gair rhydd
Monday April 27th | freeword | Issue 1051
Varsity Special
RUGBY: 22-27
SHIELD: 13-25
WINNERS: CARDIFF
Get the full results in our Varsity special pull-out
THE FREE WORD
EDITOR
Michael O’Connell-Davidson
GAIR RHYDD CO-ORDINATOR
Elaine Morgan
NEWS
Georgia Hamer
Katie Evans
Alexander Norton
Anna Lewis
ADVICE
Kirsty Fardell
COMMENT
Anne Porter
Gareth Evans
Olivier van den Bent-Kelly
COLUMNIST
Jason Roberts
POLITICS
Carwyn Williams
Lauren Boyd
Rhiannon Tapp
SCIENCE
Shanna Hamilton
Meryon Roderick
SOCIETIES
Hannah Sterritt
PARK LIFE
Vidya Brainerd
TAF-OD
Steffan Bryn Jones
Morgan Owen
SPORT
David Hooson
Rory Benson
Joe Atkinson
This referendum must bind
This week marks the opening of a rare Cardiﬀ Students’ Union referendum. After an unsuccessful
senate motion, Steﬀan Bryn Jones successfully petitioned the Union to hold a vote on whether or not we
should have a full-time Welsh language oﬃcer.
While there is no requirement for newspapers
to be impartial, it would be wrong for me to take a
stance on the matter; Gair Rhydd is a public service,
and I do not feel as though it would be appropriate for me to take an ideological stance beneath the
masthead of this newspaper.
What I would say, however, is that I have a great
degree of admiration for Steﬀan’s genuine passion for
the Welsh language and culture. It is no exaggeration
to say that this referendum comes very much from
the heart as far as Steﬀan is concerned, and it leaves
me very happy indeed to see Union politics reﬂecting
what students actually think and what they actually
care about.
Regardless of the outcome of this referendum, this
organisation could do with more people like Steﬀan
- people who care deeply about issues closely tied to
their identity, rather than people who push their ideology for sport. This is not to say that Steﬀan is the
only one, as that is evidently untrue. But the world
could always do with more people who care.
Since coming to Wales, I have learned a great deal
about a culture that I had received eﬀectively no
exposure to before now. It gave me a very diﬀerent
picture of matters concerning the Union; I feel that I
would have been very dismissive of the referendum
on Scottish Independence if I still lived in the south
of England, simply because I had no understanding
of the cultures that make up this country’s social fabric.
I will return to England soon; I am set to graduate
very shortly, and given the path that people in my
trade normally take, it is unfortunately unlikely that
I will return to Wales in the foreseeable future. And
yet I feel like I can say that I have at least come to
understand this nation a little better. I have come to
understand why devolution matters, and why people
still speak the Welsh language. I feel like I understand
a little better what Wales is, and where it sits alongside Scotland and England. I dare not to speak further, because I am no expert, but I have become very
fond of Wales, and I will miss this nation a great deal.
But I fear that I am in the minority. Don’t get me
wrong: I am sure much of the University cohort hailing from the rest of the world has grown fond of all
that Wales has to oﬀer. I am less sure, however, that
they have had ample opportunity to get to know and
understand Wales the way that I have.
One of my housemates (who I met in Freshers’
Week and stuck with ever since) has done a fantastic job of introducing me to Wales and its present
cultural and political landscape. Living in close proximity to somebody as engaged as he is with policy
and process has helped me bridge a gap in my understanding that I may otherwise have found insurmountable.
I feel as though I am in an enviable position. If everybody left Cardiﬀ University and they felt like this
- that they understood modern Wales as it related
to the UK and the wider world, then that would be
something above and beyond what other universities oﬀer their students. But I am not sure that this
happens with any frequency, and I do not fully understand why; it seems as though there is a sort of
subconscious recalcitrance among my English peers
to engage with Wales as it exists today. This is seldom
spoken about, and I tread uncertain ground doing so
- but I do so with only good intentions.
Many students go on a year abroad, and, upon returning, cannot shut up about their time away. Uniformly, they pretend to understand the world they
spent time living in: “oh, I went to Germany, and let
me tell you - they do this, this and this...”
Yet many English students at Cardiﬀ seem ambivalent towards their time in Wales, as though there
is nothing to understand. Perhaps this is because
Cardiﬀ is a very “British” city, and hosts a number
of decidedly “British” universities. But that does not
mean there is a void of things to get your teeth into
as somebody who wishes to embrace Wales as it is
today.
I am not saying that a Welsh language oﬃcer would
immediately bolster the understanding of Wales
and its culture amongst the student body. Perhaps
it would do nothing of the sort. But I am very open
to this referendum because it has aﬀorded Cardiﬀ
University students a reason to think about how they
want the Union (and perhaps the University, given
that Sabbatical oﬃcers are tasked with lobbying the
University) to approach the Welsh language. I can get
behind anything that starts a conversation, and I feel
like this is a conversation that’s worth having.
And that’s why this referendum must bind. Both
the yes and no campaign seem to agree that Welsh
language provision at the University is simply not
good enough. This shared point of view is good, and
lends itself well to co-operation whatever the outcome; if a Welsh language oﬃcer is something students believe will beneﬁt our collective understanding of the Welsh identity, then so be it. If it doesn’t,
then there will be enough interested parties to keep
pushing for the University to do better, and that represents a massive step forward.
Cardiﬀ Students’ Union referenda require 1,500
votes to be binding, and it would be a terrible shame
if this referendum did not attract enough attention
to make a diﬀerence. Such an outcome would leave
too many unanswered questions; neither side would
be satisﬁed regardless how many votes they received
relative to the other, and this opportunity for action
will be missed.
What we need is a way forward, and if this referendum has enough votes, then we’ll have a picture
of what that might look like as early as Friday. If you
care about the Welsh language, the Welsh culture,
and the Welsh identity, then you should vote. It’s
our responsibility to future Cardiﬀ students to set a
course that might beneﬁt them; if that doesn’t motivate you to add your voice to the conversation, then
what will?
- MOCD
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Sum Sze Tam
DIGITAL EDITORS
Jordan Adams
Gregory McChesney
SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR
Maria Mellor
EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS
Jack Boyce
Eleanor Parkyn
Want to join the team?
Editorial conferences are each
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takes place on Thursdays at
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print weeks.
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At Gair Rhydd we take seriously our responsibility to maintain the highest possible standards.
Sometimes, because of deadline pressures,
we may make some mistakes. If you believe
we have fallen below the standards we seek
to uphold, please email [email protected].
You can view our Ethical Policy Statement and
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Opinions expressed in editorials are not reflective
of Cardiff Students’ Union, who act as the
publisher of Gair Rhydd in legal terms, and
should not be considered official communications
or the organisation’s stance. Gair Rhydd is a post
office registered newspaper.
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: GAIR RHYDD 332
03/5/1989
Put down that Rubik’s Cube, unplug your Sony Walkman
and stop trying to dance battle me. I’ve told you before
and I’ll tell you again: I’m just not interested.
What am I on about? What are YOU on about?! It’s
May 1989, at least for the purposes of this exalted feature,
and we’ve got another jam-packed issue of Gair Rhydd
(No. 332) to leaf through. Don’t bother trying to visit our
website, we’re waiting on Tim Berners-Lee there.
The exclusively paper-based publication of a quarter
of a century ago didn’t lack moxie: under the prominent masthead it announces to the prospective reader
that it is “a fucking good read”. These days we’re (we
hope) a little more subtle in our self-promotion.
Once beyond the succinctly-titled ‘Timetable Trouble’ story that dominates the front page (the students
of the day weren’t too happy to receive their exam
schedules a full eight weeks late) we ﬁnd a veritable
time capsule of content. Inside this dog-eared issue is
the starkest guide to the eﬀects of twenty-ﬁve years of
Tory/Labour power swapping that you’re ever likely to
see; with the unoﬃcial arrival of the student loan system is alleged to be shouldering students with debts
that could often exceed “one hundred pounds a year”.
Now, a middling A-Level in Economics gave me
the basics of inﬂation - a hundred pounds, back in the
day, was a fair wad of cash. But not as much as nine
thousand pounds today. Sorry, students of yesteryear,
but you didn’t know you were born.
Yet whilst our ﬁnancial disparity rankles, in other ar-
eas there’s a little more to relate to. In a guide to the burgeoning appetite for ‘real ale’ supported by the statement
that “Beer for the moment has become not just a ﬁeld of
knowledge but aggressive knowledgeability to anyone
who’s been to Urban Tap House (or one of the many establishments of a similar ilk dotted around our streets)
of late will conﬁrm that these pockets of aggression have
mutated into an epidemic of violent hipsterdom”. But I
quite like craft beer, so I’ll leave it.
In sport, Cardiﬀ City were reported to have eased
their fears of relegation with a 2-0 victory over Southend United. So it proved, as the Bluebirds ﬁnished a
credible sixteenth - only to plummet to the nadir of
Division 4 at the end of the following season.
The small ads also provide an interesting insight
into the editorial approach of the day; alongside offers of word processing and canvassing appeals there
is a call-to-arms for budding psychonauts with ‘Transcendental Meditation’; an ‘easy learnt technique’ that
can help you capture that ever-elusive ‘enjoyment of
life’. For more information, feel free to contact the
omniscient guru known as… Diane.
A further advert struck a very diﬀerent tone - it
simply reads “Red head and rubber shorts. See PL
block for expert attention.” We can only speculate.
Well, that was interesting and enlightening in equal
measure. I see you’ve ﬁnished your pot noodle. You’re
oﬀ, are you? Mind your hair on the way out.
- AN
3
EDITORIAL
Campus In Brief
Alexander
Norton
The nineteenth Welsh Varsity happened. What? You
missed it? Well, it was relatively easy to dodge the
hullabaloo on the basis that organisers decided that
the event should be held in Swansea. Despite this
unpleasant turn of events, both Cardiﬀ ’s sporting
representatives and their enthusiastic fans were in
fantastic form – the men and women in red claiming
victory in twenty-three of the thirty-ﬁve sports to
retain the shield and, for the ﬁrst time since 2012,
beating their bitterest rivals 22-27 in the centrepiece
men’s rugby match.
Back in the civilised world, potential voters
attended a debate focused upon the forthcoming
referendum over proposed creation of a full time
sabbatical oﬃcer for the Welsh language. Current
(part-time) Welsh Language Oﬃcer Steﬀan Bryn
Jones spoke in favour, whilst outgoing VP Education
Rhys Jenkins spoke against. The ﬁve-day voting
period is set to open on Monday, 27th April.
Cardiﬀ University scientists have established the
root cause of asthma – the calcium sensing receptor.
The breakthrough discovery, which has attracted
worldwide media attention, has provoked hopes
that a cure could be established within ﬁve years.
The condition aﬀects around three hundred million
people worldwide; almost one hundred times the
population of Wales.
Left-wing Guardian columnist Owen Jones took
to the steps of Cardiﬀ University Students’ Union
to announce his support for “anti-Trident” Labour
parliamentary candidate Jo Stevens. The latter is
attempting to unseat Liberal Democrat incumbent
Jenny Willott in what is one of Labour’s most highly
prized seats for the upcoming general election.
Cardiﬀ ’s blooming lovely. Okay, it’s not the hottest
news story – but anyone who’s taken a stroll through
Alexandra Gardens will have been impressed
with the daﬀodils, tulips and cherry blossom now
adorning Cathays Park. With summer seemingly
arriving early, take that cursed coursebook out there
and enjoy it.
National
Her Majesty the Queen celebrated one of her two
birthdays – her real one. She turned eighty-nine
on 21st April, and is the world’s oldest reigning
monarch. The occasion was marked by military gun
salutes at each of the UK’s four capitals, with Wales’
commemoration taking place at Cardiﬀ Castle.
In terms of the leaders we’re allowed to elect, the
polls continue to show that the Conservatives and
Labour are separated by the tightest of margins.
According to polling organisation YouGov (as of the
day of writing) Labour are enjoying a lead of just one
point – meaning that the next parliament is set to be
well hung, as it were.
Former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has
revealed that he suﬀered a cancer scare just days prior
to landing a punch on producer Oisin Tymon. The
presenter, 55, made the admission in a newspaper
column in the wake of his departure from the BBC
– but promised that he “will do another car show”.
A resurgent Aston Villa stunned Liverpool by
coming from a goal down to record a 2-1 victory in
the second FA Cup semi-ﬁnal at Wembley, where
they will face holders Arsenal. The result ended
former England captain Steven Gerrard’s hopes of
ending his seventeen year stint at Liverpool with a
piece of silverware.
Good news, imminent graduates. The UK
unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level
since July 2008, now standing at 1.84million or 5.6%.
That represents the highest ever number of people
in work in Britain, but concerns remain that newly
created roles are on low pay or zero-hours contracts.
Supermarket behemoth Tesco has announced a
record £6.4bn loss, the majority of which was derived
from the falling value of its property portfolio. The
ﬁrm, founded in 1919, will now close or cancel 92
(largely rural or out-of-town) stores in attempt to
stem the losses.
International
After last week’s capsizing of a migrant boat left four
hundred people missing in the Mediterranean, a
number of similar incidents have sent the estimated
death toll soaring – the most signiﬁcant of which saw
eight hundred people presumed to have perished oﬀ
the coast of Libya on 19th April.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has drawn
admiration and ire in equal measure after being
recorded drinking ‘a schooner’ (around two thirds
of a pint) of beer in a little over seven seconds as
he watched Aussie Rules football at a bar in Sydney.
A former Auschwitz guard has admitted that he is
“morally guilty” on the 300,000 counts of accessory
to murder with which he is being charged. The trial
of the ninety-three year old, who arrived at the
concentration camp at the age of twenty-one, is
likely to be amongst the last of its kind.
A US drone attack killed two hostages (an
American and an Italian) despite being targeted at
Al-Qaeda militants, President Barack Obama has
admitted. The Commander-In-Chief expressed his
“profound regret” over the incident, which is the ﬁrst
known instance of American drones taking innocent
lives.
General sale tickets for the landmark ﬁght between
boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao – of
which only one thousand were available to the public
– sold out almost instantaneously, with attendance
at the much anticipated encounter now being priced
at as much as £47,000 by touts.
A Michigan woman has been sentenced to a
minimum of three years in jail after discharging
a ﬁrearm at fast food restaurant McDonald’s in
response to being twice served a cheeseburger
without bacon. Shaneka Torres, 30, had complained
on the ﬁrst occasion and was oﬀered a complimentary
burger. She returned to claim it hours later, but this
time reacted less savagely.
Pictured:
Australian
Prime Minister
Tony Abbott,
presumably
rehearsing
his feat.
(Photographer:
thestar.com)
“
Labour are
enjoying a
lead of just
one point
- meaning
that the next
parliament
is set to be
well hung,
as it were
”
NEWS
tweet us @gairrhyddnews
email us [email protected]
or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/news
Welsh language referendum debate heats up
Full-time position scrutinised by students and oﬃcers
Katie Evans
“
Every student
has the right
to a bilingual
experience
[at Cardiff]
but we know
that’s not
possible
as things
stand at the
moment
Steffan Bryn
Jones
”
Anna Lewis
Pictured:
Cardiﬀ
University’s
Vice
Chancellor,
Professor Colin
Riordan
O
n Thursday, 23rd April, current part-time Welsh Language Officer, Steffan Bryn
Jones, came up against VP Education, Rhys Jenkins, and part-time
Postgrad Students’ Officer, Ollie
Wannell, to argue the case for the
creation of a full-time Welsh language sabbatical position.
Presenting their case to a halffilled lecture hall, Jenkins and Wannell represented the ‘Against’ campaign, whilst Jones was joined by
two fellow members of the Welshlanguage community in representing the ‘For’ campaign.
The referendum debate was held
to help students decide how to vote
in the up-coming referendum on
whether or not to appoint a Welsh
language sabbatical officer. Students will be able to cast their votes
between Monday 27th April and
Friday 1st May. However, unless a
quorum of 1500 votes is met, the
outcome of the referendum will not
be binding.
Certain sabbatical officers have
already made their feelings known
on the subject. Rhys Jenkins, VP
Education, has not withheld from
voicing his criticism of the proposed sabbatical position, claiming
it would demand time and resources that would be put to better use by
the current sabbatical team.
The debate last Thursday began
with an opening statement from
part-time Welsh Language Officer
Jones. “Every student has the right
to a bilingual experience [at Car-
diff ] but we know that’s not possible as things stand at the moment,”
said Jones, adding: “We need to
realise that right and turn it into a
reality.”
Jones stated that, given that Cardiff University has a greater number
of Welsh speakers than any other
university in the world, it reflects
badly on the Union that it doesn’t
employ a full-time Welsh language
officer, whilst Aberystwyth and
Bangor, two smaller Welsh universities, do just that.
Jones believes a Welsh Language
Officer would celebrate the cultural
diversity that exists in Cardiff and
would provide students with free
opportunities to learn or maintain
Welsh language skills.
Speaking for the ‘Against’ camp,
VP Education, Rhys Jenkins said
that, whilst he agreed with many
of Jones’ key issues on the need
for Welsh language provisions at
the University, he disagrees with
the method he is pushing to bring
about such changes, stating that a
new sabbatical position is unnecessary.
Jenkins has stated that a Welsh
language sabbatical officer would
not be able to carry out their duties
effectively, having to co-ordinate
with all seven current sabbatical
officers because the issue of the
Welsh language spreads across all
corners of Union life.
Jenkins continued to argue that
the Union is already taking steps
towards making the Union wholly
bilingual, citing the recent move
to employ a full-time translator for
events such as last week’s debate.
“We’ve already shown commitment
as a Union to the Welsh language”,
said Jenkins.
Postgrad Students’ Campaign Officer, Ollie Wannell, argued that,
rather than employ a Welsh language sabbatical officer, the issue
would best be served by a full-time
member of staff whose position
would be solely dedicated to coordinating Welsh language efforts.
Ethical and Environmental Campaign Officer, Daniel Roberts raised
issue with Wannell’s suggestion,
asking: “If it’s much better to have
staff rather than an officer [for
Welsh language] why do we have
officers for other positions?”
To the surprise of the audience,
Wannell questioned the effectiveness of the sabbatical team, openly
admitting that he would dissolve
the position of VP Societies and AU
President. “In my opinion, I don’t
think we need an elected Societies
Officer, we don’t need an elected
AU President. I probably wouldn’t
have them.”
Despite criticising the effectiveness of sabbatical officers, during
the most recent AMM (Annual
Members Meeting) held in November, Wannell successfully petitioned
for the creation of a VP Postgrad
Students position. The full-time
role was subsequently created and
will come into being in September,
with Katie Kelly treading new ter-
ritory as the first VP Postgrad Students’ Officer.
An audience member, alert to the
contradiction in Wannell’s argument, commented: “I thought it was
pretty inconsistent that you can argue for a Postgraduate Officer and
then argue against officers.”
He asked: “Why is it Postgraduate Officer can get things done for a
postgraduate but a Welsh language
officer couldn’t get things done for
Welsh leaners and Welsh speakers?”
Audience members questioned
the success of the Union’s bilingual
efforts, with one audience member
citing how the advertisement for
the evening’s debate was given on
the CUSU website in English alone.
Another student complained that,
despite being able to carry out his
assessments through the Welsh
language, all the literature and information of his course is given in
English, and he must, effectively,
work as his own translator.
The situation at the Heath is no
better according to one Heath Park
student, who described Welsh language provisions on the campus as
“awful”, adding “We need an officer
who will put the Welsh language
first and not as a last resort.”
In his closing statement, Jenkins
summarised the ‘Against’ argument, posing the question: “We
agree Welsh language provision
needs improving, we agree the Union isn’t there yet [...] the question
is methodology. Do you need a VP
to do it?”
“
We agree
Welsh
language
provision
needs
improving...
the question is
methodology.
Do you need a
VP to do it?
Rhys Jenkins
”
Keep up-todate with the
SU’s referendum on
the creation
of a Welsh
language
sabbatical
position: tweet
us at @gairrhydd using
the hashtag
#caerdyddref
Cardiﬀ amongst ﬁve nominated for Times Higher Education award
C
ardiﬀ University’s upper
management teams have been
nominated for prestigious
higher education awards by the
Times.
The
University’s
Executive
Board (UEB) has been shortlisted
for the Times Higher Education’s
Leadership
and
Management
Awards (THELMAS), amongst four
other universities.
The award, which is given to the
UK University able to show the
greatest extent of leadership and
management skills, will be awarded
during an annual awards ceremony
on June 18th in London.
The shortlists for the ceremony
also recognised the University’s
school of arts, humanities and
social sciences, nominated in
the Outstanding Departmental
Administration Team category.
Cardiﬀ library was nominated for
the Outstanding Library category
on behalf of Wales Higher Education
Libraries Forum (WHELF).
With three nominations, the
University has seen signiﬁcant
improvement, after failing to make
the shortlists last year.
The nominations have been
accredited by the University to their
new strategic plan named ‘The Way
Forward’. The initiative has included
improving areas such as research and
innovation, education, international
and engagement.
Cardiﬀ
University’s
ViceChancellor, Professor Colin Riordan,
said: “I am delighted that, thanks to
the eﬀorts of all staﬀ, the University’s
senior management team has been
ranked among the very best in the
sector from across the UK”.
“As a senior management team we
set ourselves the task of becoming a
top 20 UK University and one of the
world’s top 100.”
