Brookes 10 – 8 Greyhounds FREEZING cold conditions did nothing to deter players on either side from attacking with physicality, but Brookes’ staunch defending denied the Greyhounds a second victory to follow their more assured performance at Iffley just over a month ago.
From kick-off Oxford carried the ball through the forwards, which proved successful when they scored after just five minutes. A solid lineout gave them good ball from which the forwards could apply pressure on their opponents defence and a rolling maul tumbled over the line to put 5 points on the board.
Unlike at the home fixture, Brookes responded quickly to the Greyhounds’ attempt to control the match, and a late tackle on their fly-half put them in a good position. A smoothly executed move saw the ball passed deftly through the backs and put the Brookes full-back in the corner, where he dived over the line to draw his team level.
The ‘hounds pack worked hard to dominate up front, but without first-phase ball the backs struggled to link up, and handling errors prevented them from scoring on a few promising breaks. They were also restricted by very aggressive tackling, and the Brookes’ flanker was sent to the sin bin after a series of over-zealous tackles.
With the score drawn at 5-5, the game was punctuated with penalties as both teams were caught offside, with Oxford’s scrum-half eventually sent off for 10 minutes. But the winger salvaged three points just before half-time, when Brookes were blown up for pulling down a maul, and the ball sailed between the posts to give the visitors the advantage going into the second half.
In an unusual decision, the referee responded to claims against Brookes for foul play in the ruck with a yellow card for the Greyhounds. They then struggled in the scrum and the home side’s flanker burst out to make a break up the left wing and score. In the last quarter, the ‘hounds were unlucky not to score with the ball held-up over the line and a missed penalty, but their inability to convert late possession into chances was testament to the resiliance of the underdogs’ defence.

Loughborough 0 -5 Oxford AFTER a slow start to the season, Oxford’s decimated and rejuvenated Blues squash team have acquired a taste for victory against their weaker BUSA opponents. Having racked up convincing wins at Warwick and Nottingham in the preceding weeks, the team was all out to dominate an unsuspecting Loughborough side, and for the most part did not disappoint.
The event kicked off with crushing wins by the Oxford numbers four and five, Nick Douglas and Mark Blundell, both new additions to the team. Mark, who has cruised comfortably through each match since his Blues debut, stayed head-to-head with his opponent for the first few points, before pulling away to win in straight games 9-4, 9-1, 9-2. Despite a lack of quality in the racket department, and being paired against a hefty Loughborough man, Mark’s superior racket skills left his opponent without much hope from the start.
Nick Douglas’ blistering pace and infinite fitness has seen him gain a reputation for ‘Forrest Gumping’ his opposition off court. Though these skills were not necessary on this occasion, Nick had them at hand, dragging the rallies out with a few too many loose cross-courts and lofty drops. When his shots were firing though, his opponent had little to retaliate with, so Nick powered through to win 9-1, 9-2, 9-3.
At number three Matt Hall has gained a comparable reputation to Nick’s, forcing all who come against him to ‘witness the fitness’. Earlier in the season he broke a man from Warwick after fighting back from 2-0 down. This week, though, taken aback by the unexpected quality of his opponent and at times making hard work for himself, Matt put in a captain’s performance nevertheless, winning 9-6, 9-3, 9-6.
At number two, Tom Coode-Bate dropped 14 of the first 17 points, but going back to basics he clawed back to two games all. Things were looking grim at 6-1 down in the deciding game, but a quirk of fate found him finish on top: 3-9, 9-6, 4-9, 9-1, 9-7.
Number one seed, superstar fresher Nelson Fung, has stunned the Oxford squash scene this term, last week beating an ex-Pakistani international. This week was no exception, Nelson hit just one or two unforced errors in the entire match. His score-line, 9-0, 9-2, 9-0, was another promising result. Oxford will be relying on him to meet expectations set by former Tab-bashing Blues in this year’s Varsity.

