Croquet might be seen as a quintessentially Oxford sport; this year’s cuppers competition has an entry of over 500 players. However, outside Oxford the game is very much a specialist sport, and for this reason there are no university leagues. During the croquet season the players therefore instead battle out for the Frank Cooper Varsity Bowl against Cambridge, compete in the nationwide Longman Cup and play a number of friendlies, such as the game against High Wycombe last Saturday. This fixture was not without a history. The Oxford team entered the Longman Cup for the first time last year, and was defeated in the first round by High Wycombe. It was a tense affair, finishing 4:3 to the Buckinghamshire club, and the result may well have been different if the teams had been playing to the 3hour 30-minute time limit set in the rules. The friendly was a chance to seek revenge after this earlier loss. A game of croquet takes most of the day, and the two teams of four commenced at nine in the morning with doubles. The captain Stuart Romeril and Peter Barker lost to the High Wycombe duo of Bryan Judson and June Robinson, but the other Oxford doubles team, Simon Proctor and Andrew Cottrell, won their game to level the tie going into the lunch break. After the break all four team members engaging in singles play, and the players were paired together on a handicap system, similar to that of golf. Croquet has been dubbed ‘snooker on grass’, and the singles game between the Oxford captain Stuart Romeril and David Croker exemplified this. Like professional snooker, the players in croquet aim to create the opportunity to finish in one go, very similar to break building in snooker. After a scrappy start to the game, which could be compared to safety play in snooker, Stuart broke away and created an early lead. However, the points scored and the hoops passed can be a misleading guide to who’s winning because a good player, given the right opportunity, should finish the course in two goes or less. This theory was put into practice when, after a relatively easy miss, the Oxford captain let his opponent back into the game, and subsequently lost by 5 points. In the other singles the Oxford players won twice and lost once, and therefore the day ended in what the Oxford captain called “an honourable draw”, the scores in games three a piece. The Oxford team still have a number of home friendlies throughout term, but the main focus will be the Longman Cup, in which their first challenge will be an away fixture in Bristol, and of course the Varsity match, both of which will take place in June.
ARCHIVE: 3rd Week TT 2003

While Oxford failed to dominate the medals at this weeks BUSA 10 mile cycling time trial, 17 of the 61 finishers were from OUCC. This particular race format is a solo effort against the clock, where competitors ride flat-out over a given distance. The event was organised by the Oxford club. The race was won by favorite Sam Barker of Luton University in a time of 21:01 (an average speed of over 28mph). OUCC had hopes of a medal from star rider, Danny Axford (St. Cross), but these were dashed when Axford’s crank came loose and fell off within the first three miles. Oxford’s pride rested on Alex Rowe (Queen’s) who came home eleventh. Rowe together with first year Simon Harding (St. Catz) and OUCC stalwart Kevin Backhouse (Lincoln) finished third in the team competition. This adds a second BUSA medal to the gold won by the trio of Axford, Harding and Rowe in the team time trial held near Alcester in April. The women’s event was more of a success for Oxford as Samantha Van Gerbig (Queens) placed second with a time of 25:53. Van Gerbig was beaten only by Cambridge’s Rachel Horn who hammered through the finish line in a blistering time of 23:59. The Varsity match (17th May) is eagerly awaited as both Oxford and Cambridge have won BUSA golds this season.
ARCHIVE: 3rd Week TT 2003

A solid team performance and some stunning individual successes characterised a victorious weekend for the Oxford University Company of Archers, in the last tournament of the BUTTS League. Three wins in the five previous legs, at Warwick, Birmingham, Loughborough, Nottingham and Oxford, had left the experienced team requiring only third place in order to win the League title: instead, another impressive victory left the opposition standing. Oxford’s Ben Huckvale added his remarkable record in this competition with a fourth win, to complete a full house of medals from six competitions. With a significant fourteen-point gap over his nearest rival, he outclassed a struggling men’s field which seemed unable combat the poor conditions. “Like any sport the main problem is getting focused right from the start,” he told Cherwell. “I just hope the pressure works for me at the Varsity Match too. I need to be a match for Cambridge’s James Keogh if we are to stand a chance of winning.” Huckvale’s Varsity concerns are especially valid considering the absence of Saturday’s novice winner, Oliver Brown. Brown smashed the BUTTS men’s novice record twenty points to win the competition and take an outstanding third place in the experienced field. Jakob Heidbrink closely followed him second place, and Cath Roberts was second in the ladies event as Oxford drew even further away in the combined medals table. The experienced team Huckvale, Brown, Andrew Tustian and Heidbrink amassed a total score of 2180 points to secure a comfortable margin of victory over second placed Warwick. The novice team of Brown, Heidbrink, Rachel Turvey and Laura Watkins finished a slightly disappointing fourth, their good results in the last five competitions ensured a creditable second place in the Novice League. The Varsity competition expected to be very close, with many of Cambridge’s ‘big guns’ absent last weekend. If Oxford match their performance Saturday, however, the Tabs may have more to deal with than they bargained for: as club Secretary Laura Denney warns, “Oxford have proved themselves a consistently strong team, which bodes well Varsity next week”.
ARCHIVE: 3rd Week TT 2003