However, the news follows after
Gair Rhydd reported last week that
the University failed to make the top
20 universities in terms of student
satisfaction.
Currently, the University is
placed 23rd in the UK according to
the Complete University Guide and
123rd in the QS World University
Rankings.
Riordan continued: “The key to
delivering the change is ensuring
we take all our staﬀ and students
and our wider communities with us.
That is why I am particularly pleased
that the creative staﬀ engagement
workshops that we put in place to
make sure that staﬀ have a chance
to input directly into the process
has singled us out for speciﬁc
recognition.
“
The shortlist
also
recognised the
University’s
school of arts,
humanities
and social
sciences
”
5
NEWS
Dentistry school ‘oversight’ leads to graduate concerns
Bachelor degree’s legal status questioned by General Dental Council
Pictured:
Dentistry
students
at Cardiﬀ
University
Anna Lewis
A
‘technical issue’ identiﬁed
with Cardiﬀ University’s
Bachelor of Dental Surgery
(BDS) degree has caused the status
of 300 dentistry graduates to become
temporarily invalid, according to the
General Dental Council (GDC).
The GDC, in co-operation with
Cardiﬀ University has described the
entry of all graduates from 2010-2014
as ‘erroneous’, after it was discovered
that the University failed to acquire
the medical authority legal status required for the Dentists Act of 1984.
In what was termed ‘an oversight’
by the University, the mandatory legal status was only attained in 2014,
more than 50 years after the School
of Dentistry opened.
This proves a particular concern
for dentists working outside of the
UK, as the current qualiﬁcations issued to graduates do not include the
certiﬁcates needed to ensure the ‘appropriateness’ of the qualiﬁcation.
However, the University has been
quick to stress that the ‘technical’
nature of the issue does not reﬂect
negatively on the quality of the teaching at the school.
‘This is a technical issue (which
the University and GDC are working
jointly to resolve) and has nothing to
do with quality of teaching or Cardiﬀ Dental graduates competence to
practice dentistry’, a Cardiﬀ University spokesperson stated.
Students have also suggested that
despite the incident, trust towards
the Dentistry school remains high,
with the problem dealt with quickly
and eﬃciently.
In order to solve the issue, the 300
dentists aﬀected will be issued with
a new BDS qualiﬁcation on 1st May
2015.
The invalid registrations will be
removed from the GDC databases on
May 29th and replaced with a newly
qualiﬁed status.
During this transition period,
graduates will be able to continue
working and are registered as lawfully
qualiﬁed dentists. The University has
also assured those aﬀected that their
names will remain on the dental register throughout the process and that
no changes will be made to ongoing
professional development cycles.
As a result of the discovery, stu-
dents must complete a new registration form and hand it to the GDC no
later than May 8th in order to be reviewed. Failure to do so will result in
the Cardiﬀ University graduates being removed from the council’s register from May 29th.
Despite the University’s swift response to the situation however,
some graduates have been left disguntled by the development.
‘I feel as if the mistake lies with
both parties,’ one former Cardiﬀ student stated.
‘I don’t know why we need to be
involved in rectifying it. It leaves us
with a lot of uncertainty.’
However, the dentist concluded: ‘I
don’t think that [the situation] will
have an impact on me’.
“
The mandatory
legal status
was only
attained in
2014, more
than 50
years after
the School
of Dentistry
opened
”
Lack of working-class students criticised by Oxford Professor
Anna Lewis
Pictured:
Only twenty
per cent
of Cardiﬀ
students
are from a
working-class
background
C
ardiﬀ University has been criticised by a world-leading professor for its low percentage
admission of students from workingclass backgrounds.
According to Professor Ken Mayhew, economist and Emeritus Professor of Education at Pembroke College, Oxford University, only 20 per
cent of students at Cardiﬀ University
are from working-class backgrounds.
With only ten per cent more students categorised as ‘working-class’
than Oxford University, Mayhew
suggested that fewer students are
admitted to prestigious universities
including Cardiﬀ.
This is in comparison to Glyndŵr
University’s ﬁgure of 47 per cent of
‘working-class’ students.
Mayhew condemned the unequal
ratio of students from high and lowincome backgrounds at a three-day
economic symposium ending on
April 14th.
During his speech, he suggested
that the government spend more on
further education and shift funding
from early years and higher education budgets.
The professor concluded his speech
by recommending that the UK take
an approach to education similar the
Dutch vocational educational system,
comprising over 700 courses ranging
from one to four years in duration.
The speech took place as part of
a series of talks held by leading economic experts to discuss the economic development of Wales.
Prominent Cardiﬀ businessman
Mark Barry also condemned the Cardiﬀ University selection process, taking to social media to voice his support for Mayhew’s comments.
‘The selection process at ‘top’ universities is fundamentally ﬂawed and
overlooks too many ‘ordinary’ students’’, he said.
The condemnation follows statistics published in 2013, revealing
that children of professionals are 3.3
times more likely to attend Russell
Group universities than workingclass students.
Previously, the director-general of
the Russell Group blamed the issue
on a lack of access for students from
working-class backgrounds, suggesting that ‘“School attainment, advice
and aspirations must be dramatically
improved is we are to tackle the real
barriers to fair access.”
In a controversial move, it was also
suggested by politician Peter Brant
that students must “Be taught to
think and act like the middle classes
if they are to get into the best universities.”
However, in a rebuttal against
Mayhew’s condemnation of Cardiﬀ
University, a spokesperson has stated
that the institution “Recognise the
importance of achieving a diverse
and talented student community.”
The University stated that a ‘contextual admissions model’ is set in
place in order to take into the social
background of applicants into account.
The University also reassured Gair
Rhydd that the recruitment of ‘students from lower socio-economic
groups’ in Cardiﬀ remains similar to
levels within other Russell Group institutions.
“
The selection
process
at the top
[universities]
is
fundamentally
flawed and
overlooks too
many ‘ordinary
students’
Mark Barry
”
NEWS
6
NUS National Conference: criticism as delegates
vote against full-time Transgender Oﬃcer position
Katie Evans
Anna Lewis
A
motion to create a full-time
Transgender Oﬃcer position
was voted down at the NUS
National Conference last week,
sparking criticism among student
LGBT+ campaigners.
Students and LGBT+ rights
activists took to Twitter to voice
their disappointment at the decision
and were clearly deﬂated with the
decision to reject the motion, with
one spectator tweeting: “Gutted to see
[the motion] fall when it’s so vitally
needed by TRANS students across the
country. It’s clearly unacceptable.”
Speaking to Gair Rhydd, next
year’s elected Women’s Oﬃcer
Rachael Melhuish expressed her
disappointment at the failure of the
motion, as she explained: “The NUS
Conference has missed what would
have been an amazing opportunity for
the representation of trans* students,
one of the most marginalised groups
within the LGBT+ community.”
“The students who abstained and
voted against the motion eﬀectively
rejected the autonomy of those trans*
students who brought the motion
forward. I hope the motion will be
brought to conference again next year
and will pass.”
The motion fell by less than 80 votes,
with 271 votes for, 194 votes against
and 79 abstentions. Voting took
place by secret ballot after audience
members voted to make their decision
with discretion.
However, this decision only fuelled
further criticism after the motion fell,
with critics claiming that the method
of voting allowed democratically
elected representatives to hide behind
their ballot sheet.
Pictured:
Megan Dunn,
the newly
elected NUS
President
Amongst those who took to Twitter
to criticise the secret ballot, one
activist tweeted: “Bigots, ashamed of
their bigotry, can now be spared being
seen,” whilst one student described the
ballot as “A load of rubbish, delegates
should surely be held accountable for
their votes.”
Delegates were also accused
of creating an atmosphere of
intimidation, as NUS Wales President
Beth Button tweeted: “It’s not ok that
delegates have chosen to leave the
hall for his debate because they’re
intimidated and scared to vote
publicly.”
However, the failure of the trans*
oﬃcer motion did not constitute the
only drama within the conference.
Further controversy within the
conference was caused as the event
was forced to stop twice after staﬀ
threatened to ‘withhold their services’
according to student publication The
Linc.
Following
NUS
regulations,
speakers are not permitted to talk
about staﬀ on stage. However, Lincoln
Students’ Union president Brian
Alcorn caused conference proceedings
to grind to a halt after criticising the
NUS for taking over a year to ﬁnd a
CEO.
Other events in the conference
included the election of NUS Oﬃcers
for the forthcoming year.
Megan Dunn, last year’s vicepresident for higher education, was
named as the new NUS President. In
a speech, Dunn promised to ﬁght for
free higher education and act against
the austerity and poverty crisis faced
by students.
The new NUS President also urged
delegates to be “Ready to stand up
alongside each other” in order to be
heard by the new government after
the election.
However, in order to achieve
improvement, Dunn warned that
the NUS must also face changes,
and suggested that greater support
be given to both campus unions and
national movements.
In what NUS delegates dubbed as a
“lurch to the left” with newly elected
NUS vice-presidents, motions were
also passed to condemn the record
of the coalition government and to
abolish student debt.
Continuing discussion of the
upcoming elections, the key-note
speech of the conference was taken by
Channel Four presenter Rick Edwards.
Addressing concerns about student
apathy, Edwards stated: “The idea
that young people don’t care is quite
frankly oﬀensive”.
Throughout the three-day event
which, was held in Liverpool, fringe
sessions were held throughout the
conference to discuss subjects at the
forefront of the student agenda.
The agenda featured subjects such
as low public trust in politicians, the
need to campaign against student
poverty, and concerns regarding the
newly introduced Counter-Terrorism
and Security Act.
The NUS conference also featured
a talk on the national minimum wage
for apprentices and a discussion about
religious freedom hosted by the Union
of Jewish students.
New legislation to
limit to-let signs
N
ew legislation means that letting agents will have to apply
for permission to put ‘to let’
signs on properties in Cathays.
This news follows a report by Gair
Rhydd last week about a spate of burglaries in the area.
An ongoing campaign to remove
the ‘unsightly’ boards raised concerns
that signs were labelling properties as
student houses making them more
susceptible to burglaries during the
holidays when many students leave
Cardiﬀ.
Over the Easter period South Wales
Police reported a record breaking 19
burglaries in the area.
The Welsh Government has removed presumed consent meaning
that letting agents will now have to
apply for permission to put ‘to let’
boards up in Cathays.
Permeant residents have been becoming increasing frustrated by the
boards which are routinely in place
throughout the year on an overwhelming number of properties in
the area.
The students
who abstained
and voted
against
the motion
effectively
rejected the
autonomy of
those
trans*
students
who
brought
the motion
forward
Rachael
Melhuish
”
Pictured:
Student agency
letting signs
Council crack down on
signs following student
accommodation break-ins
Georgia
Hamer
“
“
Campaigns by Cathays councillors
and politicians to cap the use of signs
have been ongoing in recent years and
it has now been announced that Cardiﬀ council will be given additional
controls over the boards.
As a result the council are within
their rights to restrict the size of
boards, introduce legislation which
requires them to sit ﬂat against properties and limit the amount of time
they can be put up for.
AM Jenny Rathbone said: “This
announcement by the Welsh Gov-
ernment means that estate agents
will no longer be able to deface our
streetscape with permanent lettings
boards long after the property has
been let.”
“They will have to apply for speciﬁc
planning permission along with everyone else and for a period of no more
than two months unless the property
remains empty.”
Cathays councillor Chris Weaver
added: “This is great news in Cathays
as we’ve had to put up with streets full
of these signs for far too long.”
An ongoing
campaign to
remove the
‘unsightly’
boards raised
concerns
that signs
were labelling
properties as
as student
properties
”
7
NEWS
Popular student eatery faces wrath of Wagamama
‘Hogamama’ hot dog sparks trademark dispute
Alexander
Norton
T
he Cardiﬀ University graduate
behind popular student eatery
‘Hogwurst’ is facing the
prospect of a crippling legal dispute
with restaurant chain Wagamama.
Hoa Dieu, who studied law and
is currently on sabbatical from the
profession, has had a trademark
application for his ‘Hogamama’
hotdog blocked by Wagamama’s legal
Pictured:
Hogwurst
situated on
the corner
of Blackweir
Terrace
(Source:
Gourment
Gorro)
representatives.
The owner had taken the £250 step
in order to protect the name of what
he calls “Our most popular dog”, with
pop-up eateries that are not associated
with the outlet currently free to
utilise it and capitalise on Hogwurst’s
growing reputation.
Wagamama are opposing the
application on the grounds that it is
likely to provoke “perceptions and
recollections” on their brand, there is
a “likelihood of confusion” and the hot
dog in question is “similar or related”
to their own product.
The latter charge is the one that
Dieu contests most strongly, pointing
out that “Wagamama don’t actually
sell hot dogs, their food is of a very
distinct cuisine and it’s not one that
we provide.”
“I was very surprised that they
wanted to pursue it, as the name of
a sausage at a small student café in
Wales is pretty inconsequential in
the context of their hundred outlet
empire,” he added.
However, he has not yet decided
whether to press ahead with the
trademark application, as the prospect
of a full blown legal battle could prove
ﬁnancially disastrous.
“There are certain elements of the
court system that mean even if I won
I could face thousands in costs; if we
lose and have to cover their costs then
it could sink us,” he admitted.
Hogwurst only opened at the start
of the academic year, replacing Italianinspired coﬀee shop ‘The College
House’ – although many of the student
staﬀ have remained, with the outlet
continuing to provide an acclaimed
selection of coﬀees.
It has drawn rave reviews from
local food enthusiasts, with the South
Wales Echo declaring that “You owe it
to yourself to visit Hogwurst”.
With the deadline for a decision on
whether to pursue the trademark due
in May and potentially ruinous risks to
weigh up, Dieu is yet to work out his
next step.
When asked why he was still
considering the continuation of his
application, he replied that it was
“almost a point of principle”.
“I think that when a company like
Wagamama threatens action against
a business of our size, quite a lot of a
time they expect them just to roll over.”
For the time being, the Hogamama
– which features reggae BBQ pulled
pork, apple slaw, crispy onions, crispy
crackling, mustard & ketchup –
remains on sale at £6.50.
The future of DC nightclub in question
“
I think that
when a
company like
Wagamama
threatens
action against
a business of
our size, they
expect [us]
just to roll over
Hoa Dieu,
Owner of
Hogwurst
”
Series of assaults and incidents of underage
drinking lead to license review
Georgia
Hamer
“
A further 15
incidents
relating to
public order
and other
alcohol
matters that
required police
attendance
were also
reported
”
T
he future of DC nightclub remains uncertain as police request the council review its
license.
South Wales Police have called
for the nightclub on Imperial Gate,
St Mary Street, to have its license
reviewed by the council’s licensing
committee following a series of incidents at the venue.
Since last June, 14 incidents relating to assaults have been reported on
the premises.
A further 15 incidents relating to
public order and other alcohol matters that required police attendance
were also reported within the same
period.
Police also reported that since
January, two instances of underage
drinking at the nightclub have been
recorded.
At present the review is out for
consultation until May 14th, after
which the matter will go before the
licensing sub-committee.
The club must decide which of six
forms of action they wish to take; they
may either take no action, modify
their license, exclude activities from
the license, removed the Designated
Premises Supervisor, suspend the li-
cense for a period of three months or
revoke the license.
Speaking to Wales Online, Managing Director Richard Jackson, defended the club stating that allegations of
underage drinking were in reference
to a 17-year-old who used her sister’s
passport which he claimed, “Would
have been accepted to ﬂy out of an
airport”.
He added: “DC has never failed a
test purchase.”
“With every incident there is of
course two sides to the story, however
a venue that has over 250,000 people a
year going into it will have a percent-
age of problems.”
Jackson claimed that the club is
working in partnership with South
Wales Police and have already had a
“positive meetings” and “Put action
plans in place to reduce crime and
disorder and the protection of children from harm”.
Pictured:
DC Nightclub
(Source: Wales
Online)
ADVICE
Welcome to our Advice section, where we
bring you tips for surviving Cardiff University life
Email us: [email protected]
Need some holiday inspiration?
From city breaks to activity holidays, here are all the diﬀerent ways
you can go the extra mile this summer on a student budget
Pictured:
Poda Island
Beach, a
popular
destination for
travellers in
Thailand
Kirsty Fardell
What do
you think?
Have your
say: advice@
gairrhydd.com
O
ne of the perks of being a
student is having the longest
summer break you will ever
have. It is fast approaching, and while
many of you will be taking up a part
time job to ﬁll the time, a holiday will
cap it all oﬀ nicely.
Many students chose to go
travelling during this time as you have
four months to spare – something
you will never get in a full time job.
Most students will only have two
summers of this length, so it’s worth
grabbing the opportunity to have a
holiday in a holiday and experience
things you’ve never done before.
Start The Adventure (STA) Travel
specialise in helping students to plan
and book a travelling experience.
They are able to ﬁnd you the best deals
at the best prices and can organise a
trip for a ﬁrst-time traveller to ensure
you don’t miss out.
Their famous ‘Blue Ticket’ allows
you to pay a one-oﬀ fare for a plane
ticket and have as many stops as you
desire between two locations. That
means you could choose an area
of the world and explore it at no
extra cost, jumping from city to city
changing your ﬂight plan as many
times as you need to.
Their ‘Round the World’ tickets
work in a similar way but you plan
your adventure beforehand – all
your destinations are chosen and
booked in advance. These range from
anything between £340-£2400 so
there is something to suit everyone’s
budget.
They have many suggested routes
to suit everyone’s needs, whether you
want to travel just Asia or just North
America or hop through Europe,
Asia, Australasia and both Americas
there is an example route for it. If
you know exactly what you want
to see then you can pick the exact
destinations yourself and they will
work out the tickets for the cheapest
amount possible.
If you’re a lone traveller and want
to join up with a group of likeminded people then the tours are
for you. They will gather a group of
young people aged 18-35 and you will
all travel on your adventure together.
They have options for everything,
maybe you don’t want to do the
typical tourist things and go oﬀ
the beaten track, or maybe you’re
looking to see the wonders of the
world. These all include activities
and accommodation so everything is
looked after for you.
There is also the cheap option of
Interrailing. These are train tickets
that allow you ﬂexibility to travel
wherever you want by rail. There is a
ticket that will cover all of Europe by
train, you just pick the destinations
you want to visit and go.
There are also options to pick
one country to explore such as Italy,
Japan, France, Germany and many
more for those who know which
country they want to explore.
They allow you to travel on any
scheduled train within the destination
unlimited times and prices start from
£120. The length of time the ticket is
valid for can be adjusted, so whether
you just want a few days in France or
6 months travelling Europe there is
an option for everyone.
There are also tickets for bus passes
around a country or campervan hire
if you’d like the ﬂexibility of travelling
yourself.
STA Travel also oﬀer good deals
on hostels and hotels for your
adventures at the best prices, so you
can book the complete package.
They also oﬀer ways of working
and travelling abroad, whether
through volunteering, a TEFL course
or children’s summer camps it is a
great way to see a new place while
still working.
Their
volunteering
projects
involve working with animals,
children or helping a community
to improve their quality of life.
There are opportunities to work in
conservation projects or teaching
sports, or if you’d like a mixture of
activities you can combine them.
You can also work in your favourite
destination to earn money to fund
your travels. There are options for
jobs on summer camps, ski resorts or
ﬁnding a regular job in a city. They
can help you with setting up visas
to work abroad and have partner
companies in other countries that
will help you ﬁnd a suitable job.
If you’re only after a week or two
break with your friends then there are
still great student deals for a holiday
break. Some students are after a week
lazing around, eating and drinking basically a standard term-time week
in the sun without the lectures.
Thomas Cook are perfect at
organising cheap getaways like this
with their Club 18-30 holidays that go
“
STA Travel
offer
travelling
packages
for a student
budget
”
Pictured:
A student
travelling
through
Canada
on an STA
volunteering
project
9
ADVICE
Continued
from the
previous
page
“
Book you onto
boat trips, bar
crawls and
pool parties
while you
stay in a hotel
dedicated to
young people
”
to all the usual clubbing destinations
- Ayia Napa, Magaluf, Ibiza, Sunny
Beach and many more.
Their packages will book you onto
boat trips, bar crawls and pool parties
while you stay in a hotel dedicated
to young people wanting a similar
experience. Therefore you don’t have
to worry about making too much
noise and ruining a family holiday,
and more importantly no kids will
be around to wake you up bright and
early with a heavy hangover.
There are also sailing holidays
available around Greece through
STA Travel, as well as other activity
holidays such as trekking and cycling
for students who just can’t sit still.
The trekking holidays involve
arriving at Mount Everest base camp
or the Machame route to Mount
Kilimanjaro. Trekking the Inca trail
is also an option as well as an east
coast to west coast trip across North
America to see loads of attractions
and experience local life in many
diﬀerent states.
Alternatively you might be after a
city break which can still be booked
on a budget. The key to this is keeping
an eye on discount sites like Groupon
and Studentbeans which can oﬀer
ﬂight and hotel inclusive breaks for a
student-friendly deal.
The Eurostar also oﬀer discounted
tickets for last minute travels, and
they also oﬀer a discounted ‘youth’
ticket for people aged 12-25 going to
many major cities.
They leave from London’s St
Pancras which may seem like too
far to get to, but you can use your
student railcard and book in advance
for cheap trains or use National
Express coaches which are often
very good value. Unfortunately, the
student railcards are not vaild on
Eurostar tickets as they already have
their own discounted young persons
travel tickets.
