Varsity contest threatened by flurry of BUCS rearrangements
The annual Varsity competition against York St. John, scheduled for February 25th, has been thrown into doubt following the recent freezing weather conditions, which have necessitated the rearrangement of BUCS fixtures for many of York’s sports teams. Postponed league fixtures or progress to the later stages of the BUCS Cup for the rugby, football, hockey, tennis, volleyball and badminton teams has prompted uncertainty over what form the tournament will take, with a slimmed down version likely.
York Sport President Alex Lacy circulated an e-mail on February 6th informing clubs which traditionally participate in Varsity that BUCS fixtures will take preference, citing the late start to term and the recent bad weather, which forced the cancellation of all outdoor fixtures last Wednesday.
Many clubs are experiencing a considerable backlog in fixtures, with many balancing league and cup matches, and may be forced to play both on Wednesday and at weekends to complete their seasons before the Easter holiday. Although many teams remain in the dark about forthcoming fixtures, there is a high possibility that February 25th will be used to accommodate rearrangements.
The men’s firsts football team have six fixtures to complete in the BUCS Northern Conference 2B before term ends on March 20th, as well as matches in the Northern Universities’ League and the BUCS Cup, where they travel to Leeds Met in the quarter-final stage. Similarly, the women’s first team must complete six league fixtures, in addition to their NUL commitments. Team captain Matt Witherwick said, “it is a shame if the match is cancelled, but Varsity is never really a huge priority for us.”
“I would much rather my team concentrate solely on our upcoming fixtures in BUCS that are going to make or break our season,” he added.
Having seen their midweek game against Hull postponed, the men’s rugby firsts, chasing promotion from league 2B, face a barrage of fixtures in a tough title run-in, including successive away trips to Teesside, Huddersfield and Sheffield. Mike Callis, first team captain, echoed the sentiments of his football counterpart, prefering to concentrate on more important league fixtures, with the seconds team scheduled to play St. John on that day anyway, counting for points in both the league and Varsity. The women’s volleyball side, who could have a BUCS Cup semi-final fixture on February 25th, joined the consensus. “Although Varsity was good fun last year and we wouldn’t like to miss the chance to play an additional match, personally i would consider the BUCS Cup game more important,” said captain Lisa Breitschuh.
The men’s hockey team have already seen Wednesday’s fixture at Leeds University called off because of a frozen pitch and now face a tougher relegation battle with the fixtures mounting up.
Lacy remained confident that Varsity would go ahead, despite the problems, “we’ll still have Varsity, but the hit to fixtures is a real shame. I think in coming years we should consider holding it on a weekend.”
York, undefeated throughout the competition’s history, were convincing 55-16 victors in 2008. There is a strong possibility that further cancellations to sports fixtures this week, when inclement weather conditions are again expected, will exacerbate the situation. Varsity has always been inferior to the annual Roses competition in terms of competitors, but often provides a useful barometer.
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Good to see York doing well. I used to go to St Peters actually – and we would play hockey no matter how frozen the pitch was. I promise.