Thursday
After a minibus test, I turn my attention to the forthcoming week. Unusually, the Blues have only played one BUSA Premier League fixture so far, so the season is yet to get going.
Friday
An early start with Fitness at 7.30am, led by last year’s captain Bethan Walsh who is one of two former players now in the Wales squad. Before the evening session, I meet with the coaches and Panthers captain to define our aims for the rest of term.
Saturday
A ‘day off’ today is for College Rugby. Over 100 girls – from total beginners to Blues – are involved on a regular basis, boosted by support from the men’s teams.
Sunday
This morning’s session involves more contact rugby and it’s fantastic to see the positive effects of regular club training on the players. The Blues work through attack and defence, with Margariete and Jake Howard, who have decades of club and international rugby experience between them.
Monday
An evening session is dedicated to running through scenarios and moves with the squad. This week’s opposition, Marjons, are usually tough and physically brutal so we must focus. The committee meets to discuss our Lehman Brothers Varsity Match – this year in Oxford on Saturday 1st March.
Tuesday
I try to switch off from rugby for the most of the day and get down to some work, before a team supper and an early night.
Wednesday
I’m always nervous in the morning so time flies before kick off. Everyone is pumped and really committing to the game. We dominate the first half but unfortunately take our foot off the gas, miss some chances and draw the game 20-20. It’s disappointing but we have to keep thinking positively.We end the week on a high with a team social in fancy dress!

Catz 31 – 7 LMH/Trinity

UPON promotion to the top flight, the last thing any side would want is to face a team that ran in over a hundred points in their last two fixtures. Unfortunately for LMH/Trinity, an in-form Catz were their opponents in the first game of the new league season.
Dark clouds and driving rain greeted the Division One new boys, who arrived without any substitutes and therefore no margin for error in terms of injuries. Catz, too, had players out, but even their shallow strength in depth was more than enough to comfortably see off their newly-promoted visitors.
With the home side coming into the game on the back of a second place league finish – the college’s best in years – they were looking to build towards going one better in the new season.
Catz began by tearing into LMH from the kick off, immediately camping deep in their opponents’ twenty-two. The only reason for the home side being denied an early score was a slight lack of composure in front of the line.
All that changed on ten minutes after some hard-hitting play in the midfield saw the ball find Catz outside centre Femi Fadugba.
Embarking on one of his trademark jinking runs, Fadugba left the LMH defence trailing in his wake before touching down underneath the posts. Captain Sam Donaldson converted to give his side an early 7-0 lead.
Catz barely let their opponents catch breath, running the ball straight back into the Tigers’ half and causing all sorts of problems for their defence. Good work from the home pack allowed the backs to put through Peter Jones for the first of his two tries.
At this stage LMH were on the ropes, being repeatedly jabbed by their hosts. Time after time Catz would break the defence, with Donaldson adding to his points total with a try and another conversion.
By now, even the St. Catherine’s forwards were after a piece of the action. Prop Tom Ward took a great inside ball before good work from hooker Charlie Thompson led to Matt Perrins touching down for the fourth try, plus conversion, of a punishing first half for LMH.
The Tigers looked more fired up after the break and took advantage of a sleepy Catz to score a converted try of their own, but were immediately brought back down to earth with a second try from Jones.
Injuries on both sides then brought down the quality of the game, with uncontested scrums being introduced thanks to a front row casualty. Catz came close to scoring a sixth, but Jamie Menzies was brought down just before the line.
Their dominance of both the lineout and the tackle area meant that the Manor Road outfit would always create more chances, and wing Leo Masson forced good covering tackles from the Tigers’ defence.
With LMH’s numbers dropping as low as twelve thanks to injuries, the referee brought matters to a close ten minutes ahead of schedule.
On this evidence, the new members of elite rugby have a lot to do to retain their top flight status. Upcoming fixtures against Magdalen and champions Keble leave LMH with little chance of picking up any points before Christmas. Catz, though, will fancy their chances of improving on last season’s second after a strong start in poor conditions.