Maybe you’re more concerned
with what is on your doorstep than
going far and beyond, so travelling
within the UK is for you. It is worth
investing in a student railcard and a
coach card which both give a third
Pictured:
The Eurostar
travelling
through
Belgium
“
Airbnb
offer empty
apartments
and rooms to
rent across the
world
oﬀ travel. That way you can plan in
advance and receive the cheapest
fairs whether by bus or coach to all
your destinations. Sometimes these
are down to half price to entice
young people, which is worth looking
out for.
The best way to explore is to
decide on an area you want to cover
and ﬁnding exactly what you want
to see. Perhaps you’re interested in
seeing more of Wales, Scotland or
want to experience all the attractions
in London.
A really good way of doing this
is by using Airbnb, a website and
app that people can advertise their
empty rooms or apartments for
other people to rent. They state their
nightly charge and usually list the
local attractions as well as giving you
an exact location so that you know
whether it will be a good place for
you.
On a tight budget renting an empty
room in someone’s house is a great
option, if you will be out exploring
during the day and taking in the night
life at night you won’t need to worry
about living with people you don’t
know for a few nights.
They do advertise apartments
that aren’t occupied for rent, which
can be suitable for big groups. This
could work out as a cheaper option
than getting several hotel rooms as
you’ll be able to split the cost of the
apartment and be comfortable in
your own space.
Airbnb is not just for the UK
either - people are advertising their
place all over the world. They are all
furnished with sheets and towels and
everything you could need to cook
with, so are suitable for a student
budget. They are fully working
apartments and rooms that are just
standing empty, so could be a better
alternative to hostels or overpriced
hotels if you’d rather your own space
on a budget.
There are many travel agents that
are targeted at students so that they
get the best value for money. So while
you still have a long summer ahead of
you it’s worth taking the opportunity
to see parts of the world you’ve never
seen before, and start your own
unique adventure. It’s worth taking
advantage of the student-aimed
prices they can oﬀer, as your time as
a student and full-time working life
will come around all too quickly.
”
Pictured:
Part of the
Inca Trail trek
through South
America to
Machu Picchu
“
Interrailing is
a great way
to see many
cities by train
still on a
budget
”
COMMENT
tweet us @gairrhyddcomment
email us [email protected]
or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/comment
This election isn’t about tuition fees
What about the NHS? Foreign policy? Policing? This election isn’t a
referendum on tuition fees. We need to move on.
Michael
O’ConnellDavidson
“
Look,
students, I get
it. Nick Clegg
and his friends
fucked up
”
Tilly
McCrystal
“
Although
Hopkins’
comments
are horrifying
I sense the
bigger picture
is being
missed: people
are reading
and returning
to her column
”
T
he news that the NUS has
spent however many hundreds
of pounds putting together
anti-Liberal Democrat billboards
doesn't really surprise me. After all,
the organisation is the equivalent of a
Jobcentre for left-leaning career politicians, so why not spend the money
of your constituent students and
students' unions blasting a barelyrelevant political party that's already
been dragged through the mud?
My sentiment here is not just that
this is a callous waste of resources.
It's that people still consider speaking out against the Liberal Democrats to be a radical or interesting
move.
Look, students, I get it. Nick Clegg
and his friends fucked up. This coalition government has barely been
a coalition government. Rarely did
the front bench look like an eﬀort
to compromise than it did a political marriage of convenience. Like so
many political allegiances, it seems
like the Liberal Democrats failed
to hold up their end of the bargain
where students were concerned. You
should be pissed oﬀ about that, and I
know a lot of you are.
But it's time to move on. Our ﬁxation on the Liberal Democrats has
left us blind to more pressing issues,
and other broken promises that may
have consequences that reach much
further.
Labour have promised to bring tuition fees down to £6,000 if they win
this election. I'm hesitant to get behind this, if only because the people
who were going to pay oﬀ the £9,000
tuition fees as set out by the present
system are the super-rich or those in
extreme demand anyway. But whatever the case, it's proof that the ConDem tuition fee increase is reversible
to one extent or another.
But it was the Conservatives that
said there would be no top-down restructuring of the NHS, and it was
the Conservatives that subsequently
restructured the NHS. Whether
these measures were conducted in
such a way that they are truly reversible, we will never know. Lots of
parties - the SNP, Plaid, and Labour
- are planning to do just that. But
money will have already been spent,
and many members of staﬀ will have
already been lost. The structural integrity of the NHS has already been
weakened, and whatever the result
on May 7th, any upheaval is only set
to continue.
There is a long history of broken
promises in British politics and it
seems we are very comfortable to
forget them when it suits us. Labour
may be the party of lower tuition fees
now, but they are the party that introduced them in the ﬁrst place in
1998 - after they said they had no
plans to introduce them in the time
before they were elected. Political
parties are happy to play with fees
because they're a small part of a
wider picture, and while it may make
some of us very angry indeed to be
paying nigh-on £10k a year to study
English Literature, it represents a
small part of our lives when our lives
are viewed in aggregate.
By all means, go to the ballot box
and punish the Liberal Democrats
if you want. But let's not become a
single-interest demographic. There
is a great deal more at stake in this
election than how much it costs to
take up your studies. Like it or not,
we at least had the choice to go to
university. But we will not have a
choice over how we are policed. We
will not have a choice over how the
NHS administration operates on a
day to day basis. If we display tunnel
vision, then the political class would
be forgiven for thinking that we do
not care about those things - and I
do not believe that is the case at all.
The NUS has done students a disservice by painting its members as
a partisan group with no interests
beyond tuition fees. It will likely do
us a disservice again. But let's not do
ourselves a disservice: let's approach
the ballot box thinking about more
than just how much it costs to get a
Bachelors. After all, few degrees last
as long as a parliament, and few of
those voting on May 7th will have to
concern themselves with tuition fees
in the future anyway. Let's concern
ourselves with the future of this nation; how we want it to be governed,
and what kind of nation we want to
govern us, because that's what's at
stake here, and that's worth more
than £9,000. What's at stake has no
price.
Why waste time on controversy?
K
atie Hopkins has caused controversy again in her latest
column for The Sun after describing migrants as “cockroaches”
and suggesting that gunships be used
to prevent migrant boats from entering the Mediterranean. Just three
days after Hopkins’ column was published a ﬁshing vessel capsized leaving those on board to drown, the expected death toll is at 950 people. As
a result 200,000 signatures have been
collected on Change.org petitioning
for Hopkins removal from The Sun
as a columnist.
Although Hopkins’ comments are
horrifying I sense the bigger picture
is being missed; people are reading
and returning to her column. Despite
the 200,000 signatures and a further
100 complaints directed to the press
oﬃce, the backlash that Hopkins
receives for her comments week after week do not deter The Sun; who
choose to keep the columnist on.
And why? Because she draws readership. This does not mean all who read
her column support her views; others are perhaps waiting for the next
controversial comment she’ll utter.
Either way columnists like Hopkins
are invaluable to newspapers as more
people are talking about her column
and the paper.
It is no secret that in recent years
the internet has become partly responsible for the decline in newspaper sales, why pay when you can
have the same information at the
click of a button? Newspapers turning to online need the shock factor to
encourage clickbait shares and likes,
so could Hopkins be forcing controversy for controversies sake? Unfortunately in the same way sex sells, so
does Katie Hopkins.
People like Hopkins thrive on
controversy and speciﬁcally target
subjects that will create contention
among the public. Hopkins appears
to have made a career out of targeting the already vulnerable; I needn’t
go into detail about why negativity like this should be removed from
our media when her lack of morality
speaks for itself, “No, I don’t care.
Show me pictures of coﬃns, show
me bodies ﬂoating in water, play
violins and show me skinny people
looking sad. I still don’t care.” Easy
to say coming from someone who
already has everything that these migrants are risking their lives for.
I suppose the real issue that needs
to be addressed is the press’ representation of migrants as welfare abusing, sickness ridden, freeloaders. The
media is meant to inform the public
but instead we are oﬀered falsiﬁed
opinions that promote the viewpoint of ‘us’ and ‘the other’. Hopkins
is particularly good at dehumanising
her victims to enable readers to view
those she’s speaking about as less human than themselves. Need I remind
you of her recent ramblings where
she referred to dementia suﬀerers
as “bed blockers”. Some suggest that
the best way to deal with this kind of
media induced hatred is to simply
stop reading; we could go as far as to
say the petition only highlights that
there are 200,000 people out there
who all know who Hopkins is.
Not only does she describe migrants as cockroaches, Hopkins also
argues that: “They [migrants] might
look a bit like ‘Bob Geldof ’s Ethiopia circa 1984’ but they are built to
survive a nuclear bomb. They are
survivors.” Unfortunately this is untrue considering up to 950 people
lost their lives on the capsized vessel, not to mention a further 450 who
drowned the previous week.
For people like Hopkins and those
who agreed to publish her column
these people are just a number not
individuals. Constantly the media
categorises minorities, the elderly,
the impoverished, and the non-British, in an attempt to create the sense
of burden that us the readers are being led to believe are carrying. We’re
too busy focusing our energies on
proving to others we don’t support
Hopkins’ view that we forget the migrants we’re supposed to be defending and therefore forgetting to focus
our energies on helping. Removing
Hopkins will not do anything but
dent The Sun’s proﬁts, instead her
words should be used as fuel for the
public to seek change.
“
There is a
long history
of broken
promises
in British
politics and
it seems
we are very
comfortable
to forget
them when it
suits us
”
Pictured:
Terror beyond
words (Source:
Rex Features)
“
People like
Hopkins thrive
on controversy
and
specifically
target subjects
that will create
contention
among the
public
”
COMMENT 11
Sexual health services must improve
Cardiﬀ University has to realise the responsibility it has
for their students’ sexual health
Emma Payne
“
I encountered
the full
force of the
inadequate
sexual health
services in
Cardiff
”
S
ex is without a doubt one of
the hottest topics at university.
Whether it’s your housemates
and their hilarious one-night-stands,
the latest high-tech toy in Ann Summers, or the severely overrated Fifty
Shades of Grey, sex is always on the
agenda. Good sex, bad sex, positions,
fantasies and fetishes are discussed
in gruesome detail over dinner in my
house, and I know we’re not the only
ones.
Furthermore, the media utilises
our obsession with sex to sell us
products we don’t need, while our
culture perpetrates stereotypes of
student sexuality, presenting fantastic, reckless intercourse and wild
experimentation as the norm. However, in a world where there are noholds-barred and nothing left to the
imagination, there is an astounding
lack of support for those who come
up against even the most common
sexual health problems.
At the beginning of this academic
year I encountered the full force of
the inadequate sexual health services in Cardiﬀ. Due to a grey area
between the removal of my troublesome Nexplanon implant, a permanent contraceptive solution, and my
return to the pill, I was up against a
very slight but very real possibility of
pregnancy. The situation was entirely
my own error, but as a 21 year old girl
I expected the NHS sexual health service to provide immediate, accurate
and infallible support. But between
ringing up the local clinics at home
in Cheltenham, which were inexplicably shut on a Saturday morning
(surely a prime time for providing the
‘morning after’ emergency pill?) and
receiving totally conﬂicting advice
from clinics in Cardiﬀ and then Bristol, my hopes were quickly replaced
with frustration and helplessness.
The fact that, as I cried on my way
back home, it did not occur to me to
contact Cardiﬀ University’s sexual
health support is very telling. Whatever services the University do oﬀer
are under-advertised, and as the advice under ‘Sexual Health’ on the Students’ Union page is largely limited
to NHS and local clinic website links,
I would suggest this aspect of the
University could be vastly improved.
Furthermore, the topics targeted are
restricted to STIs, contraception and
emergency advice for sexual abuse
victims. Although these are the central and most common concerns in a
student community, emotional wellbeing within sexual relationships is
of equal importance, and something
which is largely ignored in a culture
where the lad who pulls the most
girls (and vice versa) is heralded as
the champion of student life.
However, the good work done by
Cardiﬀ University’s Sexual Health
Awareness Group (SHAG) in many
ways picks up the slack. Run by students, for students, SHAG is widely
active on social media and ever-present, condoms in hand, in the Union
foyer and throughout the University. If nothing else, the group oﬀer
a friendly face and a listening ear at a
moment’s notice, which puts the often inappropriately long waiting lists
for NHS sexual therapy or professional relationship advice to shame.
However, despite trying to improve
upon Cardiﬀ ’s embarrassingly low
ranking in the 2013 league table for
Russell Group sexual health services, even well-meaning SHAG falls
short of the mark. VP Welfare Faraz
Alauddin in an email to Gair Rhydd
regarding sexual health provision,
commented recently:
“I am actually saddened to report
that the sexual provision has gotten
worse! The family clinic has been
withdrawn from 47 Park Place on
Wednesdays. At the moment there
is absolutely no reason why but I am
currently working with Student Support to see if we can bring it back or
ﬁnd an adequate replacement. As
VP Welfare I place great importance
on sexual health provision: it would
improve the wellbeing of a number
of students and the fact there is very
little easily available for students is
concerning. One key thing to bear in
mind is that this issue comes under
NHS remit rather than that of the
University, the latter having positive
talks about trying to locate a GP clinic on campus sometime in the near
future. While this solution would
deﬁnitely help in terms of sexual
health provision I am also looking at
what can be done in the interim period.”
But isn’t this the same university
that recently ranked top in the ‘Gay
by Degree’ guide to LGBT+ provisions and support? With this fantastic result, I think it’s time we focused
as much on sex as we do on sexuality.
So how can we improve the situation? Firstly, we need to mobilise students to talk about issues and fears
regarding sex as much as we discuss
the positive aspects. Many feel embarrassed to admit that their sex life
is anything other than the ultimate
Fifty Shades of Grey fantasy, and the
university could do much to change
this outlook.
Secondly, website links and short
paragraphs of widely available advice, although fairly useful, are simply
not good enough. Ideally, we should
look to Nottingham University, who
ranked highest in the same 2013 student sexual health service league
table: their website is packed full of
useful advice on both physical and
mental issues that can arise, and the
university oﬀers an invaluable drop-in
appointment service once a week.
Finally, even if we do up our game,
these services may as well not exist
without proper advertisement. Fragile
freshers should be inundated less with
Domino’s pizza leaﬂets and more with
invaluable information on mental and
sexual health. Sex is a central aspect
of student life, and it’s about time the
University responded.
Pictured:
Discarded
condom (Source:
Adam Edmond,
Flickr)
“
We need
to mobilise
students to
talk about
issues
and fears
regarding sex
”
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COMMENT 13
Bias is inevitable
Don’t bother looking for unbiased reporting - it doesn’t exist
Anne Porter
“
Many of us
openly admit
to having a
bias - from
a political
or national
allegiance to
a preferential
type of food
”
D
eﬁning what news actually is
inevitably leads to bias in reporting. I can’t help but feel
that we constantly create biased ideas – even if this is not our intention.
Why should we listen to reporting
that has an obvious bias – I wonder if
unbiased reporting does exist. Many
of us openly admit to having a bias
– from a political or national allegiance, to a preferential type of food.
I’m English, and as a nation we are
no way near as patriotic as the Welsh.
UKIP are promising that St George’s
Day will be a public holiday if they
are elected on May 7th (God help
us all if they are). I don’t care about
protecting St George’s Day – but I
know many people who do. St David’s
Day is huge news for the Welsh –
daﬀodils ﬂying left, right and centre
in Cardiﬀ city centre. Even nations
are divided, though. Last week’s
Varsity between Swansea and Cardiﬀ
saw a ﬁerce rivalry – ‘You’re green!
You’re white! Your uni’s fucking shite!
Swansea!’ – my personal favourite
chant of the day. I can’t rid myself of
my nationality; no matter how hard I
try. So I’m biased. And my opinions
towards my nation will inevitably be
biased too.
Some of us openly admit to having
a bias – a political allegiance, for
example. Liberal Democrats are
especially preaching their cause at
the moment – a party I have always
liked, and they took too much of
the burden of the rise in tuition fees
(hello, they’re a minority party in a
coalition). Some people are openly
admitting to having a bias in politics.
Newspapers such as The Times and
Daily Mail openly admit their political
allegiance – the former switched from
Labour to Conservative in the 2010
general election, the latter remains
Conservative. They report diﬀerent
stories as ‘news’ every single day –
and the explosion of online content
means that stories are uncovered and
reported at an ever increasing speed.
These papers – and they are not alone
– openly admit their allegiance. So
why shouldn’t we? Politics continues
to divide people – and always will.
So why are some of us so afraid to
admit our political stance? We are
too afraid to upset each other – it’s as
simple as that.
I read and I write every single
day – I have the freedom to do so.
I have opinions on everything that
I come across. My degree subject,
sociology, means that I continually
analyse the diﬀerences in individuals.
Individuals will inevitably diﬀer. I’m
not a sheep. I have no qualms about
being diﬀerent, but I have struggled
with being ‘myself ’ in the past.
Some people prefer to just ﬁt in –
but now I see that as attempting to
be entirely selﬂess, which ends up
damaging yourself at the expense
of others – and then you aren’t
much help to anyone. Sociologist
George Herbert Mead argued that
we continually interpret what the
environment around us means for us;
our own values leave us questioning
everything. According to his
research, therefore, it is impossible
to be objective and unbiased. I agree
– we all have personal interests
and agendas that we wish to fulﬁl.
Scientiﬁc sociology, such as that of
Karl Popper, argues that society is full
of cause-and-eﬀect relationships that
require investigation. In spite of their
views, it is impossible to be objective.
We can never know if we have the
truth, they argued. There is so much
truth in this – after all, we are only
individuals as part of a society.
As a sociology student my
dissertation involved interviewing
strangers to uncover their opinions.
I chose my topic – young women and
gym culture – because it interests
me. So my bias is already in there.
This social research gathered feelings
and opinions – we are not robots,
we all have them. Feminist Ann
Oakley (that terrifying word, I know)
argued that quantitative research,
involving numbers and statistics, has
an inevitable male bias. While I do
not agree that men are all attempting
to overtake the world, one step at a
time, I can see her point. We need
greater representation of diﬀering
opinions in our society. Take the
general election, for instance. 2015
will be the ﬁrst election ever to have
televised debates featuring all of the
main political parties. In addition
to this, the parties currently in
opposition had a separate debate
(where I thought Ed Miliband kicked
ass – there’s my opinion). These
debates showed that our politicians
are humans too. Our national press
has mocked Miliband for having had
relationships prior to his marriage –
what a shocker. Leave the poor guy
alone and just let him be a damn
politician. The BBC have always
tried to present unbiased opinions
- without much success. The BBC
is accused of favouring the left and
Sky News is accused of favouring the
right.
But let’s face it – it is impossible
to be objective and report in an
unbiased manner. Each individual
has diﬀering world views that come
into their work, no matter what that
is. So let’s embrace our diﬀerences,
and acknowledge them. And by the
way, my postal vote went to Labour.
Pictured:
A novel end
to a debate
(Source: Steﬀan
Rousseau, AFP,
Getty Images)
“
Politics
continues to
divide people
- and always
will. So why
are some of
us so afraid
to admit
our political
stance?
”
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7 D
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S A W EE
Welsh Varsity 2015
Gair Rhydd Sport’s comprehensive review
Welsh Varsity
2
Editors
David Hooson
Rory Benson
Joe Atkinson
Publisher
Michael O’Connell-Davidson
Photography credits
Huw Evans
Taliesin Coombes
Robin Coombes
Contributors
Bethany Anderson
Benjamin Babcock
Jack Boyce
Lauren Butcher
Kelli-Jo Davies
Harry Elliott
Tim Erskine
Bryn Evans
David Evans
Louis Frost
Rees Herrod
Jack Houlston
Claire Jones
James Lloyd
Greg McChesney
Tegan Morris
Toby Mott
Alexander Norton
Conor O’Gorman
Jamie Reed
Paul Revill
Jamie Smith
Daisy Tickner-Portnet
Dan West
Cardiff victories
Rowing - page 8
Equestrian - page 14
Ladies’ Badminton - page 11
Netball - page 7
Taekwondo - page 10
Men’s Tennis - page 11
Ladies’ Tennis - page 11
Cricket - page 8
Men’s Squash - page 11
Men’s Ultimate - page 15
Ladies’ Basketball - page 12
American Football - page 12
Ladies’ Lacrosse - page 9
Ladies’ Ultimate - page 15
Ladies’ Hockey - page 6
Ladies’ Rugby - page 4
Men’s Volleyball - page 15
Canoe Polo - page 13
Ladies’ Squash - page 11
Men’s Basketball - page 12
Men’s Lacrosse - page 9
Ladies’ Fencing - page 10
Cheerleading - page 3
Men’s Rugby - page 3
Swansea victories
Cycling - page 15
Boxing - page 14
Shooting - page 14
Sailing - page 13
Swimming - page 13
Golf - page 10
Ladies’ Volleyball - page 15
Men’s Fencing - page 10
IMG Football - page 7
Ladies’ Football - page 5
Fresher’s Rugby - page 4
Men’s Hockey - page 6
Draws
Men’s Badminton - page 11
Men’s Football - page 5
Cardiﬀ retain Varsity Shield
Final score:  - 
David Hooson
Rory Benson
Joe Atkinson
C
ardiff University claimed
their fourteenth successive
Varsity triumph against bitter rivals Swansea University with
a convincing 25 points to 13 Varsity
Shield victory.