Oxford football, not usually a college pursuit associated with gender equality, presented a surprise result as a mixed BNC team won the RAG five-a-side competition held on Sunday. The Brasenose Second squad advanced further than the college men’s team to beat Balliol with a ‘golden-goal’ in the final. The victorious BNC team defeated Hertford and St. Hugh’s teams with consistent 3-1 wins in Pool H, having been drawn to play late in the group stages. Without time to rest, BNC snatched a 2-1 victory in a challenging quarter final against a talented Somerville squad. The large Balliol representation ensured an all-Balliol quarter-final when the College’s first and second team fought a surprisingly aggressive game. Despite the second team having had greater success at the group stage, they were unable to exploit this mental advantage as Balliol’s premier squad won 4-2 on penalties. In group 2, Mansfield’s Leigh Rangers rose to challenge BNC’s Men’s team in their quarter-final thanks to the sharp shooting of Taj Uddin. The work rate of Leigh’s midfield strongman, Riaz Ahmad, was phenomenal but Ryan Amesbury narrowly missed their only real opportunity in the second minute of extra-time, allowing BNC Men’s to score the vital winning goal. The Balliol Firsts Brasenose Men’s semi drew a large crowd as Balliol profitably battled to prevent a BNC dominated final. Whilst warm sunshine blessed the bulk of the competition, atmosphere of the aggressively emotional final was enhanced the weather turned upon the finalists. Despite a match full opportunities both teams failed find the necessary height to score in the first-half. Another goalless ten minutes necessitated the referee’s announcement of golden-goal extra-time. Although Brasenose, based upon their earlier performances, had been expected to win, such a result seemed unlikely Balliol dominated possession the ball. Three minutes in, BNC’s David Hollowday celebrated victory as his shot placed the ball firmly between the posts. However referee disallowed the goal height grounds. Nonetheless this gave Brasenose the added confidence to score a well-placed goal shortly after to secure their position as RAG champions 2002. The annual sports event attracted a record 26 teams, representing over a dozen colleges, to compete and raise money for RAG Week.
ARCHIVE: 3rd Week TT 2003

Feeling left out of the Oxford tradition of racing hard-shelled creatures, Lincoln have established an official committee to investigate the acquisition of a tortoise. The pet will be trained as a super-athlete but will still not be able to run away as quickly as the college cat which scampered last term. JCR President, Philip Bownes, said the project would be long-term as it is important to “evaluate the whole thing properly” before taking on a new and reliable pet. It is hoped that the purchase will be ready for action in next year’s races.
ARCHIVE: 2nd Week TT 2003

Corpus Christi’s JCR meeting proved more pleasurable than most at the weekend after being exchanged for Pimms and strawberries in the garden. With only one financial motion, it was decided to put JCR money to good use, buy some alcohol and move proceedings outside. Some members, though, condemned the action as ‘unconstitutional’, evidently preferring to stifle in the grips of debate than enjoy the delights of summer.
ARCHIVE: 2nd Week TT 2003

Suscpicious students at Brasenose submitted a motion to their JCR revealing the true nature of Chris Patten’s election as Chancellor. Condemning his victory as a ‘tab conspiracy’ they proposed a replacement should be nominated immediately. Due to having strong leadership skills and currently being unemployed, Saddam Hussein was voted in overwhelmingly. However, despite unveiling the plot from Cambridge, students are thought to be sceptical about the legitimacy of their alternative leader.
ARCHIVE: 2nd Week TT 2003

Mansfield students are delighted by the return of two ducks who use the quad for dating and mating. But some undergraduates are worried about the fidelity of the loving couple after witnessing the female strut her featherered tail with a mallard intruder. The female apparently thought her actions had gone unnoticed while her partner was absorbed in watching croquet.
ARCHIVE: 2nd Week TT 2003

Oxford dons have reacted furiously to a proposal to boycott all relations with Israeli academics. The motion, being put to the Association of University Teachers, urges teachers to “sever any academic links with official Israeli institutions” in protest at the country’s “repeated breaches of UN resolutions and Geneva Conventions”. Emanuele Ottolenghi, a lecturer from St Antony’s College, is horrified by the plans. “If what they want is compliance with UN resolutions, they should acknowledge that Israel is not the only villain – both sides break resolutions.” He claims that the supporters of the boycott are anti-Semitic, attacking Israel purely for what it is, not for what it does. “I don’t hear anyone calling for a boycott of Russian academics because of Chechnya, or Egyptian ones because of the domestic slavery there. No one tried to block Yugoslavian academics in the nineties. Why the double standards, singling out Israel now? They are acting with an exquisitely political intent.” Ottolenghi’s main complaint is that any academic boycott is wrong in principle. “Universities are engaged in scientific research, which produces knowledge,” he told Cherwell. “Knowledge is a shared patrimony of all humankind, and research has no passport. Boycotting places of knowledge and research attacks the essence of society. Universities are not part of the policies of the government of the country in which they reside.” Richard Gold, co-President of the University Jewish Society, expressed his “outrage that the highly influential AUT is calling for this boycott. Leaving aside the question of whether an academic boycott can ever be justified, it is incomprehensible why Israel alone should be attacked in this way.” Academic boycotts are not a new concept. In 1965 almost five hundred British lecturers pledged not to accept or apply for jobs at South African universities, and many claimed that this move made a real difference in bringing apartheid to an end. Sue Blackwell, the Birmingham University lecturer who proposed the motion, defended her stance. “I am not an anti-Semite,” she insisted. “On the contrary I am an active anti-racist as my colleagues, students and friends will attest. I am an anti-Zionist: Zionism is a political philosophy which some people choose for themselves to adopt, just like Thatcherism, liberalism or Marxism. I think it’s fair game to criticise people for their political beliefs: people criticize mine all the time!” In July last year the Palestinian group Hamas launched a terrorist attack on the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Nine Israelis and Americans were killed. Ottolenghi is worried that those proposing a boycott will be taking sides with the terrorists against the university, and making learning a target.
ARCHIVE: 2nd Week TT 2003