised by news of a 4.30 pitch inspection, resulting in the players from both sides leaving the shelter offered by their changing rooms to partake in some preliminary warm-ups. The sites of Cambridge kicking around a football and the Oxford players throwing a vortex on the field of play, accompanied by the music that had been played throughout the day, appeared encouraging for the fans that had sought refuge and beverages in the Rose and Crown pub and sponsors’ tents. They would, however, be left disappointed as the 4.30pm inspection came to the conclusion that was feared by all in attendance. Concerns about the state of the bowler’s run-ups from both the ECB appointed umpires and the ground staff led to captains Gus Kennedy and Tom Elliott agreeing that the match would have to be abandoned. News filtered around the players and fans that had attended, a disappointing way to end an event that had a lot of effort put into it by many people.

The men’s attention will now turn to the 50-over and four-day varieties of the game, in preparation for the Varsity fixtures later in the summer. The 50-over match will be held at Lord’s Cricket Ground on Friday 20 May, while the First Class four-day fixture will be held at the Parks from 30 June – 3 July. The Blues still have much cricket in the coming weeks despite examination season being well and truly un- derway. The team travel to Cardiff this coming Wednesday for their last game of the BUCS season against Cardiff Metropolitan University. Oxford University’s BUCS campaign has been somewhat mixed, with disappointing losses to Bristol and Bath while securing dominant victories against Southampton and Surrey. The BUCS season has however provided an opportunity for many to get Blues cricketing experi- ence in the lead up to the varsity matches later this summer. Last week, first year undergraduate Richard O’Grady took the opportunity to bat at the top of the innings scoring a dominant 131 not out, guiding Oxford to victory against Surrey University. O’Grady dominated the Surrey attack despite battling cramps throughout his innings, hitting particularly strongly down the ground. Supported well by Sam Cato (41*) the duo ensured Oxford reached their target with ten overs remaining. Such individual performances are likely to be remembered when varsity selection comes around.

Red ball cricket will now be the focus of the Blues, with the Parks hosting five fixtures prior to the four-day game which is set to round off the summer.

Next week sees the Marylebone Cricket Club visit the Blues for a three day fixture, 2-4 June. The fixture should provide good preparations for the Varsity match offering, for many, the first chance of the summer to play some longer format cricket.

 

Financial Fair Play: an impending clash for club owners?

Jamie Farmer
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Financial Fair Play: an impending clash for club owners?

 

Bobby Zamora’s goal on Saturday may have just caused a massive headache for the Football League. QPR’s assent into the big time once again may cause the start of a battle between owners and the footballing authorities over sustainable finance. The sight of Tony Fernandes, jumping on the back of Joey Barton could have been inspired by the fact that he may have just escaped the clutches of Football League punishment. In contravention of the Financial Fair Play regulations, QPR posted losses of £65.4m in 2012-13, with a wage bill of £68m. This year, despite loaning many of their more expensive players out to Europe, finances are not projected to look much better; they are not expected to have reached the Football League’s target of reducing losses to £8m. The Football League’s sanctions to non-conforming and frivolously spending clubs include a transfer ban and a fine for ambitious overspending clubs. But they are not enforceable for clubs entering the Premier League, since these are under a different jurisdiction who have refused to enforce theFootball League’s punishment.

 

Potnetially, this could lead to the Football League attempting to en- force the fine through the courts. UEFA and all professional leagues in England have created FFP rules in an attempt to cut spending. In the Premier League, clubs are not permitted to have losses over £105m (£15m if no equity injected into the clubs), otherwise they face a points deduction. In the Championship clubs have to re- duce losses season-on-season to a maximum of £3m by 2015. Clubs in Europe cannot post more than £45m losses over 3 years.

 

Recently Manchester City and Paris St Germain have been hit with a €60m fine and a restriction on the number of players they can enter into next year’s Champions League competition. Indeed, Manchester City has been accused by some of trying to circumvent FFP rules through a lucrative £400m contract over ten years with Etihad, who happen to be owned by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the half-brother of Man City owner Sheikh Mansour.

 

Many have questioned the validity of enforcing financial regulations in football. A court case dealt with by the European Commission has already defeated a legal challenge to the rules in May 2014 – where a Belgian agent attempted to argue that the rules restricted investment, dampened wages and locked-in the power of the big clubs. The court ruled there was no case to answer. In spite of this, Tony Fernandes has already vowed to fight any fines given to QPR.