Cardiff gained the most wins
over all sports played during a week
of competitve action that culminated in Cardiff winning the marquee rugby fixture by 27 points to
22 against a Swansea team that were
looking for their third consecutive
victory in the fixture, played at the
Liberty Stadium. Cardiff captain
Ben Madgwick capped off a manof-the-match performance by lifting
the Varsity Cup, which is awarded
to the winner of the men’s rugby
fixture.
The day was a hugely success-
ful one, with the majority of sports
taking place at Sketty Lane Sports
Complex in Swansea. Cardiff ’s bitter rivals were hosting the event for
the first time since 2010. They did
an admirable job as hosts, organising a professional event with minimal disruptions or delays.
The only widely-reported issue
was transport for fans to the Liberty Stadium from the Sketty Lane
Complex, with rush hour traffic not
factored into plans for the shuttle
buses. Many fans only just made it
to the stadium in time for kick-off,
including our Gair Rhydd team!
Swansea actually went into the
main Varsity day with a 3-2 lead,
having already won the cycling, boxing and shooting events, while Cardiff took the rowing and equestrian.
In the early sports on Wednesday,
the overall score remained close,
but over the course of the afternoon
Cardiff teams edging several close
games pushed them into a clear lead
and they had secured enough points
for victory by around 3:30pm.
Cardiff hanging on for victory in
the Liberty will undoubtedly be the
most memorable moment for most
fans, many of whom will be glad to
have seen the boys in red win the
fixture for the only time in their
Cardiff experience.
As with last year the generous
weather played a part in a fantastic
day of sport that both sides participated in admirably, but ultimately
it was Cardiff who came away with
what was another convincing Varsity Shield win.
A Bryncredible win for Cardiﬀ
Bryn Griffiths
AU President
W
ednesday was, without
a shadow of doubt, the
highlight of my year and I
couldn’t be more proud of all our athletes. With Team Cardiﬀ taking home
both the Varsity Shield for overall victory as well as the Varsity Cup for the
men’s rugby for the ﬁrst time in three
years, I couldn’t ask for more.
It was great to see a number of our
teams make strong comebacks after defeats last year, including a well
fought win by Cardiﬀ Cobras in the
American football over their league
rivals. Aside from Team Cardiﬀ extending our unbeaten run of 12 years
in the Varsity Shield some clubs were
setting their own records. Taekwondo, who are currently British University Champions, kept up their unbeaten Varsity record with a ﬁfth straight
win and more substantially have now
not been beaten by any university for
four years!
Late on in the afternoon we witnessed some nail-biting ﬁxtures including last minute comebacks from
both basketball teams. The ladies’
team who whitewashed their BUCS
league with 10 straight wins found
themselves down by 10 points at the
halfway point but showed their true
colours late on to sneak a 51-48 win.
The men who are also BUCS league
champions were expecting a tough
game on a small court which would
favour their rivals in green, but it
was looking bleak at 42-30 Swansea
coming into the ﬁnal quarter. Showing copious amounts of heart, our
boys fought to the last second to close
play at Sketty Lane with a two point
win before the sea of red supporters
moved down the road to the Liberty
Stadium.
Cardiﬀ ran out into a Liberty Stadium on the back of a strong BUCS season which saw them reach the quarter
ﬁnals of the Championship. Everyone
knows that on such an occasion in
front of such a large crowd form can
count for nothing, but fortunately our
boys got oﬀ to a strong start and led
20-9 by half time. The second half was
tense for everyone in the crowd, especially within the last 5 minutes with
a margin of only 5 points separating
the two teams, but after unyielding
defence from Cardiﬀ, the ball ﬁnally
went out of play to round oﬀ the day
on a huge high!
3
Liveblog - 10:00: “Varsity day 2015 is now underway, with
six sports – badminton, netball, sailing, tennis, swimming
and taekwondo – starting the day’s action.”
Men’s rugby deliver at the Liberty
Swansea 22-27 Cardiﬀ
Joe Atkinson
“
The wellcontested spirit
of the game
was replicated
in the stands,
with Swansea’s
20,000-capacity
Liberty Stadium
providing a
much more
vibrant
atmosphere
”
+1
+1
C
ardiﬀ secured their ﬁrst Varsity
men’s rugby victory since 2012
to put the cherry on the cake
of their fourteenth successive Varsity
Shield triumph.
The game was a thriller from the
start, banishing memories of last
year’s disappointing 15-19 loss for
Cardiﬀ at the Millennium Stadium.
Head coach Louie Tonkin’s men
were conﬁdent throughout and
came up against stiﬀ competition in
a Swansea side that have won twelve
of the eighteen Varsity rugby matches
since the competition’s inception.
This was Tonkin’s ﬁrst experience
of Varsity at the helm of the men’s side
having taken over from Martyn Fowler following last year’s ﬁxture, and
the coach will have been impressed
with the consistent tempo and pace
that Cardiﬀ played with. On a number of occasions they took advantage
of lapses in the Swansea defence and
were a constant attacking thorn in the
side of the opposition.
Swansea went into the game having
ﬁnished seventh and therefore bottom of their BUCS league, the same
division in which Cardiﬀ had ﬁnished
third. Despite this gulf in class over
the regular season, Swansea put up a
valiant ﬁght against what was an intense display from the visitors.
The well-contested spirit of the
game was replicated in the stands,
with Swansea’s 20,000-capacity Liberty Stadium providing a much more
vibrant atmosphere with over threequarters of the stadium full, compared to the vastly empty Millennium
Stadium clashes in Cardiﬀ.
Captain Ben Madgwick was given
the man-of-the-match award for a
commanding and inspiring display
that included some big tackles and
scoring a try.
The game started evenly, with
each side securing a converted kick
in a cagey opening ten minutes. Josh
Hammett gave Swansea the perfect
start just two minutes in before Ross
Preedy levelled proceedings ﬁve minutes later.
Cardiﬀ got the ﬁrst try of the game
soon after, as Iwan Phillips sent the
travelling fans in red into ecstasy, and
Preedy successfully converted the try
to give his side a seven-point lead.
Phillips’ try capped an impressive
Cardiﬀ move, with some good passing interplay on the left ﬂank before
the ball was cut back inside for a free
run to the touchline.
Cardiﬀ ’s tails were up and they
tried to build on that momentum.
Swansea were penalised from their
kick–oﬀ, allowing Preedy to again
kick over and extend his side’s lead
further.
A Swansea injury curtailed Cardiﬀ ’s dominance momentarily, with
a lengthy stoppage allowed for treatment. Once the game got back underway it became scrappy in the middle
of the park, with the team in red set
on protecting their early lead, and
those in green wanting to prevent any
further damage.
The theme of consolidation and
protection looked set to continue before Swansea gave away another pen-
alty, but this time Preedy couldn’t take
advantage, as his kick sailed wide of
the posts.
Swansea capitalised and with halftime approaching they converted a
penalty of their own, ﬂy-half Hammett succeeding where his Cardiﬀ
counterpart had minutes earlier
failed.
Hammett then proceeded to score
a hugely impressive penalty from the
halfway line to cut the lead again, but
Cardiﬀ responded emphatically, as
centre Madgwick was impressively
fed on a breakaway and managed to
bustle his way over the try-line to give
Cardiﬀ a lead of twenty points to nine
at half time following another successful Preedy conversion.
Half-time followed as did the opportunity to win another Varsity
Shield point in the cheerleading, and
Cardiﬀ ’s Snakecharmers replicated
the rugby team’s success in securing another point towards the cause
against the Swansea Sirens.
The second half begun and Cardiﬀ
were immediately on the front foot,
with Jack Phillips taking advantage
of some more lax Swansea defend-
ing to score his team’s second try, and
Preedy again added the conversion.
Hammett provided a reminder that
his side were still in the game with a
second halfway line penalty minutes
later, and were it not for some heroic
Cardiﬀ defending they could have
scored a try minutes later as they
were denied just before the line.
But the pressure from the green
and whites became too much for
those in red and soon after Swansea
captain Ollie Young turned that pressure into points, scoring a converted
try to bring the score to 19-27 with
twenty minutes to play.
Hammett cut that lead further,
kicking yet another penalty to add
to a fantastic individual performance
from Swansea’s standout player.
Cardiﬀ managed to halt that momentum however, and contained their
opponents heroicly for the remaining
portion of the game that was regularly
stalled by injuries and replacements.
Swansea went all-out in the last
ten minutes, but couldn’t ﬁnd a way
through, and Cardiﬀ celebrated a
huge win on enemy soil, their ﬁrst
Varsity win in three years.
Swansea XV
M Williams
A Claypole
D Evans
M Jenkins
J Evans
J Hammett
J Guy
T Kaijaks
T Ball
J Kaijaks
M Hague
M Dodd
M Evans
R Woodman
O Young (c)
Replacements
A Dunham
Z Cinnamond
T Crosse
N Thomas
J Williams
J Tingle
S Clarke
L Crandon
T Williams
J Phillips
Cardiff XV
I Phillips
T O’Flaherty
J Phillips
B Madgwick (c)
A Evans
R Preedy
L Silver
T Boot
Aled Rees
Alun Rees
A Evans
J McGrath
J Viggers
R Martyn-Smith
J Williams
Replacements
O Evans
J Franchi
F Young
J Kenny
C Boycott
J Preddy
J Wilson
B White
D Callaghan
M Roberts
Welsh Varsity
4
Ladies’ rugby dominate Swansea
Swansea..........................................12
Cardiﬀ.............................................29
Kelli-Jo
Davies
C
ardiﬀ Ladies’ Rugby Club beat
Swansea on their own turf on
Wednesday with a dominant
performance.
Cardiﬀ started the game on the
front foot, and within the ﬁrst few
minutes were awarded a penalty
which Robyn Wilkins kicked to put
them on the scoreboard early on.
It was not too long after Cardiﬀ
capitalised on mistakes that Swansea
did the same thing, putting three
points on the board. Swansea ended
up taking the lead after 20 minutes by
making the most of another penalty.
Despite Swansea being in the
lead already, Cardiﬀ did not panic.
After the restart, the girls suddenly
managed to break through the
Swansea defence to the try line.
Unfortunately for Wilkins, who had
made a cracking run, the try was not
given as Cardiﬀ had made an error in
play just before. This did confuse the
team as initially the referee had given
the try then changed his mind.
After the confusion, Cardiﬀ
seemed to dig deep and gain
inspiration to keep pushing forward
and put Swansea under pressure.
Swansea were really starting to feel
the pressure as Holly Hearle was able
to break through the defence to score
the ﬁrst try for Cardiﬀ with Wilkins
converting it, making the score 6-10
in the visitor’s favour.
It was from this point in the ﬁrst
half that the Cardiﬀ ladies were
ﬂying; Within three minutes of the
restart, Megan O’Sullivan smashed
her way past the Swansea defence.
She narrowly missed out on scoring a
try as she was tackled just before the
try line, but she managed to quickly
oﬄoad the ball to Elisa Crombie who
went on to score Cardiﬀ ’s second try
of the game. The conversion attempt
was unsuccessful on this occassion,
taking the score to 6-15.
Just before the ﬁrst half of the game
ended, Cardiﬀ managed to score a
third try through number ten Alice
Stein. She made a superb run through
Swansea’s team and managed to slip
through all the spaces she could
see. This time Wilkins successfully
converted the try, bringing the half
time score to 6-22.
The second half was a diﬀerent
story. Swansea came back with more
ﬁght in them. They were not going
to go down without a ﬁght. Cardiﬀ
had a bit more of a struggle pushing
forwards but they kept doing so,
dominating in the scrums and even
stealing the ball from lineouts. It took
a good twenty minutes until either
team managed to put any points on
the board, with Swansea winning a
penalty to make the score 9-22.
This gave Cardiﬀ the jolt that
they needed to keep pushing and
dominating, and their fourth try
was the cherry on the cake that they
needed, thanks to Wilkins who broke
through the Swansea line and then
converted her own try.
There
were
several
more
phenomenal breaks and runs,
especially by the Cardiﬀ captain
Beth Staﬀord and fullback Megan
O’Sullivan. Despite the great
performance Cardiﬀ were putting on,
they could not gain any more points.
The game ended with Cardiﬀ giving
Swansea a penalty to bring the ﬁnal
score to 12-29.
The game was a wonderful one
to watch and the Cardiﬀ girls put
on an exceptional performance and
deserved the win.
+1
Cardiﬀ freshers’ rugby team broken by
Swansea comeback
Swansea..........................................23
Cardiﬀ.............................................18
Rory Benson
C
ardiﬀ stuttered to a disappointing defeat in this year’s Varsity
freshers rugby match, despite
it being a close contest.
The opening ten minutes were
a nervous aﬀair, with neither team
managing to make the breakthrough
and seeming content to get in to half
time with the scores level.
Cardiﬀ gained conﬁdence however
and, in the next ten minute period,
were pushing Swansea back and trying to ﬁnd an opening in the hosts’
defensive line.
Despite the Cardiﬀ pressure, the
scoreboard remained unchanged until two errors from the visitors gave
Swansea two penalties within the
space of ten minutes. Both of these
penalties were scored by the Swansea
ﬂy-half to give his side a 6-0 lead.
Cardiﬀ responded in good fashion
though, with a quick try scored only
minutes after the restart. Although
the conversion attempt was unsuccessful, Cardiﬀ were given extra reward with Swansea receiving a yellow
card. Despite the numerical advantage, Cardiﬀ went in at the break 6-5
down, with work still to be done.
Cardiﬀ opened up the scoring in
the second half with a penalty, giving the away side the lead for the ﬁrst
time in the match. Another penalty
for the men in red allowed them to
stretch their lead to 11-6.
And they continuted to add to their
lead with a well-worked try, which
was converted brilliantly by the young
Cardiﬀ ﬂy-half.
With Cardiﬀ seemingly in the drivers seat going in to the last twenty
minutes of the game, Swansea surged
forward. It was clear to see the desire
in the Swansea players and the game
was not destined to end at 6-18.
Swansea pushed for the try line,
but had to be content with a penalty
with a quarter of the game left to play.
Their endeavour was rewarded
shortly after the successful kick, as
they broke through the Cardiﬀ line
and stormed through to touch the ball
down close to the posts.
The conversion was good and the
Swansea players had stirred their
crowd into raptures. It was clear to
see the belief running through both
the Swansea fans and players and one
felt that the hosts would try everything in order to win the game.
The pivotal moment came in the
last ﬁve minutes. After building up
pressure on the Cardiﬀ defence,
Swansea ﬁnally burst through to
snatch the game and the Varsity point
away from the visitors.
After security had removed some
Swansea pitch invaders, the conversion was completed and Swansea held
on to secure an impressive comeback
victory against their biggest rivals.
Swansea must be given a lot of
credit for the way they played in this
game, as they looked less naive than
the Cardiﬀ freshers and played with
more passion, grit and determination
- a lesson that the Cardiﬀ freshers
could learn from.
+1
5
Liveblog - 11:20: “The win was never in doubt for the Cardiff
ladies in the netball at Sketty Lane’s main hall. This levels
the scores in the Varsity Shield at 3-all.”
Honours even in men’s football
Swansea..................................................2
Cardiﬀ.....................................................2
Harry Elliott
A
midst an intense atmosphere
at the Sketty Lane main pitch,
Cardiﬀ men’s football team
fought to a hard-earned scoring draw
against their opponents in green and
white.
After nervous exchanges between
the sides early on, the deadlock was
broken in stunning fashion inside
ten minutes: Cardiﬀ won a free-kick
twenty-ﬁve yards out and to the left
hand-side, and Scott Chester struck
a sweet right-footed dead-ball which
curled tantalisingly away from the
Swansea keeper.
Chester immediately ran over
to the numerous travelling Cardiﬀ
fans, kissing the crest of his beloved
University. It was obvious how much
the goal meant to him, and is one he is
sure to remember.
Cardiﬀ were on top for most of the
ﬁrst half, but it was not all one way
traﬃc, as the rising Swansea corner
count proved to be tricky to defend,
exempliﬁed by one that was headed
oﬀ the line from underneath the
crossbar.
Left back Chris Hugh took it upon
himself to terrorise the left ﬂank, and
the long throw-ins of centre back
Jack Lane caused Swansea issues as
the trajectory was almost horizontal.
However a speculative half volley on
thirty minutes was the closest Cardiﬀ
came to extending their lead, and for
all their endeavours could not ﬁnd
another goal – to their detriment in
the second forty-ﬁve.
The ﬁrst minute of the second
period set the precedence as a mistake
from the Cardiﬀ right-back lead to a
Swansea corner. On the balmy Welsh
afternoon tempers began to ﬂare as
Cardiﬀ striker Matt Hurley became
embroiled in a small scuﬄe with a
Swansea midﬁelder which rightly
warranted a talking to from the
referee.
The ever increasing foul count led
to Swansea’s equaliser, which arrived
after a sustained period of pressure
from the men in green. This amounted
to Cardiﬀ failing to adequately clear
a corner and Swansea showed their
clinical instinct where Cardiﬀ could
not, and put the ball in the back of the
net with under an hour played.
With their tails up and with the
home fans along one touchline
spurring them on, Swansea found
the net again a mere two minutes
after their ﬁrst. The away side paid
the price for coasting for too much
of the game, and unfortunately for
goalkeeper Nick Feely he was wrongfooted by a cruelly deﬂected shot,
meaning the Reds were behind in a
game they looked set to comfortably
win after ten minutes.
The direct running of Will Lygo
and Williams gave Cardiﬀ an outlet
which they needed to go in search of
an equaliser. After having a penalty
appeal correctly turned down, another
Lane long throw proved Swansea had
not heeded their previous warnings:
the lofted ball was twice ﬂicked on
by red shirts before it found the very
impressive Lygo who volleyed home
in emphatic style.
This goal opened the game up, with
both sides clearly not happy with their
lot and seeking a winner.
However, despite some neat
and intricate football on display,
neither side breached the respective
opposition defence again. On
reﬂection a draw was a fair result on
the balance of play, but Cardiﬀ must
be wondering what potentially could
have been.
Mistakes cost Cardiﬀ in ladies’ football
Swansea..................................................3
Cardiﬀ...............................................0
Harry Elliott
+1
S
wansea women ran out comfortable winners against their Cardiﬀ counterparts, but the score
line did ﬂatter the Swans.
The game started with Cardiﬀ
pegged inside their own half and only
threatening on the counter attack,
with Swansea employing a high defensive line and long ball tactics from
the oﬀ.
Cardiﬀ, on the other hand, attempted to utilise the ball and tried,
and often succeeded, in playing a
passing style of football that was attractive on the eye. However, this was
simply not as eﬀective as the long
ball, and defensive errors arising from
these punts forward gave the home
team chances to score and eventually
won Swansea the game.
The match was actually without
much in the way of goalmouth incident before the half hour mark. Here
a late challenge in the box gave Swan-
sea an easy opportunity to end the
stalemate via a penalty kick, which
they gratefully took.
Taking the lead appeared to invigorate Swansea who were only a sublime save from Cardiﬀ ’s goalkeeper
away from doubling the lead just
two minutes later - the away stopper
smothering fantastically in a one-onone situation.
Unfortunately this top stop was in
vain as four minutes before half time
Swansea scored a critical second goal:
Cardiﬀ ’s Achilles heel of failing to
deal with long bouncing balls proved
fatal, as the powerful Swansea centre
forward gained the initiative to chase
down one of the aforementioned balls
forward, and after beating the Cardiﬀ
defender to the ball, poked it home.
2-0 to the Swans, but Cardiﬀ would
have been disappointed to go into the
break two down, especially due to the
avoidable nature of both goals.
As the half time interval passed,
Cardiﬀ took to the pitch with the look
of a team energised and ready to take
the ﬁght to the green adversaries.
Whilst this was true, it was not
before they fell a further goal behind:
just a few minutes of the second half
had elapsed before a Swansea third effectively killed the game as a contest.
Another defensive mix up allowed the
Swansea number nine to tap into an
empty net. Understandably, the goalkeeper and back four were not happy
with each other.
However, from this point on it was
all one way traﬃc in favour of Cardiﬀ.
Streaming forward down the ﬂanks
numerous crosses were put into the
box, and so many were agonisingly
short of going in. The Swansea keeper
played her part, keeping out a few
shots in tidy fashion and Cardiﬀ even
hit the post.
As much as Swansea were
fortuitous to have netted thrice,
Cardiﬀ were desperately unlucky not
to score at least once and may have
thought that they deserved more
from the match. That said, not many
can begrudge Swansea the victory.
+
½
½
Welsh Varsity
6
Men’s hockey lose out in thrilling encounter
Swansea..................................................1
Cardiﬀ.....................................................0
Toby Mott
+1
C
ardiﬀ men’s hockey team were
left heartbroken after a solid
Swansea side ground out a
thrilling but hard-fought 1-0 victory
on the Sketty Lane Astro Turf.
Swansea’s men were seeking to
avenge the earlier defeat of Swansea’s
ladies and almost drew ﬁrst blood after a long-ball down the ﬂank resulted
in a close range shot that was knocked
away by the Cardiﬀ keeper.
The away side soon imposed themselves by dominating possession,
and were unlucky when the steadfast
home defence survived an emphatic
ﬂick that rebounded oﬀ the crossbar.
Drenched by the half-time sprinklers, the spectators created a cauldron of noise and those in red shirts
roared when Cardiﬀ lashed home
on 49 minutes. They were dismayed
when it was disallowed for a foul in
the build-up, and even more so when
a second was also ruled-out for another infringement.
