Sheffield Varsity 2012

Good Evening Sports Fans!

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a sport and exercise science student at Sheffield Hallam University. I've competed (to varying degrees) in football, tennis, rugby league, ice hockey, and lacrosse and I've tried my hand at many other things (probably some you've never even heard of). To put it another way - I'm quite passionate about sport and leisure.

For University students in the city of Sheffield we are currently approaching the halfway stage of THE biggest sporting week of the whole academic year and I am lay in my bed, at home, in Warrington, completely oblivious to the entire thing. In this post I will do my utmost to explain the reasons why.....

Let me take you back to this time last year: It's the first day of Varsity 2011 and I'm rubbing my eyes and washing my wheetabix down with a cold, refreshing, lager. The sun is shining, the birds are tweeting and an excited housemate is brushing maroon and white warpaint on to my cheeks. I was about to spectate 7 days of drama, passion and revelling in my university community.

Over the week that followed I had the time of my life following my fellow students as they went to war with the black and gold clad soilders from up the hill. I drank, sang, celebrated and mourned with the people around me, swept-up by the occassion and swelling with pride to be part of such a success story.

See, deep down, the sports geek inside me wasn't that interested in the overall score - I was looking around me and seeing a community coming together - maroon, white, black, gold, smart, sexy, good, bad, ugly all sharing in the same spirit. For me, this is the beauty of sport; I've always believed that sport is one of the few places we can leave all of the baggage behind - yes there are rivalries, yes there is tension, yes there are winners and losers... But amongst true sportsmen, and true spectators, there is always respect.

And respect is exactly what I had for every single person involved with Varsity 2011. Every player, every spectator (even the **** with the megaphone at the aquatics centre) and, perhaps, most importantly of all every organiser.

Not this year. This year it's all been a little bit farcical.....

I'm a bit sour because I will never compete in a university varsity event. Last year I missed out on the opportunity to play in Ice Hockey varsity (my sport of choice) due to being on work placement. This year I was told I had a game (Lacrosse 2nd Team Varisty - it even says so on all of the varsity t-shirts) only for it to be cancelled.... only to be told it was back on ("and by the way you owe us £80 if you want to play") only to be told it was cancelled again just one week before I was due to play.

Having been told that our opponents had pulled out of our fixture we were then informed that we were no longer getting players wristbands and would have to fork out £3 for the priveledge of watching all the other teams who's games hadn't been cancelled. Nice gesture Hallam, thanks.

This is the second thing which has irked me about this years varsity... the price. This year, I believe I am correct in saying, Varsity is being spread over more venues (19) than ever and there are some impressive venues on the list... but that all comes at a price:

Ice Hockey: £3 + travel
Ski Village Day: £6 + travel
Abbeydale Day: £3 + travel
Don Valley Rugby: £3 + travel
Boxing: £5
Football: £4 + travel

A total ticket cost of £26 might not seem too expensive but this is  a significant increase on last years price (closer to £15) and does not include travel costs which total £10 assuming £1 each way for every journey with the exception of boxing (which is hosted close enough to walk from most student accomodation)

If I want just one beer at every event and a burger at the two events which last more than 4 hours I can expect to spend an extra £24 (at least) and all of a sudden I'm £60 out of pocket (and if you want to see a steward treat you like an international terrorist try taking a bottle of cordial into Abbeydale in your hockey bag so that you have something to hydrate yourself during a game - I kid you not, they confiscated one of the competitors energy drinks and he had to purchase a lucozade from the bar).

In my opinion the problem lies with the business model of the event. Currently it is organised by the (not-for profit) unions at as small a cost as possible. However, events are run by the venues, which are in the business of providing entertainment to the general public for extortionate prices and are happy to hire stewards to make sure you spend your student loan on pricey refreshments and 40p on tap water (you're paying for the plastic cup if your lawyer asks).

In the past, the novelty factor of travelling to Hillsborough for a university event made it all worthwhile. One day a year of getting on a tram packed full of singing students, walking up to a football stadium surrounded by your peers and taking in the spectacle of university level football in a professional environment. Infact, you got the experience twice a year with, the jewel in winter varsities crown, ice hockey, getting a date and venue all to itself in late February and that was fine because many enjoyed the unfamiliarity of taking in a non-traditional sport. But, I fear, with the introduction of more individual events (Rugby Union 1st teams at Don Valley Stadium) and the added ticket, travel and refreshment costs, that this novelty is wearing thin.

Which brings me to the trigger which sparked this post. As Abbeydale day came to a close on Wednesday I saw the Hallam University Sports Officer walking past. I asked him what the current overall varsity score was, and, to my own bemusement he was unable to tell me. At the time I assumed that Hallam were significantly behind our rivals and concluded that this was why he had chosen not to divuldge the information.

Turns out that the reason might be EVEN more cynical that that! The news coming out of Sheffield University today is that their sports officer has put a ban on all live reports of individual game scores and any reporting what-so-ever of the overall points score. Further to this, there are to be no press passes handed out to SU media at Hillsborough to ensure that there is no footage recorded of the game.

Initially I assumed this was down to an internal fued on a personal level but evidence would suggest that it is infact a ploy to try and ensure that as many people as possible attend the grand finale at Hillsborough (where the overall points score will finally be revealed).

Seems like quite a cynical move by a not-for-profit organisation (and I'd be interested to explore the legality of it if it was worth my while). And the irony is that it has made me considerably less interested in the entire thing. Everything that I fell in love with in 2011 - the community spirit, an entire city united for one week by my biggest passion, the buzz in the corridors of people asking eachother for updates and discussing previous days action has been destroyed.

Apparently, the sports officers of Sheffield Student Unions' believe sport should be exclusive to only those who have the time and the money to travel to 19 different venues and witness 68 different fixtures (many of which are occuring simultaneously) over 8 days. Apparently, the priveledge, which is university sport, is reserved only for those 150 people who manage to get hold of one of the restricted capacity tickets for abbeydale or for the people who get hold of the (also significantly reduced capacity) tickets for hillsborough.

The Sheffield Student Union Sports Officers have got it all wrong. Sport is for everybody. Sport can unite a school, a village, a town, a city... Sport can unite the entire world (look at the global response to the recent tragic events at White Heart Lane). So this is an open plea to anybody brave enough to accept that what is happening at varsity this year is wrong...

Move away from the commercialised, money-making nonsense and bring sport back to the masses - put the enjoyment back into varsity for EVERYBODY, not just the players and the die hard support. Bring the community back together. Make me proud to be part of my university. Make me proud to be a Student in the city of Sheffield again.