 

The rules were first devised in 2012, in response to the unsustainable levels of spending in professional football. The modern game has seen inflation of transfer fees and wages entering into billions of pounds. In 2013, the world’s most expensive player, Gareth Bale, cost Real Madrid a staggering £85.3m. The rise of clubs such as Manchester City, where an Abu Dhabi-based consortium bought the club in 2008 and proceeded to make a loss of £93m in 2008-09 and £121m in 2009-10, has caused concerns over the competitiveness of the sport. The Premier League table looks like a list of the top spending clubs on players’ wages.

 

In response to such concerns, it has been pointed out that, without teams like Manchester City, Chelsea and PGS entering the fray, the top competitions of European Football would be dominated by the same teams like Manchester United and Real Madrid. From this angle, the regulations protect the dominant teams and prevent a challenge to the status quo.

 

Yet, arguments that football needs to become sustainable, before the bubble bursts do have force. High levels of spending and debt can only remain when the sport stays popular and attracts worldwide audiences. There is no guarantee that such levels of interest will continue into the indefinite future. What then for clubs like Manchester United, who incurred £265 debt against its assets when the Glazer family acquired a majority shareholding in 2005?

 

Certain clubs attempting to enter the big- time have also fallen foul when the investment ran out. Portsmouth is a good example of this. They entered administration and dropped from the Premier League to league 2 in 4 years after a report of £58m debt in 2012. Other clubs, such as Chester City and Darlington have been liquidated, despite long histories in the Football League.

 

It will be interesting to see who takes the hit: the clubs, or the players’ wages. Professional sport is one of the only industries to have continued to prosper throughout the financial cri- sis, but can it continue to do so?

 

It is clear something has to be done about the frivolous spending by all clubs across the football world, before the bubble does eventually burst. FFP is a means of doing so which is facing strong resistance from many clubs, who stand to lose out.

 

As a result, be prepared for a clash fairly soon between owners and the football authorities. The scene could well get very messy, very quickly.

 

Oxford University Shakespeare Festival

Joel Casey
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Oxford University Shakespeare Festival

Cherwell Sport’s guide to Summer Eights

Jonathon Turnbull
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Cherwell Sport’s guide to Summer Eights

This week sees the biggest event in college rowing return to the Isis. Summer Eights takes place between Wednesday 28th May and Saturday 31st May between 11:50am and 6:45pm, except on Saturday when racing is between 10:45am and 5:45pm.

The traditional Bumps event, in which a number of boats chase each other in single file, with each crew attempting to catch and “bump” the boat in front without being caught by the boat behind, is expected to attract thousands of spectators to the boathouses and banks of the Isis. The crowd, made up of students and alumni, flock to the river to see the rowing but also to experience to bustling atmosphere on race day and perhaos even to enjoy a glass of Pimms in the sun.

Rowing on, the qualifying event for the race, took place last week, attracting crews of all abilities to take to the water in pursuit of glory, and a set of blades. The time trial event saw Mansfield M2 and Wolfson M3, and Jesus W3 and Green Templeton W3, come top of the men’s and women’s qualifiers respectively. The day’s action saw only one disqualification with Jesus M4 Captain evacuating the boat after the crew posted a time that would have seen them qualify.

The competition itself sees Pembroke chased by Christ Church and Oriel in the M1 division. Oriel M1 are favourites amongst the rowing faithful, with Malcolm Howard, president of the 2014 Boat Race winning OUBC, in their crew. The Women’s division 1 sees St. John’s followed by Wadham, Teddy Hall and Pembroke, with Wadham W1 looking strong as favourites. 

The top of the Women’s division is set to be a tight contest too, with St. John’s and Wadham hosting no Blues or university rowers.

Trinity is host to one of the most decorated crews, with Blues Constantine Louloudis and Michael DiSanto, and Isis rower James Fraser-Mackenzie rowing for their M1. They start in eigth position however, so are likely to make fourth or fifth spot this year, setting them in good stead for victory next year.

Sam Skillcorn, Vice Captain of Jesus College Boat Club, predicts that “Keble M1 are going to smash it from the bottom of division 1, since they have loads of internationals and ex-Olympians in their boat”. To mention only one of them; Tim Foster is part of their crew, and was part of the Sydney 2000 Olympic GB Gold Medal winning four alongside Matthew Pinsent, Sir Steve Redgrave and James Cracknell. 