The tension created by these controversial decisions came to the fore
when a yellow-card for the Cardiﬀ
keeper left the away goal dangerously exposed for the short corner that
followed. Sensing opportunity, the
Swans took full advantage by expertly
sliding the ball into the backboard to
take a 1-0 lead.
Increasingly desperate, the reds
were buoyed when a Swan was sent to
the bin for what was deemed to be a
high elbow.
However, the away side could not
make their renewed impetus count
and were gutted when a low shot from
a short corner was cleared oﬀ the opposition line.
The frustration was obvious as
another Cardiﬀ player joined the bin
after a brief lapse in discipline, and
was exacerbated as the away side put
the ball in the net again from an illegal shot outside the area. This motivated the capital’s coach to recall his
recently returned keeper in favour of
an extra attacker.
This almost paid oﬀ as the reds sustained pressure on their opponent’s
goalmouth, but a brace of Swansea
breaks could have ended the contest.
First, the green-shirts among the
crowd were amazed to see their attacker outplay a depleted Cardiﬀ defence but hit the post when a second
goal looked certain. This was before a
burst of pace from a Swans attacker
saw him strategically brought down
by an away defender who was not
surprised to see a subsequent yellow
card.
Cardiﬀ had one ﬁnal chance to
clinch penalty ﬂicks from a short corner but the resulting shot was blazed
over the Swansea net, prompting a
pitch invasion by a proud Swansea
crowd.
“If you get outplayed you can write
that down to a bad day at the oﬃce”
said Cardiﬀ captain Danny Mills. “But
today it feels like we got our pockets
robbed, and that hurts”.
Swansea captain James Nick Andrew was thrilled with his squad’s
performance. “We’ve come oﬀ the
end of bad results from Cardiﬀ, but
we put everything in today. It means
so much”.
Ladies’ hockey beat Swansea on penalties
Swansea.............................................0(2)
Cardiﬀ................................................0(4)
Lauren
Butcher
C
ardiﬀ started the game strong,
winning a short corner from
the ﬁrst set of play. Unable to
convert, Cardiﬀ continued to press
Swansea, dominating much of the
ﬁrst half.
A good run of play from Naomi
James and Mollie Hunt resulted in
Cardiﬀ hitting the post, with Lauren
Butcher and Olivia Abbott also hav-
ing shots saved oﬀ the line.
Despite the heat, Cardiﬀ worked
hard throughout the ﬁrst half, moving the ball conﬁdently around the
back line of Jo Williams, Jess Greaves,
Amy Hayes and Alex Graham. Swansea held well under the pressure and
Cardiﬀ failed to convert a number of
penalty corners in the ﬁrst half.
The second half continued much
the same as the ﬁrst with Cardiﬀ
dominating the play, but unable to
ﬁnd the net; Sioned Davis narrowly
sending the ball wide.
Excellent goalkeeping from the
Swansea number 1 kept the hosts in
it in a half in which Swansea failed to
penetrate the Cardiﬀ D.
The Cardiﬀ midﬁeld held strong
throughout the second half with Ellie Lewis, Rae Allen and Rosie Harper
distributing the ball well to the forward line. Despite numerous chances,
Cardiﬀ failed to score and the game
went to penalty ﬂicks.
Cardiﬀ went on to win the game
4-2 on ﬂicks with goals from Jess
Greaves, Olivia Abbott, Mollie Hunt
and Rachel Dunning. A well deserved
win for Cardiﬀ despite making quite
hard work of it.
Cardiﬀ goalie Libby Marsden made
a total of 1 save throughout the game,
showing how one-sided the match up
truly was.
This was a good win for captain
Amy Hayes and Cardiﬀ 1s ahead of
the Welsh Cup Final on Sunday where
they meet Whitchurch Saints.
+1
7
Liveblog - 12:30: “First draw of Varsity 2015 in men’s badminton. There’s always at least one split point in Varsity and
this year it’s the turn of men’s badminton.”
Cobras hold oﬀ Titans in American football
Swansea..........................................17
Cardiﬀ.............................................19
James Lloyd
T
he Cardiﬀ Cobras American
football team capped oﬀ their
ﬂourishing season with a Varsity win against Swansea. The Cobras
avenged their early season loss to the
Titans in a thrilling encounter, which
saw them ﬁght oﬀ a Swansea comeback to grind out a 19-17 win.
In a tense ﬁnale, the Titans needed
three points to win and they managed to get into ﬁeld goal range which
would have been enough for them to
be victorious. However, the Cobras
defence somehow got a hand on the
ball and the ball deﬂected, hit the
crossbar and bounced agonisingly
short.
Cardiﬀ kicked the game oﬀ in front
of a raucous Swansea crowd, who did
their best to put the Red men oﬀ. An
early ﬁeld goal for Swansea gave them
the lead, but the eﬀective combination of Richard Gardner and Stefan
Pollitt, who were playing for the ﬁnal
time, pulled the Cobras back immediately.
Dan Reeves then made a superb
diving catch in the endzone to pull
Cardiﬀ further ahead before half time.
Club President Rhys Romo ran the
ball well, gaining vital yards for the
Cobras oﬀence. Swansea couldn’t ﬁnd
a response and the Cobras defence led
by Robin Ford and Toby Lock were resurgent enough to shut Swansea out
until the interval, leaving the score
13-3.
The job was half done and the Titans came out ﬁring and began the
third quarter well with a touchdown.
Cardiﬀ responded with the deadly
duo of Gardner and Pollitt combining once more for another Cobras
touchdown making it 19-10. Swansea
turned to their battering ram running
back, who proved to be the diﬀerence
in December, but struggled to gain
many yards against the solid Cobras
defence who fought bravely to keep it
a nine point game.
Then came the fourth quarter and
the Cobras’ favourite phase of the
game. However, the tiring oﬀence
struggled to make yards forcing the
Cobras to punt and after what can
only be described as a “muﬀed punt”,
the Titans found themselves back in
the game after scoring a fortunate
touchdown.
With seconds remaining, the Titans
marched down the ﬁeld, after dubious
refereeing calls and found themselves
in ﬁeld goal range. It would come
down to this. Weeks of hard work and
pain all culminated into this one moment. It was the chance for Cardiﬀ to
put one over the noisy neighbours.
The ball ﬂew through the air in slow
motion and cannoned oﬀ the cross
bar, giving the Cobras the win that
they deserved.
+1
Swansea superior in IMG Football
Swansea..................................................2
Cardiﬀ.....................................................1
Jamie Smith
S
wansea avoided a third successive defeat in as many years as
they outmuscled a below-average Cardiﬀ IMG side to claim a convincing 2-1 victory in the IMG Football.
The opening 15 minutes at a sunsoaked Sketty Lane were particularly cagey, with both sides putting
in strong challenges in what proved
to be a feisty encounter that lacked
great quality besides a few innovative
movements now and then.
Swansea had certainly started the
brighter and generally looked more
up for the challenge than their counterparts. Second to almost every ball,
the visitors appeared to be slightly intimidated by the intense atmosphere
generated by a couple of hundred very
passionate Swansea supporters surrounding the pitch.
The Swans’ pressure soon told
as captain Lewis Thomas, clearly a
favourite with the fans, broke the
deadlock with a close-range header
after the ball was delivered across the
box. The striker threatened the fragile
Cardiﬀ defence throughout, holding
the ball up successfully and making
several key passes as well as having
numerous chances to add to his tally.
But, despite initially struggling to
ﬁnd their rhythm and settle into the
game, Cardiﬀ did eventually start
asking some questions of the Swansea defence. Almost immediately
after conceding, they went up the
other end and struck the post as they
searched for an instant equaliser.
And shortly after, Cardiﬀ did have
the ball in the back of the net. However, it was disallowed when the referee
judged that the Swansea goalkeeper,
who dropped the ball after a freekick evaded everyone before him, had
been fouled.
Eventually though, Cardiﬀ did have
a legitimate goal. A ball across the box
from the left-hand side managed to
ﬁnd an unmarked forward, who headed home to level the scores at 1-1.
However, the frantic celebrations
of the Cardiﬀ supporters, who subsequently invaded the pitch as if they
had just won the game, were cut short
when Swansea restored their lead
soon after.
After the away side failed to clear
their lines, the ball trickled across the
box as if in slow-motion, allowing for
a simple tap-in into the bottom lefthand corner to make it 2-1 to the
hosts going into the half-time break.
Swansea maintained their stranglehold for the rest of the game but, with
the exception of a couple of counterattacking opportunities as Cardiﬀ
pushed forward, they were limited
to few real clear-cut chances as the
feistiness continued.
Unfortunately for the away side,
though, they were also restricted to
few openings in front of goal. This
was ultimately a performance to forget; there was very little composure
on the ball, they were out-fought in
the air, and keeping the ball on the
ﬂoor seemed to be too diﬃcult a task
at times.
Cardiﬀ allowed Swansea to make
it a physical contest, which, with the
superior height of the Swans, was
always going to be challenging. And
whilst the eﬀort from each player
was second to none in such scorching heat, Swansea just wanted it that
little bit more and ran out deserved
winners.
+1
Welsh Varsity
8
Rowing claim victory on the Tawe
Swansea.............................................1
Cardiﬀ...............................................3
Tegan Morris
O
n Saturday April 18th Cardiﬀ
University Rowing Club travelled to Swansea for the ﬁrst
Varsity event of 2015: the Welsh Varsity Boat Race. This is the ﬁrst time in
the past few years Cardiﬀ have travelled to Swansea for the boat race and
after a hard week of preparation at
training camp, the club felt equipped
for a successful day of racing.
After rigging up the boats, and a
quick pre-race paddle it was time for
the coin toss. It became all too clear
of Swansea’s home advantage when
picking which side to race down,
Cardiﬀ won the coin toss and picked
a side that raised cheers of joy from
Swansea. This didn’t deter us though.
After a pre race pep talk from our
coach it was the Novice Women who
kicked oﬀ the races.
Although the weather was glorious
sunshine, we soon discovered conditions were not as optimal as we ﬁrst
thought, and umpires struggled to get
both boats lined up suitable enough
to race. However, after 15 minutes
we heard the calls to attention and we
were oﬀ. Swansea didn’t disappoint
our expectations of a great start and
they took us marginally oﬀ the start.
With windy conditions both boats
grew closer together, both sides being giving a warning just as the Cardiﬀ stroke, Lottie McCarthy clashed
blades with their 4 seat. After an
amazing recovery from Lottie, avoiding a replication of the Oxford-Cambridge boat race of 2014, and a strong
push from Cardiﬀ we began to pull
away from Swansea.
The novice women pushed hard,
maintaining a high rate the whole
course and had pushed ahead by
about 3 lengths with 500m to go.
With the cheers from the rest of
the club growing louder, the girls gave
a ﬁnal push to ﬁnish about 5 lengths
ahead of Swansea and defend the
Novice Women’s winning reputation.
In order to get racing back on
schedule, it was the turn of the Novice
men to do Cardiﬀ proud. Both boats
rowed up to the start, Cardiﬀ eager
to make it 2-0 to Cardiﬀ. After some
visible improvements from Cardiﬀ ’s
Novice squad over training camp, the
boys raced hard to came into sight 5
lengths ahead of Swansea with 400m
to go. Cardiﬀ ’s roars spurred the boys
on to oﬃcially ﬁnish 7 lengths ahead
of Swansea – the greatest win of the
day.
After a quick boating, the senior
women started the day of racing for
the senior squads. With a stronger
Cardiﬀ boat and a ﬂawless winning
reputation against Swansea, the girls
knew they had the advantage.
However, with vast improvements
this year it was clear as the women
rounded the corner for the ﬁnal
straight that they would be the clear
winners. After another domination by
Cardiﬀ, of about 4 lengths, the girls
celebrated the moment they crossed
the line, Bridget Lapage at stroke raising her hands in elation.
However, the club knew that the ﬁnal race of the day would be Cardiﬀ ’s
most challenging being the only race
where Cardiﬀ were challenging Swansea for the title.
Swansea’s senior men are a strong
8+ who have trained religiously together for this race all year, bringing
Cardiﬀ ’s toughest ﬁght. After an ex-
cellent start from Swansea they began to pull away within the ﬁrst 10
strokes.
However, Cardiﬀ held on to within a boat length of them the whole
way and as they came onto the ﬁnal
straight, the crowd saw the closest
race both boats looking neck and
neck. But as they came closer into
view it was clear to see Swansea had
taken the race with about a boat
length and a half.
Despite the senior men putting up
an exceptional ﬁght, Swansea crossed
the line ﬁrst ending the day of races
with their ﬁrst win.
After an amazing day of racing and
great hosting on the part of Swansea,
CURC came away with a 3-1 victory.
Cardiﬀ deservedly maintained the
overall win of Varsity Rowing for another year.
+1
Pictured:
Left: Cardiﬀ
rowers on the
water (Source: @
SwanseaUniRC
on Twitter)
Below: The
cricket club pose
(Source: Kit
Williams)
Cardiﬀ sweep to third successive cricket win
Cardiﬀ................................ 149-5 oﬀ 20
Swansea............................. 145-6 oﬀ 20
Rory Benson
C
ardiﬀ University cricket club
maintained their unbeaten
Vartsity record on Wednesday
after beating the hosts by ﬁve runs.
Swansea won the toss and decided
put the visitors into bat. With some
tight bowling in the opening couple
of overs, Cardiﬀ stuttered into the
third with 10 scratchily hit runs on
the scoreboard.
A miscommunication between
captain Josh Allen and Joe CollingsWells led to the ﬁrst wicket of the day,
with Collings-Wells being run out at
the non-strikers end. The direct hit
was Swansea’s best piece of ﬁelding of
the day and brought Zac Turley to the
crease.
The nervous new batsman struggled to settle againsty a few early deliveries, even being dropped at point
without a run to his name. This was
the ﬁrst of many examples of Swansea’s ﬁelding letting down some good
bowling.
Cardiﬀ seized the chance to punish
the Swansea mistakes, pushing on to
46-1 oﬀ the ﬁrst eight overs.
With Turley now on the front foot
and hitting boundaries every over, he
looked certain to be caught at deep
long on in the 10th over. Again however, he was dropped by the hosts and
went on to hit two maximums later
on in the over.
In the following over, Turley was
dropped again at long on, leaving the
Swansea bowlers frustrated that their
hard work was not being rewarded.
Cardiﬀ punished Swansea for
their clumsiness in the ﬁeld, making
it to 87-1 oﬀ 13 overs. At this point,
the runs began to ﬂow, with Turley
launching a low full toss over the
boundary fence and into the ﬁre station next door.
As Turley brought up his halfcentury, Allen began to hit out. Another drop in the deep from Swansea looked as though it would cost
the hosts dearly, but the ﬁelding side
managed to hold on to the catch to
dismiss the Cardiﬀ captain.
After 17 overs, Cardiﬀ were cruising at 123-2, but a succession of late
Swansea wicktes held the visitors to
149-5. Turley was ﬁnally caught at
deep cover in the ﬁnal over, but he
had already done the damage to the
opposition. The Cardiﬀ number three
top-scored with 82.
Despite Cardiﬀ hitting what looked
like a good score on an uneven pitch,
Swansea came out of the blocks ﬂying; hitting 27 oﬀ the ﬁrst four overs
without the loss of a wicket.
Cardiﬀ struggled with the ball early
on, giving away too many extras and
looking unlikely to make a breakthrough.
Fate intervened at this point. With
Swansea’s opening pair of Parkhouse
and Peake looking comfortable at the
crease, Cardiﬀ pace bowler Nick Kent
hit Peake on the toe and he was unable to continue. With Peake retiring
hurt, Cardiﬀ had a chance to bowl at a
new batsman.
Swansea went from the command-
ing position of 78-0 oﬀ 10 to 100-3 oﬀ
15; leaving them with 49 runs to hit
oﬀ the last ﬁve overs.
Some good death bowling by the
visitors left Swansea with 26 runs to
hit oﬀ the last two overs, which was
just too many for the Swans.
Cardiﬀ ended up winning by 5 runs
in a hard-fought game that Swansea
could easily have won. The game was
played in a great spirit and both sides
were a credit to their respective universities.
+1
9
Liveblog - 14:40: “Cardiff take ladies’ rugby win. An early
penalty put them 3-0 up. Cardiff went on to score four tries
in total en route to their 29-12 victory.”
Men’s lacrosse net another Varsity win
Swansea..................................................1
Cardiﬀ...................................................11
Greg
McChesney
I
t was an early departure from the
back of the Union for Cardiﬀ Lacrosse. After an 8:30 team breakfast in the Taf, the team set oﬀ for
Sketty Lane for the ﬁrst varsity match
outside of Cardiﬀ since 2010.
Some might have voiced concern
that the change in location would
have a negative impact on performance, but with Varsity veterans
Hugo King-Oakley, Ondrej Teluch
and Jack Ward, with men’s coach Wil
Evans as surgeon general, it became
immediately obvious that would never be an issue.
A commanding performance with face-oﬀs (14 from 15)
allowed Cardiﬀ to dominate possession, while the Swansea oﬀence came
up impotent against the red-brick
wall of Ward, Jamie Bodnar-Horvath,
Tom Hewitt and Marc Cork.
A custom high-pressure defence
play by Evans was executed to devastating eﬀect, serving to nullify and
emasculate several attempts at aggressive plays by Swansea.
During a clinical ﬁrst-quarter performance, Alex Russell saw the back
of the net, while brothers Paul and
Bobby Bowen-Chapman proved two
heads are better than one, scoring a
goal apiece. Cardiﬀ ’s continued appli-
cation of pressure after ending 3-0 up
in the ﬁrst quarter proved too much
for Swansea, with King-Oakley capitalising on a foul by a Swansea player to
score from distance on a man-up play.
Despite a prodigiously
strong performance by Cardiﬀ, Swansea were not without their threats;
the tireless work of Connor Johnson and Toby Wilkinson made sure
to keep Cardiﬀ ’s wits sharp and feet
moving throughout the match. There
were several attempts on goal from
the Swansea side, but the speed and
skill from Cardiﬀ keeper Jack Saupe
prevented follow-through and subsequently earned him Player of the
Match.
The Cardiﬀ attack was relentless
and brutal, with Alex Russell, Will
Morris, and King-Oakley each scoring; Captain Paul Chapman with 2
goals alongside an invaluable face-oﬀ
performance, while Teluch showed
that experience can’t be beaten, topping the pile with 3 goals.
The Cardiﬀ defence proved insurmountably strong, with eviscerating transitions and essential clearing
leaving the Swansea oﬀence dead in
the water.
An excellent implementation of
plays from Evans, along with great
team cohesion from every single
member, guaranteed Cardiﬀ ’s men a
comprehensive victory.
Cardiﬀ seal double with ladies’ lacrosse
Swansea..........................................4
Cardiﬀ.............................................18
Greg
McChesney
+1
O
ne has to wonder what was in
the Lacrosse Team’s breakfast,
with the Ladies’ team nearly
quadrupling their points on the board
on last year. The Swansea presence
pitch-side was initially strong, but,
impervious to their futile chants Cardiﬀ stormed through, leaving Swansea licking their wounds wondering
what just rolled through Sketty Lane.
Despite small-beginnings on the
goal-scoring front, spirits were high
on the Cardiﬀ side. Swansea chanting
fell on deaf ears, and with an overriding determination to improve upon
last year’s winning margin of 5-4,
the team was quick to make the ball
at home in the back of the Swansea
net. With a team tactic straight out a
pringles can, once they popped, they
didn’t stop, ﬁnishing the half on the
right side of a staggering 9-2 scoreboard.
Cardiﬀ had a decisive edge at the
centre draw thanks to the concerted
eﬀorts of Bex Jordache and Emily
Weighton, while the skilled reading from surrounding circle including Anni Seaborne, Flora Milne and
Fiona Tait lead to quick adjustments
from the play and excellent followthrough.
With such a strong oﬀensive push
and aggressive scoring, Swansea were
thrown oﬀ balance and seemed in-
capable of recovering. In the second
half Swansea conceded an astonishing 5 goals in just over a ﬁve-minute
period (courtesy of Weighton, Milne,
Tait, Amy Rochford and Jordache),
prompting a green timeout in a vain
attempt to regroup.
Set plays played a crucial part in
conquering the Swansea disarray,
with experienced team coach Ali Rusak pushing the girls to proﬁt from
the myriad Swansea mistakes. A key
feature of the team’s strength came in
the form of goalie Sophie Thorbeck,
who remained completely unfazed by
any one-on-one situation that came
her way.
Akin to the men’s performance later in the day, team cohesion was impeccable amongst the Ladies’ squad;
verbal communication and motivation was a great source of fortitude,
leading to pivotal transitions downﬁeld. Play was brieﬂy paused due
to excessive physical contact on the
ﬁeld, both captains were pulled aside
and the issue soon dissolved back to a
healthy competitive spirit.
A scarcity of down-ﬁeld transitions
and fast breaks towards goal from
Swansea meant that not much resistance was put up against the exemplary
strength of the red army. A tour-deforce performance from the Cardiﬀ
Ladies ensured that they walked oﬀ
the pitch at full time with heads held
high, while Swansea tails remained
ﬁrmly tucked between trembling legs.
+1
Welsh Varsity
10
Mixed Cardiﬀ fortunes as ladies put
Swansea to the sword in fencing
Swansea men...................................134
Cardiﬀ men......................................118
Swansea ladies.................................105
Cardiﬀ ladies....................................126
Jack Houlston
+1
T
he Cardiﬀ University Fencing
Club had mixed success this
year at Varsity, with a victory
for the women but a narrow defeat for
the men.