It is difficult to imagine what Union President Luke Tryl envisaged when he first decided to invite Nick Griffin and David Irving. Did he believe there would be a fierce but gentlemanly debate in the chamber, with Oxford students feeling a sense of pleasure that free speech was encouraged and extremism ground away? Whatever his intentions, sincere and genuine that they were, he could not have predicted the scale to which the local and national community would focus on a debating society clustered in a small corner of Oxford University.
With the weeks and days to the 8th week forum drawing closer, the Oxford bubble has burst and continues to be ripped apart by the national press. Condemnation rather than applause has been heaped on the Tryl administration, with the exception of the far right, who have already taken advantage of the situation to claim a moral victory.
What the invitations have reaffirmed is the importance of the Oxford Union in a national context. Everyone, from right-wing bloggers to professional media pundits, has had something to say on the issue, no matter their geographic or  intellectual distance from the University.
Already, however, the event has been overshadowed by negative repercussions for Oxford students. The issue has caused serious divisions and fractures within normally unified colleges. The threat of protests and demonstrations has hit minorities, particularly for students from the Jewish and Muslim communities. They rightly fear a sudden influx of pro-debate protesters from far-right groups like the British National Party.
But conversely, many ordinary students wish to see the debate, yet fear being labelled racist or anti-Semitic by demonstrators for doing so. Even journalists at this newspaper, ordinary students without any extremist views, have been personally accused of reviving Holocaust denial by the national press.
With his term coming to an end, it will be interesting to see how posterity treats this Union President. Was he a deliberately divisive leader with no concern for minority opinion, a media pariah, seeking out controversy for his own fame and publicity? Or was he a brave advocate for the Union’s role as “the last bastion of free speech,” daring to challenge the silence and taking on extremists single-handedly?
Whatever the final judgement, Tryl is to be admired for sustaining blow after blow of withering criticism and sticking resolutely with his beliefs. At Liberty’s recent ‘Big Debate’, an indicative poll of a few hundred Oxford students showed that roughly three-quarters were behind him, and Tryl has promised a poll of Union members’ opinions to be held concurrently with the termly elections.
But what has this all achieved? Fear, violence, intimidation and division. Although there may be discord and perhaps even arguments between Oxford students, in the face of outside interference we must unify. When all is said and done, Union matters are the business of Oxford students only, and not for external groups who believe they know what’s best, or that we are incapable of solving our own problems.
To British National Party supporters and national anti-fascist groups, to Holocaust deniers and their opponents, to all and sundry who would involve themselves in our affairs, we quote this newspaper’s first editorial in 1920. Like those students before us, in the face of absurd politics we call for whimsical parochialism: let us “exclude all outside influence and interference and from our University. Oxford for the Oxonians.”

ON a wet and windy afternoon, spectators who braved the conditions were treated to an extremely physical encounter between the increasingly dominant Keble and a dogged Hall side, Keble running out 14-7 winners to continue their unbeaten run.
Keble entered the game as league champions and, fielding an unchanged side, were definite favourites to beat a Hall outfit that had just avoided relegation. To make matters worse for the Teddies, they were also without their injured iconic captain Phil Satterthwaite, meaning that they were forced to to concede five points and play with uncontested scrums.
Starting 5-0 down, Hall were eager to get early points. After a scrum on their opponents’ twenty-two, fly half Harold Buchanan fed the all-American Marc Wayshak in midfield who ploughed through two tackles to score under the posts. The try was converted to make it 7-5 and give Teddy Hall an early, morale-boosting lead.
Keble then began to get into the game, playing simple but effective rugby, with good ball retention. The Hall defence held strong, but was eventually forced into conceding two penalties which were duly kicked by fly Half Peter Bolton to regain the lead for the home side, making it 11-7.
Late in the first half, a poor kick from Keble that failed to find touch was seized upon by Tom Theodore, who glided through the home side’s defence and fed Wayshak on the right wing. With the try line at Hall’s mercy, the last pass failed to go to hand and was fly hacked into touch to the sound of the half-time whistle.
The second period was played out in a similar vein to the first. Early Keble pressure led to another penalty, again converted by Bolton, but they were unable to threaten the Hall try line. Hall’s defence was ferocious, with back rowers Patrick Cooper and Dusan Uhrin stopping the Keble forwards on the gain line.
However, the Teddies simply did not take their chances in attack: four clean line breaks were made in the second half which were not turned into points. Keble’s basic but controlled rugby eventually held on, and they emerged deserving winners at 4-7 thanks to Hall’s lack of clinical finishing.
After the game Keble captain Max Cole was happy with the result saying ‘We’ve come away with a win, and that’s all that really matters’. Hall captain Satterthwaite, after having to watch the game from the sidelines, called his side’s performance a ‘defensive masterclass’ and rued Hall’s missed chances.
A solid but unconvincing win by Keble should set them up to win this second league with reasonable ease whilst Hall, having produced their most spirited performance of the year, will know that if they can turn breaks into points they can, and should, finish in the top half of the table, instead of fighting relegation yet again.  