Having only recently entered the rowing scene, Green Templeton have been on the rise since they entered the summer eights competition. Having moved up the divisons every year, they are now 11th in division 4, and are likely to continue their climb.

At the other end of the spectrum, Exeter are rumoured to have relatively poor crews, and don’t seem to be backing themselves either by only entering M1 and W1 boats. Both crews are rowing in division two, so will face tight competition.

Now in full swing, summer eights is set to be as exciting and as hotly-contested as ever.

OUDC Cuppers introduces 190 students to the world of Dance

Alexandra Damgaard And Daniel Claff
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OUDC Cuppers introduces 190 students to the world of Dance

A chant begins from one corner of Iffley Sport Centre as athletes in waistcoats and dresses return from the dance floor to the spectating area.

As the exhausted Quickstep dancers quickly grab a drink of water, two rival chants begin elsewhere around the main floor in support of Trinity and Teddy Hall. Finally, the compere – competitive dancesport’s version of a master of ceremonies – booms over the PA system the numbers of the competitors who have made the fourth round of the Jive. The chants are replaced by localised cheers as the successful couples take the floor.

For a moment, an anxious silence settles amongst the over 300 spectators and competitors. The atmosphere is still and tense in anticipation. Finally, the bouncing beats of Christina Aguilera’s “Candyman” come over the loud-speakers. Immediately, the colleges resume their raucous yelling as the couples take hold and fly into a flurry of kicks and flicks.

All this commotion is a result of Oxford University Dancesport Club’s annual Cuppers competition. Following on from Cherwell Sport’s preview of the Dancesport Cuppers competition in Issue 4 this term, we bring you the review. Over 200 participants from 25 colleges took part in the biggest dance-off of the year. In the competition, each college creates teams of four couples, each competing in either the Waltz, Quickstep, Cha Cha, or Jive. Each couple must be made up of at least one beginner and the teaching format is similar to that of Strictly Come Dancing. Experienced dancers teach beginners as much as they can starting anything between 3 weeks and 3 days before the event. Couples score points based on how far they advance in the competition. These count towards two categories – a team match and an overall college score. This year’s overall winners, Trinity College, recruited 40 dancers creating five full teams. By a 2.5 point margin, they beat Keble College, who fielded a team of 30 dancers. The best four-couple team went to Keble.

To get ahead in the game, some participants attended classes in Ballroom and Latin hosted throughout the year by the dancesport club, OUDC. The club’s Ballroom and Latin classes are part of a broader social and competitive dancing framework that includes the full-Blue competitive team, a beginner’s team, a competitive Rock ‘n’ Roll team, the Rueda Komrades, and a variety of social dancing classes in each discipline.

The competitive Ballroom and Latin main and beginners teams, along with the Rock ‘n’ Roll squad went head to head with Cambridge at the Varsity Match one week prior to Cuppers, in addition to five other competitions across the country in Michaelmas and Hilary terms. The highlight of the year is the Inter-Varsity Dancesport Competition at the Blackpool Winter Gardens Ballroom, where approximately 800 people from university teams across the entire country compete.

Many of the experienced dancers who compete for OUDC were on hand at Cuppers to captain the 25 college teams and coach the new, inexperienced dancers to victory. A lot of these now experienced dancers started their dancesport career after competing in a previous Cuppers event and then subsequently joined the Beginners Team.

Cherwell Sport’s very own editor attended the event out of curiosity and stayed for the whole competition. The level of skill involved with ballroom dancing throughout the university was very high, but was complemented nicely by an array of beginners getting involved.

Dancesport is arguably one of the fastest growing sports in Oxford, with a growing number of participants, and an increasing turnout from supporters each year. The Cuppers competition is definitely something worth getting involved in for dancers of all levels, and particularly beginners who want to learn the basics and perform them in a relatively short space of time. It was great to see the surprise and delight on the faces of the beginners that managed to progress through the rounds, with some going on to make the final.

The commentary team were also entertaining, and always on the ball, providing jokes, which were sometimes at the expense of the dancers, to keep the crowd entertained in the short intervals.

Even if only to spectate, make sure you get down to Iffley Road for the competition next year, as it really is a pleasure to watch and a great day out for both dancers and audience!

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