Having faced Swansea twice already this season, the men’s team
knew they were in for a tough ﬁght,
after defeats against Swansea in the
league in November, and prevailing
in the cup semi-ﬁnal, who had been
boosted this year with a crop of excellent new fencers.
Despite Cardiﬀ missing a few key
fencers the men ﬁelded a strong side,
and managed to edge out the foil 4544 in a nail-biting encounter, with
Chris Lennon scoring the vital ﬁnal
point, to hand Swansea their ﬁrst
defeat of the season in that weapon.
Next came the Sabre, which was
equally as enthralling as the foil, with
the match once again tied at 44-44, although this time it was Swansea who
claimed the ﬁnal hit.
With the scores standing at neckand-neck at 89-all, everything would
be decided by the epee, typically Car-
diﬀ ’s Achilles heel this season, and
one of Swansea’s strengths. Swansea
won the ﬁrst few bouts, propelling
themselves into an early lead, and despite the best eﬀorts of the epee team,
they couldn’t bridge the gap, falling to
a ﬁnal score of 45-29. After all three
weapons, Swansea emerged victorious with a 134-118.
But with every cloud comes a silver lining, as the women’s team led by
Amy Radford, recently a runner up in
the British nationals, stormed to an
impressive victory over their closest
rivals.
It turned out to be a diﬃcult start,
with the women’s match opening with
the sabre, usually Swansea’s strongest
weapon. Despite good eﬀorts from
the team, Swansea maintained their
early lead and closed it out 45-36.
Next came foil, and with the women’s team clearly ﬁred up after their
early setback, swept aside the Swansea team, opening up a 26-7 lead, and
keeping Swansea at arm’s length for a
routine 45-28 victory.
Once again, the match’s outcome
would be decided by the epee. However, the women’s team fared much
better than the men’s, seeing oﬀ the
match 45-32 with a strong performance, successfully retaining their
varsity title with a 126-105 victory.
Swansea drive to victory in golf
Swansea.........................................7.5
Cardiﬀ............................................2.5
Jamie Reed
O
n what can only be described
as a perfect day, the Swansea
team prevailed 7.5 points to
2.5 over Cardiﬀ in the yearly Varsity
match. The Swansea team lived up to
their reputation as being one of the
best teams around with a superb performance.
In an attempt to get some early
points on the board, captain Lewys
Charles sent him and Alan Maher out
in the ﬁrst group. However, things did
not go to plan as both lost by narrow
margins to give the Swansea team
an early lead. In the following group
were George Sandford and Rachel
Williams, who fared better than the
opening pair with George recording
the team’s ﬁrst win of the day with a
classy performance. Sadly Rachel was
unable to make it a clean sweep in the
group as she lost to the impressive
Swansea golfer.
Next up was the all-female pairing of Emily Davies and Marie Jonnson. After a bad start to both of their
matches, both girls pulled their games
back showing excellent resilience
which was rewarded with a ﬁne half
from Marie but sadly Emily couldn’t
hold on and lost in the closing holes.
Following the girls was impressive fresher’s Dan King and Johnny
Wright. Dan struggled early on which
gave his opponent an unassailable
lead which even he was unable to
claw back. However Cardiﬀ ’s second
win of the day came from Johnny who
held a superb putt on the last to win
the team a point.
The last pairing was the strong
team of Tom Tracey and Jamie Reed.
Both players continued the theme of
the day of bad starts to their matches.
Despite some excellent shots Tom
was unable to bring the match back
against his opponent and fell to a
harsh loss. Jamie took on Swansea’s
Captain Rob Smith who after withstanding the comeback from the Cardiﬀ player, showed his renowned class
to hold on for the victory to give his
team a well-deserved win.
The game was played in superb
spirits as always and was a nice touch
having an after match meal and drink
with all the Swansea team and their
supporters.
Pennard Golf Club was more than
an excellent venue and was in perfect
condition and made the day before
a ball was even hit. Hopefully next
year with some new blood the Cardiﬀ
team will be keen to avenge the disappointment of this year’s loss.
+1
Cardiﬀ battle to taekwondo glory
Swansea..................................................7
Cardiﬀ...................................................13
Joe Atkinson
C
ardiﬀ ’s Taekwondo Club produced a display of discipline
and quality to see oﬀ a feisty
Swansea group at Swansea’s Sport Pavilion.
I one of the ﬁrst events of Varsity
Wednesday, Cardiﬀ had the edge over
three disciples to claims a point towards the Varsity Shield cause.
The day started with a mix of individual and team patterns. The visitors were dominant in the individual
event, being adjudged to have won six
of the eight patterns.
Cardiﬀ won four of their six individual patterns with all ﬁve judges
giving their vote to the visiting group.
The team pattern competition
was even, with Swansea winning the
second to peg back Cardiﬀ who had
claimed the ﬁrst.
That Swansea win was by a clean
sweep of ﬁve judge verdicts, while
Cardiﬀ won their team pattern by
four votes to one.
After an hour of patterns and a
break the action got more intense
heading into the sparring, with Cardiﬀ leading by seven points to three
at that stage.
Sparring was split into belt classiﬁcations: the only match in the junior
grade was won by the Cardiﬀ competitor, with all four judges awarding
her the match.
In the intermediate grade there
were four ﬁghts, with Swansea storming back with three out of four ﬁghts
adjudged to be won by them.
In the second match of the intermediate section of the sparring the
Cardiﬀ competitor was yellow carded
for some overly aggressive and unfair
play.
The black belt classiﬁcation was
the culmination of day, with Cardiﬀ
battling back to win three of the four
ﬁghts in some ﬁercely competed competitions.
All three of those black belt ﬁghts
were adjudged to be Cardiﬀ wins
unanimously by the four judges,
showcasing some of the quality that
the visiting group of martial artists
have in their ranks.
And so with the scores totalled to
13-7 in Cardiﬀ ’s favour, the visitors
lifted the trophy again and retained
their status as taekwondo Varsity
champion on the back of last year’s
victory.
+1
11
Liveblog - 16:50: “The only thing the men’s hockey match
was short of was goals, as Swansea’s single goal was
enough to secure victory.”
Easy win for men’s tennis,
but nail-biter for ladies’
Swansea men........................................1
Cardiﬀ men...........................................5
Alexander
Norton
C
ardiﬀ ’s men’s tennis team
swept aside their highly rated
Swansea counterparts, winning the tie by a 5-1 margin to add
another point to the visiting team’s
burgeoning total.
In testing temperatures the six
match (two doubles and four singles)
Swansea ladies...............................3 (7)
Cardiﬀ ladies................................3 (10)
+2
While the women’s team were unable
to replicate their male counterparts’
dominance, their hard fought win
more than made up for that in the way
of entertainment.
The tie started badly, with the ﬁrst
doubles match, which pushed the
players to the limit, ending in a courageous 4-6 6-2 13-15 defeat for Cardiﬀ.
The result in the second match was a
revival was dashed, however, wtih Joe
Hill and Greg Leigh Jones dispatching
their opponents to wrap up a formidable and dominant Cardiﬀ performance.
With the scoreboards being operated somewhat inconsistently by the
players themselves, there was room
for audience incomprehension – but
the scale of Cardiﬀ ’s victory left no
room for doubt.
competitive 4-6 5-7 to leave Cardiﬀ
teetering on the edge of early defeat.
The alarming situation was compounded as club stalwart Sophie Brazell unfortunately lost the opening
singles match.
However, at 3-0 down the team rallied – Rachel Williams, Becky Squire
and Elspeth Griﬃths all hitting back
to level the competition at 3-3 and
force a tiebreak match to decide who
would take the point towards the Varsity Shield.
The decider saw the scores of two
singles and a doubles mini-game
combined, with the winner being the
ﬁrst to reach ten points.
The singles ties failed to separate
the two teams, ending 1-1, meaning it
fell to Eloise Lloyd and Elspeth Grifﬁths to secure the encounter for Cardiﬀ. The ﬁnal result of a sun-baked
day at the Swansea Tennis & Squash
Club was a 10-7 triumph for Cardiﬀ,
meaning they took maximum points
from the Varsity tennis ﬁxtures.
Ladies show men how it’s done in badminton
Swansea ladies......................................1
Cardiﬀ ladies........................................5
Swansea men........................................4
Cardiﬀ men...........................................4
David Evans
event fell the way of Cardiﬀ from the
very start, the doubles teams wrapping up comfortable victories 6-2 6-3
and 7-5 6-2 respectively.
Their good work was swiftly reinforced in the singles, with Mike Watkins winning 6-3 6-2 – only to see
team-mate Danny Hawker fall to a 6-3
6-3 defeat as Swansea clambered on
to the scoreboard.
Any opposition hope of an unlikely
T
he badminton day kicked oﬀ
with the ﬁrst round of singles
matches early in the morning.
Both Cardiﬀ ladies’ and men’s team
got oﬀ to a ﬂying start with wins all
around, although one player had a
thrilling 3 games to get the win.
This gave Cardiﬀ a healthy 2-0 lead
for both teams going into the ﬁrst
round of doubles. The ladies’ team
withheld their lead making the score
3-1 after Richards and Mann won
their ﬁrst match of the day.
The men’s team however had two
exhilarating matches which couldn’t
have been any closer, both of which
went Swansea’s way making it all
square at 2-2 at the halfway stage.
The second round of singles got
underway and saw the ladies’ team
secure the victory by wins from both
Chow and Strange making the score
5-1.
For the men’s team, wins were essential to keep us in the running, and
Vignal and Lesage delivered, regaining the lead at 4-2.
The last matches of the day were
left with both Cardiﬀ teams in very
diﬀerent situations. Although already
securing the win, the ladies’ team
sought to increase their score. Rose
and Rapacioli soon made it 6-1 leaving it to Richards and Mann to win
an epic match to ﬁnish the day with
a score of 7-1.
However, the men’s team had more
of a ﬁght on their hands with the score
being 4-2 to Cardiﬀ, guaranteeing the
Dragons at least a draw.
The ﬁrst match of the second round
of doubles went Swansea’s way with
Digby and Maltby narrowly missing
out, making the score 4-3. The pressure was on for Patel and O’Rouke. A
win meant victory and a loss meant a
draw.
The duo made a terriﬁc start in
the match by winning the ﬁrst game.
However, the strong Swansea pair
came back in the second game to
take the match to three games. There
couldn’t be any more pressure on
both these pairs in the deciding game.
The Swansea pair had an answer
for everything Patel and O’Rouke
could come up with and so the hosts
took the deciding game making the
ﬁnal score 4-4.
Overall, Cardiﬀ won and should be
very proud of the manner of their victory.
+1
½
+
½
Contrasting victories for Cardiﬀ in squash
Swansea..................................................2
Cardiﬀ.....................................................3
Rees Herrod
A
fter two of the most successful
seasons in recent Cardiﬀ University Squash Club team history, spirits were high as we entered
Varsity day. Rumour had it that Swansea had put on a week-long training
camp in preparation for the game,
and they needed it having suﬀered
three losses out of three against our
Men’s ﬁrsts during the year.
Kieran Collinson got things started
at 5th string and put Cardiﬀ immediately in the ascendency, keeping his
opponent under relentless pressure
and breaking him in three straight
forward and commanding games.
It was then the turn of the 4th string
Angus White who, appearing a little
nervous, struggled against an in-form
Swansea player. Angus fought back
well in the third game, but unfortunately he couldn’t quite pull it back as
he then went down 3-1 and the match
score was levelled at one-all.
Jason Matthews, playing at 3rd
string, was to have the toughest of
matches on the day, and fell 3-0 to a
very strong Swansea player who at the
start of the year looked like he should
be playing as their number one string.
Despite a nail-biting second game,
Jason couldn’t quite muster his usual performance and fell in straight
games.
In the 2nd string match, Club President Rees Herrod took to the court,
getting oﬀ to a fast start with an early
1-0 lead. The second game ran much
closer, but Swansea levelled the match
to 1-1. Rees returned to the court
composed and ﬁnished the game oﬀ
comfortably however, with the ﬁnal
score at 3-1 and the match poised at
2-2 to take it down to the ﬁnal, ﬁrst
string match.
Adam Doran, swept the rug from
under the Swansea ﬁrst string though
and took the Men’s Varsity title in a
convincing 3-0 display. In true Doran
fashion he secured the point with a
graceful backhand-volley-nick which
rolled to his opponent’s feet, ﬁnishing
him, and the Swansea threat oﬀ.
Swansea..................................................0
Cardiﬀ.....................................................4
A
fter the men had ﬁnished, it
was then the turn of the two
Ladies teams. Both Cardiﬀ
and Swansea Ladies had won their
respective BUCS leagues heading into
Varsity, so were feeling conﬁdent.
Shailee Morjaria started the match
for Cardiﬀ. It quickly became clear
that her Swansea opponent couldn’t
handle Morjaria’s long shots to the
back and the game was over quickly.
A 3-0 win for Cardiﬀ matching Kieran’s quick win for the men.
The next match was a battle of the
captains, with Rachel Farquhar representing Cardiﬀ. The match was a
close one but despite the loud opposition fans and a few diﬃcult referee
decisions not going her way, Farquhar
won 3-2 securing a second win for
Cardiﬀ. 2-0 up with two games to play
and Cardiﬀ were looking to build an
unassailable lead.
Next up was Anna Johnson who
made quick work of her game, out-
classing her opponent and achieving a
swift 3-0 Cardiﬀ win. With the points
secure, the number one strings were
under no pressure and could play
some exhibition squash.
As it ﬁnally came to Natalie
Machin’s match it was clear from
the outset that she would follow up
her near perfect BUCS season with a
comfortable 3-0 win, and so it proved
to be the case.
It’s fair to say Cardiﬀ University Ladies Squash team have had their best
season in recent years, with fantastic
performances from all of the team. A
massive 4-0 win at Varsity was the icing on the cake.
Playing Varsity in Swansea for the
ﬁrst time in a few years, the team was
extremely encouraged by the large
Cardiﬀ support who made it to the far
end of the Sports Park to support the
teams. Some fantastic chanting from
stands full of fans in red provided an
incredible atmosphere for the players
to play in. We are extremely grateful
to everyone that came over to see us
secure double points.
+2
Welsh Varsity
12
Cardiﬀ come from behind in basketball
Swansea ladies....................................48
Cardiﬀ ladies......................................51
Jack Boyce
A
fter bus issues that resulted
in a long delay of the start of
the match, Cardiﬀ may have
wished they hadn’t turned up after
Swansea looked the stronger squad, as
they dictated the tempo of the game
and played some exquisite team play
on the perimeter of the 3-point arch.
As Swansea played their own game,
Cardiﬀ got frustrated, and there were
several fouls from both teams, but
Cardiﬀ squandered many free throw
chances to get back into the game, as
the ﬁrst quarter ended with the home
team leading 12-6.
Cardiﬀ came into the second quarter looking to turn the tide that had
been set, with big 3 point shots being
made by two stand-out Cardiﬀ players, who ran the oﬀence and always
looked like a threat from the perimeter and inside. However, Swansea
looked just as impressive in their offensive possessions, and they dominated on the inside, producing composed lay-up after composed lay-up
to put the home team even further
ahead, as Swansea went into the half
32-22 up.
Cardiﬀ went into the second half as
they went into the second quarter –
with several great 3-pointers, clawing
back at the deﬁcit. Yet, this half Cardiﬀ expanded on their great play on
oﬀence by bringing their defence up
to the same level, with every Cardiﬀ
lady proving themselves a nuisance
to the Swansea players, with several
steals . This defence allowed Cardiﬀ to
use the fast break to their advantage
more often.
After a hard-fought second half,
with mistakes being tidied up and the
defence now looking to patch up the
leaks that they portrayed in the ﬁrst,
Cardiﬀ valiantly fought back to produce an excellent 51-48 win.
Netball get the ball rolling
Swansea...........................................7
Cardiﬀ...........................................47
Jack Boyce
+1
C
ardiﬀ ’s Netball team came into
their morning Varsity matchup intent on quieting down
the rowdy home support that had
amassed despite the relatively early
scheduling.
Cardiﬀ certainly conveyed an aura
of composure and trust in each other
that the opposition didn’t, and they
raced to a staggering 16-2 lead only
within the ﬁrst quarter.
This lead was furthered even more
as Cardiﬀ progressively ﬂaunted the
amount of talent in the squad, while
the swift and accurate breaks down
the court felt almost unchallenged by
the home team, as they strode on towards a 30-5 halftime lead. Cardiﬀ ’s
defense was key to this considerable
lead, and their goal defence had a
hand in easily cleaning up every attack thrown their way.
It didn’t take long for this trend to
creep into the second half, as Cardiﬀ
didn’t lose any of the energy they displayed in the ﬁrst half despite their
fast and free-ﬂowing play. While the
build-up play was to be admired,
someone on the end of each attack to
ﬁnish it oﬀ was also a necessary component.
The Cardiﬀ goal shooter certainly
stepped up to the plate, as she accumulated the majority of the points
with some composed shooting. This
goal threat was only increased as the
goal attack established herself in the
match with a few goals, giving the
Swansea personnel an extra attacker
to worry about.
Despite the extra amount of support given to them, Swansea couldn’t
really get themselves out of the hole
they found themselves in, and Cardiﬀ
didn’t let up one bit, ﬁnally ending the
match at 47-7 for the ﬁrst win of the
day.
Swansea men.....................................50
Cardiﬀ men........................................52
H
aving witnessed the women
‘s team stage an incredible
comeback, the men’s team
came out looking to complete the
double over their opposition. Unfortunately, they followed the same
manner in the ﬁrst half, in that they
felt sluggish compared to the Swansea
team, who conveyed their strength
and durability in defence whilst also
looking the stronger physically and
mentally in their oﬀensive possessions, as inside the arch the Swansea
attacker found himself on the end of
seemingly every rebound whilst also
sinking many lay-ups to put Swansea
up by 27-19 in the ﬁrst half.
The third quarter opened to another Swansea onslaught, who were extremely direct and team-oriented in
their attacking duties, and they capitalised on many of the chances that
fell to them, including several free
throws awarded to them as Cardiﬀ
and their following supporters got
more frustrated as it seemed like luck
was not on their side and their shots
were not hitting the target. Cardiﬀ
picked their performance up near the
end of the third quarter, and wereable to produce and convert chances
to bring them back to a 42-30 score
line, one which seemed too diﬃcult
to overturn.
However, something in Cardiﬀ ’s
team talk at the start of the fourth
ﬂared up the ambitions of the away
team. Led on by their captain and
coach, Cardiﬀ pounced on any loose
balls and the fast break was utilised to
quickly decrease the lead that Swansea held.
The last two minutes were agonisingly tense, and Cardiﬀ completed a
staggering 22-8 fourth quarter comeback to beat Swansea 52-50 overall
and claim the Varsity point.
+2
13
Liveblog - 17:40: “According to our calculations, the current
score is 20 victories to Cardiff and 11 to Swansea, with two
draws bringing the score to 21-12.”
Cardiﬀ capsize Swans in canoe polo
Swansea.............................................1
Cardiﬀ...............................................2
Louis Frost
A
t 1:30 on Wednesday at the
Wales National Pool, Cardiﬀ
faced oﬀ against Swansea
in three games of canoe polo – a
niche contact sport similar to a cross
between water polo and basketball, in
kayaks.
The day began with the fresher’s
game. The boys played well, but with
a last minute team swap due to an
ill-ﬁtting boat, the team were placed
under a lot of pressure. After an early
goal from Swansea, Cardiﬀ brought
the score back to 1-1, but a couple
of unlucky capsizes led to Cardiﬀ
essentially playing a four against ﬁve
game. Swansea capitalised on this,
but Cardiﬀ still managed to score
another goal, to ﬁnish the game 5-2.
As the ladies game began, Cardiﬀ
began with the majority of the
possession, with multiple shots at
the Swansea goal falling tantalisingly
close, as well as some solid saves from
the Swansea keeper. Cardiﬀ didn’t let
up however, and were rewarded with
a goal before half time.
The second half continued in a
similar vein to the ﬁrst, with Cardiﬀ
controlling most of the possession,
and scoring another point, until a
missed pass lead to Swansea making
a break. With no time to get back,
Swansea bagged a well-deserved goal.
The ladies remained focused, and
continued to play a solid oﬀensive
game, and several more shots on goal
led to a ﬁnal score of 3-1 to Cardiﬀ.
As the men’s game got underway
the pressure was on, with Cardiﬀ and
Swansea sitting on one game apiece.
A strong sprint at the start saw Cardiﬀ
win the ball, and the team instantly
sprang into action, relentlessly
attacking the Swansea defence, but
sloppy shooting led to two missed
open goals in the ﬁrst two minutes.
The boys slowed things down, worked
on their accuracy and began scoring
goals, leaving the scores at half time
to be 3-0 to Cardiﬀ.
The second half continued in
the same vein as the ﬁrst. Although
Swansea managed several attacks
against the Cardiﬀ goal, solid
defending pressurised the shooters,
with the majority of the shots going
wide or straight at the keeper’s paddle.
Cardiﬀ continued to work the attack,
scoring three more goals. As the
second half drew to a close, Swansea’s
attacks paid oﬀ, as poor defensive
communication allowed a player to
paddle up to the goal and score an
easy goal. Cardiﬀ kept possession for
the remainder of the half, leaving the
ﬁnal score 6-1 to Cardiﬀ.