by Peter BowdenAll student journalists must die; every single one, rounded up and shot in the face at point-blank range, for the good of humanity. I don’t exaggerate; we’d lose nothing. Hear me out.
We are not in a golden age of student journalism. Whatever the opposite of gold is, that’s the age we’re in – the age of soil, or gonorrhoea, or festering cats.
Originality is dead: this is an age in which it’s hard to find a non-news article starting with anything other than (1) a vapid rhetorical question, (2) “You probably think some baseless stereotype is true – well, THINK AGAIN!!!”, or (3) some needless recitation from the Big Book of Oxford Clichés, as though Pimm’s were offering ballgowns lined with crack for every reference.
This is an age in which the whole stinking shebang is run by grey, insufferable sub-humans who the words “malaise” and “brainstorm”, and still think they’re going to change the world. Change the world, rather than – say – spend five years “in media” fetching lattés and spellchecking the sudoku, before getting their only break as a stand-in online Guardian columnist explaining how the new Lily Allen album really reminded them of the Palestine situation. Before dying alone. And poor. Probably.
My first contact with the world of student journalism was in my first term here, at a meeting of the Features department of the Oxford Student. Going to this was, naturally, a bad idea on more levels than I can ever find words. We did start with “brainstorming”, which in itself was enough to make me want to gouge out the vocal chords of everyone in the known world, armed only with a biro, and grim, righteous determination. I held back.
The format went as follows: one of them would give a broad, sweeping topic idea, unoriginal to anyone who’d as much as scanned the contents page of an in-flight magazine. Then they would end the sentence with the words, “maybe we could do a feature on that?”, and then there’d be nods, and that would be it. Idea. Conclusion. Repeat. Nothing else was ever needed.
The first was “Abortion. Maybe we could do a feature on that?”, as though they just expected to splash some dead foetus pictures over a centre-spread, slap on a quick point-counterpoint, and call this an article. Next we had “houses”. “Prostitution”. Then, for some reason, “China”. Few of us had been bemoaning a recent lack of China-centric OxStu journalism, but still this got the nods.
Here I abandoned all hope, and considered the use of the biro in self-lobotomy. In retrospect, this might not have helped: most likely they’d just have seen the blood gushing through my nostrils, then they’d wait, point, and say, “maybe we could do a feature on that?” They’d snap a few polaroids, and use me as a tragic example in a poignant piece on student self-harm. Clearly, I’d be a popular, handsome student, and their first sentence would probably be along the lines of: “You probably think life in the ‘dreaming spires’ is heaven for everyone. Well, THINK AGAIN!!” They’d call this a “scoop”. Death’s too good for them.
There might be a case made for their existence, if only they didn’t insist on being taken quite so seriously. On the way into the meeting, we were told not to leak anything to Cherwell. This made me laugh on two levels. First of these was at the thought that they were half-expecting Cherwell spies to sit for an hour, make notes, and report back: “An article on China, you say? We must outmanoeuvre them! Get me a typewriter!”
Secondly, more importantly, I laughed at the implication that anyone would truly care that much about student papers: they don’t. Contrary to their own delusions, Cherwell v OxStu isn’t actually World War VI with Fit College and pashminas. As battles of wit and guile go, it’s closer to Soggy Biscuit – an analogy which, coincidentally, works on a number of levels.
If the infamous million typewriting monkeys could manage Hamlet, it’d take them half an hour to shit out an Oxford Student, before moaning at being overqualified, and applying for jobs in telesales. Kill all the student journalists – and now I’m here, I’ll be happy to start with myself.