This made the ﬁnal score overall
2-1 in Cardiﬀ ’s favour.
+1
Sweet swimming success for Swansea
Swansea........................................195
Cardiﬀ...........................................151
Dan West
T
he early morning of Varsity was
ﬁlled with mind games for the
swimmers, with both teams
trying to gain the psychological edge
on the other during the arrival and
warm ups.
From the ﬁrst race, it was obvious
that Cardiﬀ had a mountain to
climb, and they put every ounce of
energy they had into it. Swansea
put themselves ahead very early on,
winning the crucial early morning
races. Being the home team, they
had lots of supporters and drowned
out the few travelling fans who had
ventured to Swansea from Cardiﬀ.
As the ﬁrst half of swimming
rolled through, it got much closer
and Swansea went into the 20 minute
break just ahead of Cardiﬀ.
The second half started at 11am
and this was full of interesting racing
in which Cardiﬀ did well. Swansea’s
lead became smaller and smaller as
the races got closer and closer.
With Cardiﬀ nipping at Swansea’s
heels, the ﬁnale race came around; the
8x50m freestyle.
In a good display of swimming,
Cardiﬀ fought Swansea well to win
this race. After the ﬁrst leg, Swansea
were ahead, however that didn’t stop
Cardiﬀ, as they soldiered on and
ﬁnally caught up and pushed ahead to
win the race.
Despite the athleticism shown
by Cardiﬀ in the ﬁnal race, Swansea
still managed to pip them to the post
in points and won the much coveted
trophy that Cardiﬀ had previously
held.
+1
Swansea take advantage of home water in sailing
Swansea.............................................6
Cardiﬀ...............................................3
Daisy TicknerPortnet
W
ith a winning streak
stretching back about four
years, Cardiﬀ sailing team
arrived at Tata Steel Sailing Club with
pretty high expectations it was going
to be a breeze. The wind was up and
it was a beautiful day, only slightly
tainted by the ‘do not touch the water’
sign outside the gates.
The format was best of eleven races, but the team assumed they would
take the victory before this, cutting
short the day and initiating the drinking - it was not to be.
The team started well with the
ﬁrst leg seeing them in positions one,
three and ﬁve; a winning combination. However, Swansea’s team was
on form catching the Cardiﬀ team out
at the ﬁrst mark; Toby Morsley and
Helen Armstrong took ﬁrst but the
others struggled to catch up giving
Swansea the winning combination of
two, three, and four.
The second race again started well
but ﬁnished badly with Swansea taking one, two and four at the ﬁnish.
Cardiﬀ fought to initiate their own
manoeuvres; consoling themselves
with the obvious advantage Swansea
had sailing in home waters.
As the third race kicked oﬀ just be-
fore 10am the Cardiﬀ support cracked
open the ﬁrst beer to sooth the pain of
the Swansea wins. Cardiﬀ kept their
strong start and managed to push
Swansea back through the third race
with the team taking positions one,
two and four at the ﬁnish.
The wind started to pick up after
this, which bought the refreshing
smell from the crematorium and steel
works the teams’ way. All agreed Cardiﬀ was the better venue. The team
lost the fourth and ﬁfth races with
their boats pulling alongside the start
boat in between for a quick sip of beverage to take the edge oﬀ the pain.
The Cardiﬀ girls took a swim at
the start of the fourth race, forcing
them to retire and leave the other two
boats valiantly battling it out. As it
was looking scarily like it might be a
6-1 victory to Swansea, Cardiﬀ pulled
themselves together and won the
sixth race with one, two and six and
the seventh with one, three and ﬁve
which put spirits and the score back
up to 5-3 as Swansea got penalty after
penalty.
Sickeningly, Swansea clawed their
way back in the last race leaving the
ﬁnal score at 6-3. The only enjoyable
thing about the ﬁnal result for the visiting squad was that Swansea abandoned their inhibitions and deemed
it necessary to jump naked into the
grimy water.
+1
Welsh Varsity
14
Cardiﬀ trot to victory in equestrian
Swansea...........................................207.5
Cardiﬀ.................................................155
Bethany
Anderson
+1
A
fter a promising year for the
Cardiﬀ Equestrian team - with
teams A and C qualifying for
both regionals and nationals, they
managed to maintain their impressive
streak with a comfortable win over
Swansea on Monday.
A combination of A, B and C team
members travelled to Swansea early
Monday morning to compete for the
Varsity title. Cardiﬀ began the day
with strong dressage scores from all
competitors and two individual wins.
However, Swansea riders were also
on top form, only leaving Cardiﬀ narrowly in the lead with a 9.5 advantage.
After lunch, the Cardiﬀ team was
once again introduced to a new set
of horses, this time to complete their
show jumping round. Although 2015
was the ﬁrst Varsity experience for
some team members, Cardiﬀ refused
to horse around.
With only a few errors and exceptional rounds from each rider, they
managed to widen the originally small
gap to ﬁnish on a collective penalties
score of 155 in comparison to Swansea’s 207.5, beating Swansea with an
impressive 52.5 score diﬀerence.
Cardiﬀ ’s team captain Rory Newton Dunn aided his team to victory
with superb results, galloping ahead
of his rivals to ﬁnish ﬁrst individually
in both the dressage and show jumping – ending the day with a remarkable overall ﬁrst in the competition.
However, Rory was closely followed
by fellow Cardiﬀ teammate Kathryn
Carmody, placing second individually.
Despite a grueling six hours of
competition in a surprising Welsh
heat and competing against a muchimproved Swansea team, Cardiﬀ
Equestrian once again remained
victorious. Finishing with Swansea’s
complementary champagne duel and
most importantly on a high for many
of Cardiﬀ ’s equestrian committee
members in their ﬁnal year.
Although WelshVarsity is over for
another year, Cardiﬀ ’s A team will
now go on to compete against some
of the top universities in the BUCS
national ﬁnals at Bishop Burton College in June.
Swansea deliver knockout blow in boxing
Swansea..................................................3
Cardiﬀ.....................................................2
Conor
O’Gorman
B
oxing is a sport applauded by
many but approached by few.
Those who chose to step in the
ring must be commended. These pugilists possess the courage, conviction
and mental fortitude which we all desire for ourselves.
On Monday the 21st of April ﬁve of
our own warriors were put to the test
in Swansea after months of gruelling
preparation to regain the prized varsity shield. The bouts began with the
lightest of the ﬁghters at 64kg.
In his ﬁrst bout Ken Yip faced a
barrage of wild punches from a tireless opponent and lost the decision
after 3 rounds. Ken showed technical
prowess by landing straight-downthe-barrel shots to his opponents
head and had the ﬁght continued his
strategy would have paid oﬀ, unfortunately his opponent (having previously been beaten by a Cardiﬀ student)
managed to land more punches in the
time limit, with the help of a booming
Swansea crowd.
The ﬁghts proceeded in weight order and next up was Jack Pattison. A
newcomer to Cardiﬀ and a southpaw
ﬁghter, Jack boxed like a true tactician
and used his strong jab combined
with a tight guard to outbox his opponent for a split decision in his favour.
Jack showed speed and accuracy,
along with a great defence to outclass
his opponent. Cardiﬀ 1, Swansea 1.
Andy Smith was next up for his 3rd
bout at 69kg with an equally experienced opponent, which added a new
level of excitement to this ﬁght. An
explosive ﬁrst round saw fast paced,
intense boxing with both ﬁghters letting some big shots ﬂy. Andy’s oppo-
nent grappled and played his game
throughout the ﬁrst round, giving
Andy a match which was largely unexpected. The even ﬁrst round was
quickly forgotten when Andy (with
the help of Coach Sam in his corner)
ﬁgured his opponent out and planted
several body and head combinations.
By the end of the ﬁght Andy had ﬁnished his opponent and there was no
doubt in anyone’s minds. Unanimous
decision, Cardiﬀ 2, Swansea 1.
Fourth in the line-up was Dan Barratt, another newcomer facing his
ﬁrst opponent. Dan landed lefts and
rights continuously whilst holding
the centre of the ring through most
of the ﬁght, however unfortunately
lost a questionable decision. Showing
stamina and the ability to move in and
out of range, Dan troubled his opponent who brawled his way through to
a victory despite the crowd expecting
diﬀerent. Amateur boxers often fall
victim to the unspoken home advantage and Dan should be proud of his
performance. Cardiﬀ 2, Swansea 2.
Last up, with the fate of the shield
resting on his shoulders, was Sam
Briggs. Sam, also being a ﬁrst timer
was in the heaviest of the bouts at
75kg. With a cool composition and
sleek boxing style Sam landed some
hard punches throughout the three
rounds, whilst taking some punishment himself.
Unfortunately the home team took
the win, but if the last ﬁght was a
close one, this one was a dead match.
Briggsy should be proud of his performance as should all of the boxers, Coaches Sam, Adeel and Jimmi
Sandham the cornerman. This year
Swansea take the shield but these ﬁve
warriors return to Cardiﬀ with their
heads held high.
Cardiﬀ shooting miss the target
Swansea............................................1110
Cardiﬀ..............................................1073
Paul Revill
A
rriving at the Swansea range,
Cardiﬀ were greeted by a
delightful range of cake, fudge
and other treats, but it would be the
sweetest thing the visitors would taste
on the day.
The Cardiﬀ shooters got straight
down to some practice details due to
the lack of access to their range, which
is currently being knocked down and
reconstructed. Once both teams had
honed in their skills and riﬂes, the
competition began.
The competition had been decided
to be two Cardiﬀ shooters against two
Swansea shooters on each detail. The
details would last ten minutes for the
shooters to sight themselves in and
shoot a ten card.
A 10 card has 10 targets on it with
the highest possible score being 100
per card. Each shooter shot two cards
each.
First up were Chris Seaman and
Annie Rudd, two of Cardiﬀ ’s best
shooters. They managed to keep the
scores tight with only two points
separating the teams after the ﬁrst
detail.
Swansea managed to increase their
lead to six points at the end of the
second detail. Next up were Kanak
Nachinolkar and Kieran Howard.
Despite Kanak being a fresher, his
selection paid oﬀ as, although the
score diﬀerence was increased to
seventeen after the third detail, the
two guys pulled it back in the fourth
detail to only eleven points between
Swansea and Cardiﬀ.
The ﬁnal duo to shoot was Owen
Escott-Allen and Josh Stephens.
Whilst they put in a great eﬀort,
they were out performed by one of
+1
Swansea’s shooters who turned out to
be the best and most consistent in the
tournament.
The ﬁnal scores were Swansea:
1110, Cardiﬀ : 1073 so a narrow loss
for Cardiﬀ. Despite the loss, the day
was a great success and the Cardiﬀ
shooters can be proud of their eﬀorts.
Pictured:
Above: The
Cardiﬀ team
celebrate their
victory (Source:
@CardiﬀUec on
Twitter)
Left: The two
shooting teams
share a photo
(Source: Paul
Revill)
+1
15
Liveblog - 21:00: “Cardiff win the Varsity Cup! Cardiff have
won the men’s rugby match to take the Varsity Cup for the
first time since 2012.”
Cardiﬀ secure Ultimate Frisbee double
Swansea ladies......................................5
Cardiﬀ ladies.........................................8
Bryn Evans
A
solid performance from the
women’s Ultimate Frisbee
team saw an 8-5 win for Cardiﬀ at Varsity. Despite playing against
a larger team, Cardiﬀ managed to
keep Swansea at bay with their famous speed and furious marking.
Captaining Cardiﬀ ladies yesterday was pint-sized rocket, Chloe
Jones, whose valiant eﬀorts proved
victorious alongside other experienced players Becky Porter, Ellen
Salter, and Chloe Fowler. Freshers to
Cardiﬀ Frisbee also made an impact
on their Varsity debut with superb
grabs from Lola Rodgers and Alice
Newton.
Defence was strong throughout
with Niamh Corr and Sophie Witherford applying some serious pressure and aggressive defending to the
more experienced Swansea team.
All of the girls proved themselves
in what was a very close and tiring
game, with fearless bids being executed by Rodgers and Jones.
Irish hurricane, Niamh Corr, secured a point with an inside-out sidearm to Alice Newton.
Throughout the game it was clear
that Cardiﬀ Frisbee’s focus on train-
ing stamina and speed had paid oﬀ,
the Cardiﬀ team only having one
substitute against a team of twelve
and still outran the Swans.
Captain Jones explained that the
game was “very close” with long
points and few sub rotations. “The
girls all played excellently and did me
proud.”
Swansea men........................................7
Cardiﬀ men.........................................13
Cardiﬀ Men’s Ultimate Frisbee team
stayed golden with another victory
of 13-7 against Swansea, maintaining
their 100% Varsity record.
The game began with a strong
start from the Cardiﬀ side, quickly
progressing to a 5-1 score. Swansea
eventually caught on to the gameplay,
resulting in a half-time score of 8-6 to
Cardiﬀ.
The second half saw a change in
defensive strategy, allowing Cardiﬀ
to cut Swansea’s main ﬂow of play,
allowing for more turnovers. This, as
Men’s Captain Alden Ching claims,
was “all due to some hard running,
aggressive defence, and lots of layout
D’s from the boys”.
Defensive pressure was certainly
in strong form, with Dan Geerah and
Theo Isaac committing to bids with
reckless and fearless abandon. Ben
Alba, the only fresher playing on the
men’s team, managed with boundless
energy to outrun Swansea in true no
frills style.
Frisbee veteran Mike Walters,
courageously played his sixth and ﬁnal Varsity alongside ﬁnal year club
favourites Bon Leung and Marcus
Lewis.
Similarly to the Women’s team,
Cardiﬀ Men’s played a game that challenged Swansea’s stamina and speed.
Leung, a handler, described this when
he explained that Swansea “couldn’t
deal with the pace so they changed to
less exciting tactics.”
+2
Swansea pedal to cycling success
Benjamin
Babcock
M
onday April 20th saw Cardiﬀ University Road Cycling
Team take on Swansea University in the very ﬁrst cycling Varsity.
The day began with the men’s team
pursuit consisting of four riders per
team racing over eight laps. First up
was Cardiﬀ B who cruised to victory
over Swansea B by 20 seconds, in a
very respectable time of 5:13.
Next up we had Cardiﬀ A. Swansea
went out quickly, gaining a considerable advantage by lap one. Cardiﬀ
gradually clawed their way back into
contention, decreasing the time gap
lap by lap. In the end, despite a valiant
eﬀort, Cardiﬀ were pushed into second place by Swansea by a mere two
seconds, ﬁnishing in a time of 4:58.
Next up we had the men’s individual kilo, a two-lap race testing riders acceleration, power and top end speed.
The event was won in a dominant
manner by Cardiﬀ ’s Geoﬀ Smart, who
won the event by three seconds. With
two riders on the podium and the remaining results alternating between
Cardiﬀ and Swansea it marked a good
result for Cardiﬀ.
Then came the individual pursuit,
raced over four laps. This event is a
test of speed, endurance and pacing
strategy. Cardiﬀ ’s men’s captain Ben
Babcock won the event.
The fourth race of the day was the
men’s elimination race, with the last
rider every lap being eliminated. Cardiﬀ got oﬀ to a poor start, losing rid-
ers early on, leaving just Geoﬀ Smart
and president Joe Lockett still contesting the event against six Swansea
riders. Despite this, Lockett managed
to take the victory against the odds in
impressive fashion.
Next up was the men’s points race,
where all the 30 riders would compete against each other. The race was
40 laps, with a sprint at laps 10, 20,
30 and 40, with the ﬁnal sprint being
worth double points. The race was
won by Swansea’s Jordan Wade, who
won all four of the sprints.
Heading into the ﬁnal men’s event,
there was only seven points separating the teams, leaving it all to play
for. The criterium race involves using both the inner and outer track,
incorporating four tight corners, testing the riders bike handling, skill and
nerve. Rhys Williams took the victory
ahead of Geoﬀ Smart with Swansea’s
Jordan Wade in third place.
With Swansea only sending one female racer, versus Cardiﬀ ’s seven, an
omnium event was held. The overall
victory was taken by Sophie Lankford, ahead of Jade Payne and Laura
Strudley.
The team’s strength in numbers
highlighted just how far the club has
come on especially with regards to incorporating female riders.
Unfortunately, Swansea took the
overall victory ahead of Cardiﬀ, but
there were many positives to take
from the day.
+1
Mixed fortunes for volleyball
Swansea ladies......................................3
Cardiﬀ ladies.........................................2
Tim Erskine
W
ith the ladies’ volleyball
Varsity soon to begin, the
Cardiﬀ spikes were getting
pumped during their warm up. They
were set to have a close match, playing excellently, but unfortunately losing to Swansea in a tense ﬁfth set.
The ﬁrst set was comfortable, with
the girls in red and black sealing it 2516. Swansea still had big ambitions
and went into an early lead in the
second set, but Cardiﬀ held their own
with a ﬂurry of points, including an
unstoppable attack by Leventi. Swansea’s improved co-ordination and a
number of nifty serves meant that
they took the second set 25-19.
With the game poised at one set all,
it was hard to separate the two teams
in the second set, with Cardiﬀ managing to go into a 20-19 lead. A strong
bout of serving by Diavasti helped the
dragons bring home the set 25-21,
making the score 2-1 to Cardiﬀ.
With Cardiﬀ needing one more set
to win, Swansea upped their game
in the fourth set, but Cardiﬀ fought
back with a blast of a spike by Manin.
The fourth set painfully turned green,
ﬁnishing at 25-11 and levelling the
match once again at 2-2.
In a dramatic winner-takes-all ﬁnal set, Swansea made a succession
of successful middle attacks and took
the set 15-6.
The ﬁnal score of 3-2 represented
the twists and turns of the game, with
Swansea doing well to force their way
through at the end.
Swansea men........................................0
Cardiﬀ men...........................................3
T
here was an electric atmosphere in the sports hall as
the men’s volleyball players
warmed up for their straight-set win.
After a tense ladies’ match eventually
taken by Swansea, spirits were high.
An opening ace by Badirwang,
shortly followed by another two from
Al-Korbi, made for a convincing start
from Cardiﬀ. Swansea hitting the ball
into one of their own player’s head
demonstrated the gulf between the
two teams.
Cardiﬀ won 11 points in a row with
Barkanov serving, and Cardiﬀ took
the ﬁrst set by a comfortable 25-11.
As the second set began, Al-Korbi
pounded the ball down like a hammer
to take a brilliant opening point. Nevertheless, this set proved to be much
closer, with Swansea improving their
co-ordination, particularly in blocking spikes.
With the scores tied at 24-24, the
ﬁrst team to go into a two-point lead
would take the set. Cardiﬀ duly hammered home the next two, taking the
set 26-24.
Swansea took some chances in the
third set, but as Cardiﬀ eased into a
20-16 lead, the match began to look
like it would be a quick ﬁnish. Calm,
collected passing, accurate setting
a powerful spikes brought home the
third set 25-23.
There were some tense moments
along the way as Swansea tested Cardiﬀ ’s nerves, but in the end the boys
in red managed to see out the win 3-0.
+1
+1
15
JASON ROBERTS VS THE WORLD
Click on the dotted line
Online petitions are not a substitute for real citizenship
Jason
Roberts
“
Idiotic
proposals
are just an
inevitable part
of our beautiful
new Internet
democracy.
After all,
democracy is
for everyone,
even the idiots
”
O
ne of the more perverse things
about the strange world of
journalism is that over time,
your perspective and priorities tend
to get a little… well, skewed. Case
in point: last week, sentient melanoma and collective national shame
Katie Hopkins wrote a daring think
piece, outlining her brave and forward-thinking plan to utilise gunships against the migrants storming
shores armed only with hopes and
dreams. Understandably, this caused
every reasonable human being in the
country to vomit into their mouths
before taking to Twitter to register
their outrage. BUT NOT THIS GUY.
When this story broke, I was sitting
at home planning what to write about
this week, and I didn’t have shit. And
then, like a gift from the writing gods,
this wondrous example of frothing
lunacy delivered itself right into my
exceptionally grateful arms. For me
then, whenever Katie Hopkins or another likeminded screaming mouthpiece says something so brazenly offensive, my instant reaction isn’t one
of shock, but celebration.
So when I sat down to write this, I
was ready to bring the noise. I was going to make jokes about Katie’s failed
show, the plight of her miserable children; I was even going to compare her
to cancer. Okay, so I made good on
that last intention. But just as I was
sharpening my daggers, I saw that a
petition had been started with the
goal of sacking her from the Sun. And
just like that, I had a new target.
There are many contentious issues
in this terrible world of ours. Some
are large, and some are small, but it’s
getting to the stage where every single fucking one has its own petition.
Don’t believe me? As of the time of
writing, a petition has been launched
to change Scotland’s national animal
from the unicorn to the Loch Ness
Monster. This is quite literally the
dumbest endeavour in human history, and I say that with great regard
for all the dumb things that we’ve
achieved as a species.
You might be thinking that the idiotic proposals are just an inevitable
part of our beautiful new Internet
democracy. After all, democracy is
for everyone, even the idiots. But the
sheer number of petitions out there
seem to be diluting any positive eﬀect
they might have. For every petition
about Katie Hopkins that manages
to go viral, there are thousands of far
worthier causes ﬂoating around in
the sea of digital change.