NOT every Blues squad can boast an ex-international with forty-three caps and three league titles, not to mention a hat-trick of FA Cups, spurring them on from the sidelines. In fact, this claim can only be made by Oxford’s footballers, who have the privilege of being coached by the former Arsenal centre back Martin Keown for the 2007/08 season.
Oxford-born Keown, 41, is spending a year with the side as they look to make amends for last year’s Varsity defeat, on penalties, to Cambridge. The veteran defender is also taking his UEFA A coaching license whilst guiding the Blues through their debut season in the BUSA midlands top division.
Watching the veteran defender stalk the touchline, pausing briefly to bark out instructions to his players, it was easy to imagine the man in his pomp, towering over strikers and intimidating the opposition with his sheer presence.
After overseeing his side’s 2-1 win over Nottingham, including a backs-to-the-wall final twenty minutes, Keown revealed how his taking the reigns of Oxford football had come about.
“It was actually me who approached the University” he said. “I rang up John Roycroft, Oxford’s Director of Sport, and asked him if there was any way in which I could help out with the football here.
“The reason for approaching Oxford was that, besides being close to home, I’d have the opportunity to run the team and coach young players who are keen and willing to learn. It was also a good chance to gain real experience alongside taking my UEFA coaching badges.
“Basically, I took this on to see whether I still love the game enough to go back into the professional side of things. This team is giving me my football fix at the moment and the experience of managing these players will be invaluable in the future.”
The Highbury legend is not just here to further his own career, though. Keown enthused about bringing fresh players into the Blues set-up and appeared genuinely excited about helping to raise the profile of the sport in Oxford, and all the challenges that come with it.
“The most difficult element so far was probably the system of trials that we held at the start of the season” he said. “I hadn’t experienced a situation like that in a long time, so we’ll probably be looking at changing that aspect of the system somehow.
“What we don’t want is players slipping through the net as they’ve done in the past. There’s a lad called Cameron Knight, now in his third year, who only made his Blues debut this season. There has to be a better way of identifying talent throughout the university than the present trial system.”
When pressed on which of his players have particularly caught his eye this term, Keown was quick to avoid singling out just one or two men. “We’re a team, not a group of individuals” he insisted.
“It’s been hugely satisfying to see our improvement this term. The boys were beaten heavily by a representative side in our first game, but we’ve gone on to pick up some great results and challenge at the top of a tough division.”
Away from the league, though, student eyes will surely be looking to Varsity and a triumph over the Tabs, although Keown played down the importance of the set-piece fixture.
“I’m not just looking at this season in terms of Varsity” he said. “People will probably judge us on that one fixture, but in my eyes the sign of a quality team is showing consistency in the league.”
Arsenal fans in particular will be keen to learn whether Keown’s chest-thumping, aggressive demeanour on the pitch has translated to his fledgling career in coaching.
“I do try to be a bit calmer as a manager” he laughed. “What I like to see in football is composure on the ball and then aggression when you are trying to get it back. I always want to see my players putting in 100% effort out on the pitch, and thankfully the lads here have never given me less than that.”
Keown was turning out for local side Marston Saints when he was spotted by Arsenal, launching him on the way to a glittering career. Who’s to say, with the Blues riding high in their league and the man himself clearly relishing being back in the sport, that a second life in coaching won’t also begin with an amateur side in Oxford?

by Debbie DanceO n Tuesday, Oxford City Council will consider an application from Oxford University for its new library depository, which it hopes to site on the western edge of Oxford on the low-lying land which leads up to the River Thames. From here, too, the views of the ‘dreaming spires’ immortalised in the paintings of J M W Turner and the poetry of Matthew Arnold can be seen. Permission is close to being granted, however shocking and surprising this might seem.

What is proposed is essentially a huge warehouse in the foreground of the view, standing up above the City Council’s upper height limit of 18.2 metres in some parts, and showing blank inward-looking windowless walls to house the automated book stacks inside.

By employing sophisticated techniques, the University can use photographs and computer generated images to demonstrate that the new warehouse will have little impact on the view, an experience which Bodley’s Librarian describes as akin to looking for Wally in a Where’s Wally cartoon book in a recent article in The Oxford Magazine (2nd Week Michaelmas).  Their architects have added some works of mitigation, just in case, which take the form of a curved roofline, tree planting and colouring the building green. 

In our view, Councillors and others have been persuaded falsely by the University.  This building will not be fine, and will appear as much larger and more prominent than is being suggested, drawing the eye and incongruous in the landscape. 

We do not dispute that a new Depository is necessary for a University of such world-class status.  We are told that there are no other available sites, and it must go here.  However, we cannot agree, this is not a suitable site for such a building whatever the techniques used to disguise it. This site is in the views and on the edge of the low lying flood plain which was the subject of the extraordinary floods this summer.

The Trust has tried calling on the University and Colleges to get together and think again over this. We have not been successful. What legacy that in the 21st century that the University acts in such a negative way in damaging the very views of Oxford that it has created over 700 years, and in which the Radcliffe Camera and Bodleian Library have played such a significant part.”Debbie Dance is Director of the Oxford Preservation Trust, which owns owns over 600 acres of land in and around the City. Further details and images are available on the Oxford Preservation Trust website at www.oxfordpreservation.org.uk
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