Virality is the issue here. There are
clearly many important issues in the
world that need addressing, but it
seems that the petitions that make
their way into the public eye are the
ones that ride the crest of a particular
wave. The petitions to sack and reinstate Jeremy Clarkson respectively
are a perfect example of this. Realistically, only a small number of people
have strong feelings about Jeremy
Clarkson, because there are more
important things to worry about. But
because signing a petition nowadays
is no more arduous than liking something on Facebook, and sharing it is
easier than ever, the number of people
who ‘care enough to sign a petition’ is
now grossly inﬂated. And as a result,
it’s damn near impossible to gauge the
sincerity of the people who’ve ‘signed’
it. You might be absolutely apoplectic
about something or you might be a
bored 13-year old with nothing better to do, but your binary registration
of outrage will count just the same
as everyone elses. So nowadays, sites
like change.org have essentially just
become a new form of social media
for people to register their approval
and disapproval of various things.
Compare this to a time where petitions were done on paper. If you
wanted to get properly pissed oﬀ
at things 15 years ago, it was nothing short of a herculean labour. You
had to step outside your house, trek
through the freezing rain to ﬁnd a fat
man in an ill-ﬁtting cagoule stood on
the high street with some soggy paper and a biro that didn’t work. Then
you had to give your personal details
away to the fat man and trust him
that he wouldn’t auction them oﬀ to
the highest bidder. And after all that,
you’d never hear from anyone ever
again, except someone calling every
three weeks to tell you that you could
be recompensed for an accident you
had recently. As a nation, we’ve lost
this noble art of being properly angry
at things, a trait that used to count as
one of the deﬁning characteristics of
what it means to be British.
The thing is, because people knew
that it was a chore, those signatures
carried more weight. It’s one thing for
a quarter of a million people to click
a button, but could you imagine even
10% of those people getting up to express active dissatisfaction instead of
passive disdain? If that were the case I
think Katie Hopkins would be on the
dole, and wouldn’t that be some sweet
irony?
Online petitions aren’t going away,
and nor do I want them to, because
they have been shown to instigate
change in some instances. They also
have the power to make people aware
of certain issues, which can only be a
good thing. But we need to be realistic
about their limitations, and we need
to consider if we’re really performing
our civic duties in the most eﬀective
way when we sign one. If you want
to instigate real change, it’s probably
best to start in the real world.
Pictured:
The Stig sat
on a tank in
London, as
part of an
online petition
to bring back
Clarkson
“
As a nation,
we’ve lost this
noble art of
being properly
angry at things
”
POLITICS
tweet us @GairRhyddPol
mail us [email protected]
or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/politics
Crisis in the Mediterranean
EU sea rescue operation funding trebled as over 1,750 die
on crossing so far this year
Pictured:
A migrant
sailboat
capsized oﬀ the
coast of Greece
on April 20th
(Source: NBC)
Louisa Idel
I
n the gravest incident involving
migrants in the Mediterranean
to date, around 700 people trying to leave Africa to cross to Europe
are believed to have died due to the
sinking of their ship. This tragedy,
however, is far from unique. Every
day, between 500 and 1,000 migrants
are caught while attempting to cross
this sea. In the ﬁrst four months of
this year alone, more than 35,000 migrants have attempted the journey,
of which 1,600 are believed to have
died in the attempt.
Driven away by the unstable economic and political situations in various African countries, more and more
people hope to ﬁnd security, stability
and a better life in the European Union. The harsh reality, however, is that
the chances of successfully crossing
the Mediterranean are slim. In 2014,
the International Organisation for
Migration published a report stating
that the migration route to Europe is
the ‘most dangerous’ one at present.
Nationalities of migrants attempting sea
crossing to reach EU
Syrians
Eritreans
Sub Saharans
Malians
Afghans
Other
Those hoping to undertake the perilous journey are often fully aware of
the high risk of failure; yet prefer to
take this risk than to continue living
in their home countries.
In response to the latest incident,
the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, called for a special
European summit. This took place in
Brussels on April 23rd to further discuss actions to be taken on behalf of
the European Union concerning the
Mediterranean migrant crisis.
When the former Italian-led rescue
operation “Mare Nostrum” expired in
October 2014, its replacement “Triton” came into being. While “Mare
Nostrum” had a monthly budget of 9
million euros with an operational area
including the Libyan coastline, Triton
currently has a monthly budget of 3
million euros and only operates in
European territorial waters. This often-criticised discrepancy has been
addressed by the European Commission, which proposed a 10-point action plan to tackle the Mediterranean
migrant crisis on Monday. Under the
new plan Triton’s ﬁnancial resources
would be increased and its operational area extended. Moreover, Immigrant Liaison Oﬃcers are to be deployed in key third countries in order
to “gather intelligence on migratory
laws and strengthen the role of the EU
Delegations”. Another declared aim is
to ﬁght human traﬃcking, which is
one of the major factors responsible
for the high number of deaths, more
actively and more eﬀectively.
While these measures are steps in
the right direction, more remains to
be done. One key aspect that remains
unaddressed, for instance, is the fact
that ﬁve European Union member
states out of 28 – namely France,
Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom – currently receive 70
per cent of EU asylum seekers. Due
to its geographic position, Italy is
struggling to bear the burden of more
and more waves of stranded migrants
on its own.
Ultimately, there is no simple solution – otherwise it would have already been found. In the long term,
the only durable solution is to tackle
the source of the problem in the
countries people are ﬂeeing.
Aiding the economically or politically weaker countries on the African continent to stabilise them has
to be done with the utmost care to
avoid neo-colonialist relations and
ensure that sustainable development
can take place. This will hopefully
eventually end the need for many migrants to risk their lives in the hope of
ﬁnding better living conditions in the
European Union.
The summit ruled that aid funding
for the search and rescue operation
will be trebled. The EU will also look
at ways to capture and destroy smugglers’ boats, going as far as discussing
destroying migrant boats.
“
President of
the European
Council,
Donald Tusk,
has called
for a special
European
summit to
take place in
Brussels
”
POLITICS 17
No Deal for Plaid
and Labour
Plaid Cymru and Labour
outline post-election intentions
Robert
Thomas
E
d Miliband has now conﬁrmed
that his party will not actively
seek a formal coalition with
Plaid Cymru in the event of a hung
parliament. The statement came in
the same week of the second party
leader’s debate earlier this month
when he argued that he would not
form a coalition with the SNP. Labour, understandably but perhaps naively in light of current opinion polls,
still believe, or at least want to believe
they can win a majority on May 7th.
Plaid Cymru, on the other hand,
cannot demand such an authority
over the election’s outcome. Leanne
Wood has stated that her party
wouldn’t vote down a Labour Queen’s
speech only if the party worked ‘progressively’ as a ‘real Tory alternative’
and not if “at its heart represents the
worst excesses of austerity”. Ms Wood
has also made clear Plaid’s intention
of gaining parity in terms of funding
and power of the Welsh Assembly,
bringing it in line with the Scottish
Parliament, if it were to support a
Labour government. The idea of the
coalition, she argues, means that concessions for Wales can be realised, arguing that gains brought about after
the 1997 election sets a precedence
for Plaid, that it can win considerable gains for their voters this time
around.
While the idea of coalition governance may well look like an uneasy necessity to the main parties, especially
in light of the damage the current one
has done to Liberal Democrat support: the split of the electorate since
2010 and the archaic nature of ﬁrstpast-the-post has meant this will be
inevitable. There are talks of possible
Tory-UKIP-DUP, Tory/Labour-Lib
Dem, as well as SNP-Labour coalitions; asserting which parties you
would be willing to work with is a
unique feature of this election, minority parties cannot be blamed for
bringing their demands into the fold,
whether the main parties like it or
not. This is how our democracy now
works in 21st century Britain.
Pictured:
Leanne Wood
campaigning
wih party
activists
Summit called as South Wales fires up 892%
Carwyn
Williams
“
Over 750 fires
have started
since the start
of April
B
ritain could be on for the hottest
April on record this month, as
the unseasonably hot weather
is getting students heading outside to
revise. You may be loving the weather, but South Wales Fire and Rescue is
working harder than ever this month,
having dealt with 600 grass ﬁre incidents in the ﬁrst twenty days of April.
In the South Wales valleys, the number of deliberate grass ﬁres is up an
astronomical 892 per cent in the ﬁrst
week of April alone, compared to last
year across the region.
Over 750 ﬁres have started since
the start of April at time of print, rising daily it’s only a matter of time until someone gets killed. South Wales
Police are urging residents to take a
stand against local arsonists to try and
cut down the number of incidents.
Cerith Griﬃths of the Fire Brigade
Union in Wales added “These kinds of
incidents will tie up crews for hours
on end and means they are isolated
from getting to other serious incidents such as property ﬁre or a road
traﬃc collision.”
Commenting on this appalling recent spike in deliberate ﬁres, minister Leighton Andrews commented,
“Those who start grass ﬁres deliberately are committing a criminal offence. I welcome the strong statement
from South Wales Police yesterday.”
Members in the chamber expressed their gratitude to the ﬁre
service, while expressing concern as
these incidents will lead to cultural issues, and even poverty. A Welsh Government report has shown evidence
that during periods of recession and
bad economic climate, the number of
deliberate ﬁres actually increases. It
was also announced the Welsh Government will hold a summit with the
” A week in the Senedd
First Minister’s Questions
Despite the election campaign being
in its ﬁnal stages, the Assembly was
back in business last week. Plaid Cymru opened proceedings, querying the
First Minister on the implications of
cuts to public services for the budget
of 2015/16. Carwyn Jones stated that
there is now £1.4 billion less to spend
Pictured:
A grass ﬁre
spread to 1,000
tyres causing
black smoke to
be seen across
the valleys
emergency services due to the severity
of the matter, having thought to have
cost almost a million pounds already.
The local beauty of the valleys is
being destroyed daily by irresponsible
vandals. With Fire and Rescue services being under ﬁnancial pressure,
these incidents are adding extreme
pressure on the service, as well as in
emergency call centres. Environmental concerns have also been raised,
with ﬁres destroying local landscapes
and negative consequences for wildlife. Natural Resources Wales has also
commentated on the serious repercussions these ﬁres will have for wildlife, protected sites as well as communities.
with Carwyn Williams
on public services now, and there are
always challenges when cutting. The
Minster criticised Tory plans to cut
the Welsh Government’s budget by 20
per cent, which would be an unmitigated disaster for Wales. Responding
to Leanne Wood, Jones added that
the bedroom tax aﬀected Wales very
badly, and a Labour government at
Westminster would see “ﬁve years of
investment in Wales.” Conservative
AM Janet Finch-Saunders commented
that local government demoralisation
and uncertainty, eﬀecting public services, was down to the chaos of the
Welsh Government.
The leader of the opposition turned
“UKIP purple”, in the words of the First
Minister this week, as they argued
over the economy and which government was to credit for the Welsh
economic recovery, down to the Tories’ long term economic plan, or the
Welsh Governments eﬀorts to bring
in investment. Davies stated that a return to Labour policy at Westminster
would see “slash and burn” policies.
The First Minister disagreed saying
that’s what we’ve had for the last ﬁve
years, adding that the Tory manifesto
was full of unfunded promises, and the
Conservatives defend bankers rather
than working people.
Onto the matter of transport, the
minister conﬁrmed that the South
Wales metro plans were moving forward. Responding to Kirsty Williams,
Jones continued to call for the Severn
bridge tolls to be in the control of his
administration. Williams recommended her party’s policy that the tolls
should be scrapped, rather than fought
over by governments, while also noticing that the Labour UK manifestos did
not include anything regarding the
matter.
Cut in Welsh NHS beds
Conservative AM Darren Millar last
week outlined issues in the Welsh
NHS, and accused the Health Minister for cutting one in ﬁve beds in the
service. The minister, Mark Drakeford, said that the reduction of beds
was slower in Wales then in England,
despite also admitting that “we treat
more people than ever before.”
18 POLITICS
Interview: Green candidate
Gair Rhydd speaks to Chris von Ruhland
Rhiannon
Tapp
W
hy would you encourage
students to vote for you
as the Green candidate?
Firstly I would encourage students
to vote anyway as a principle. A lot
of young people are disengaged from
politics which is why they don’t get
the hearings they should do from
politicians while elderly people get
very good deals indeed.
Why should students vote for the
Green Party? We’re going to abolish
tuition fees. We see education as a
fundamental right and a principle of
a civilised society and we will replace
that initially with a grant system
and then ultimately with a citizens
income scheme. In the Green Party
we think education should be free to
everyone the same way the NHS is.
Do you see a substantial future for
the Green Party?
Yes. We’ll need to move towards
a sustainable society. It’s the only
way we can continue civilisation as
we enjoy it. Our current system is
geared towards economic growth
but of course we live in on a planet
so we are restricted by this fact. Unless we move towards sustainable
economics we’re going to encounter
more of the problems we’ve already
seen like global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer.
We’re simply exceeding our planet’s capability to absorb our waste
products so ultimately we need a
more sustainable society and that
is green politics. Whether the other
parties will pick up on that and become more green remains to be seen
but there is deﬁnitely a requirement
for green politicians.
“
We need to
move away
from this
idea of ‘the
opposition’
and ‘the
government’
and towards
a genuine
parliament
”
Who would you prefer to see in
power Ed Miliband or David Cameron?
I wouldn’t like to see either of
them. This is an issue of the way our
parliament works. It’s this confrontational politics that disingenders.
There are politicians of all political
persuasions who work together and
are beginning to move away from this
confrontational politics. To move towards a system of cooperation where
we ﬁnd a common ground is good.
Most politicians want to make the
world a better place and that’s why I
stand and that’s why most of the other candidates have stood. We need
to move away from this idea of ‘the
opposition’ and ‘the government’ and
towards a genuine parliament.
What do you say to people who
think that voting green is pointless?
All votes count. Just because we
have a ﬁrst past the post system
doesn’t mean that other voices aren’t
heard. We’ve seen that with UKIP.
They currently have one MP but they
gain disproportionate amount of inﬂuence on the big parties because of
the support that they’ve managed to
engender, so they might ultimately
not receive any MPs but just because you’re not going to get elected
doesn’t mean you don’t have an inﬂuence.
If you believe in Green policies,
vote for the Greens. Don’t be cynical
and use tactical voting. This is something which is exploited by the two
main parties and it perpetuates the
system. We should encourage people
to vote for what they actually believe
in and that’s the only way you’re going to get change.
How do you think Jenny Willott
has done so far as MP for Cardiﬀ
Central?
I think like all MPs she has worked
very hard. She’s certainly been very
loyal to the coalition and looking at
her record she’s voted for the policies
which the coalition has drawn up to
agree on. She did vote in favour of a
better investigation of the Iraq War
which ultimately failed in parliament. She opposed tuition fees. That
was where she was actually in the
whips oﬃce and she stepped down
from that so that she could do that so
that was one of her highlights I think.
Many students take issue with what
job prospects and the economy
would be like under the Greens?
Well we’ve got a fully costed economic policy. We’re going to create
one million jobs by investing in green
technology. We want to improve the
prospect for apprentices. There’s too
much emphasis I think on academic qualiﬁcations at the expense of
technical ones and there’s a serious
shortage of technical staﬀ in the UK.
This we can overcome by investing in
technological prospects.
Really it’s thinking about the future: what sort of future do students
want to grow up with? At the mo-
Pictured:
Chris von
Ruhland, Green
candidate for
Cardiﬀ Central
Pictured
below:
Greenland
Iceberg
(Source:
Ludovic
Hirliman on
Flickr)
ment we have an economic system
which, certainly in the West, takes
more than its fair share of resources
of the planet. There will be consequences if we carry on which we’ve
already seen with climate change.
A move towards a more sustainable society will create jobs in order
to achieve that and it is a challenging situation to deal with this. The
Greens also want to reduce the hours
people work, there’s a lot of emphasis placed on the acquisition of material goods but there are other very
important things like happiness and
health which aren’t really measured
to any signiﬁcant extent at the moment. I invite students to think much
more longer term.
Why does the Green Party oppose
nuclear power?
Uranium is a ﬁnite resource. This
is something advocates of nuclear
power don’t mention. Current rates
of consumption mean we have about
40 years of uranium left worldwide
so it’s going to run out. At the same
time we have this huge legacy of
nuclear waste which nobody knows
what to do with and we’re just leaving that to future generations to sort
out. That’s just morally wrong. We
have no idea what to do with it, it’s
going to last for tens of thousands of
years. To continute creating nuclear
reactive waste seems to be a spectacularly stupid thing. It’s only for short
term gain. There seems to be no consideration of future generations in a
lot of current party politics.
According to Welsh MEP Nathan
Gill, climate change is not man
made. Is there any truth to this?
Global warming is a result of increasing anthroprogenics in the atmosphere. In the Green Party we
are pro science. People think we’re
a bunch of hippies but we’re not like
that at all. Science underpins all of
our policies. The simple scientiﬁc
fact that we live on a planet and its
rescources are ﬁnite is something
only we as a party have recognised.
Over 95% of scientists agree that
global warming is man made and
they are getting very, very concerned
at the intransigence of which Western nations have been dragging their
feet for decades.
The Green Party has always said
we need renewable energies in order
to preserve resources for the future
and now people are only just starting
to notice this is true.
We’re melting the Greenland ice
sheet and this is terrifying. There are,
I don’t know how many, cubic kilometers of ice melting on a slope. It’s obvious what the consequences of this
will be. If we continue as we are, in
the next ﬁve hundred years we will be
as hot as the Cretaceous period. The
biosphere can’t cope with a transition of that rapidity.
We’re going to see serious problems, crop failure, drought, worsening weather and it’s going to impact
on our descendents. What I ﬁnd astonishing is the sheer lack of urgency
amongst Western governments.
There are many developing countries
who are switching to 100% renewables and we’re just dragging our heels
which is absolutely outrageous.
“
In the Green
Party we are
pro science.
People think
we’re a bunch
of hippies but
we’re not like
that at all
”
POLITICS 19
Does negative
campaigning turn
voters oﬀ?
A new era is leaving the old
parties trailing behind
Tom Morris
“
The problem
this kind of
advertising
has nowadays
is that it
disillusions
voters.
”
Daniel Heard
“
UKIP were
quick to
denounce the
Alex-Wood
UKIP Twitter
account as a
fake
”
T
he election campaign so far
has shown the extent to which
political parties will spend
time smearing other party campaigns. It is easier for politicians to
criticise other parties than sell their
own policies. Right now, none more
so than the Conservatives and Labour. I myself was startled to see an
unsettling YouTube advert where
Alex Salmond moves to London and
begins to make Ed Miliband dance
like a puppet.
This was of course part of the
Tory general election campaign. In
the previous election, Labour didn’t
think of their own ideological ideas
for a poster, as they simply turned
around a poster depicting Cameron
as favourite TV detective Gene Hunt
into a sign that Cameron would
bring Britain “back to the 1980s,”
whilst the Tories said that Labour
would “turn Great Britain into Little
Britain.”
Labour’s latest efforts involve a
spin on a 70s anti-Labour campaign,
where people under a Conservative
government queue up to see a GP.
The fight has been taken online,
where parties encourage voters to
share Photoshopped images of op-
ponents. One particular Twitter exchange had the Conservatives tweet
a picture of Alex Salmond with Ed
Miliband safely in his pocket, to
which someone replied with a picture of Rupert Murdoch, with David
Cameron safely in his pocket. Arguably much of this behaviour is in
cheap taste.
The problem with this kind of
campaigning nowadays is that it disillusions voters. In the past it may
have worked. An example of this is
when the Conservative supporting
Sun newspaper ran the headline “If
Kinnock Wins Today, Will the Last
Person to Leave Britain Please Turn
out the Lights?” and then the Tories
won. Many historians have since attributed Kinnock’s loss to the impact
of the Sun’s campaign.
However, in the new world of
politics where smaller parties such
as the Greens and UKIP are splitting voters more than ever, it is not
enough to just give a message “not to
vote for the other guy” because there
is no longer a guarantee that the lost
voter will come over to your side.
Many might argue that a vote for
a populist party is still one vote less
for the opponent, but it’s definitely a
gamble for the party spending money on smear campaigns.
In short, the political parties need
to demonstrate more reasons for
people to vote for them- maybe then
we would see a decrease in people
refusing to vote. Alongside this, we
wouldn’t need to hastily scrabble to-
gether coalitions after the election.
So if any Labour or Conservative
PR people read Gair Rhydd, I hope
they would consider putting policies
of their own party into their adverts
from now on,. We should move away
from politics which works by showing opponents as insane puppeteers.
Pictured:
Cameron
and Miliband
haven’t been
the happiest
during the
campaign
UKIP denounce homophobic troll
J
ack Monroe, food writer and
campaigner left twitter due to
homophobic abuse. Ms Monroe,
26, who blogs about poverty for the
Guardian, said she found the hateful
messages “suffocating” and did not
feel the social media website was a
“safe place to be”.
UKIP said the abusive Twitter account has been set up by a troll and
has called its contents “vile”. The
abusive messages were sent from
an account purporting to belong to
Alex Wood, a former UKIP election
candidate from Somerset, who was
suspended from the party in 2013
after pictures emerged of him apparently making a “Nazi-style” salute, which he has strongly denied.
He has vehemently denied being the
owner of the offending account.
The abuse came after Ms Monroe wrote a comment piece for the
Guardian following Thursday’s
election debate in which she praised
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett’s stance on immigration and
criticised UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s “circus act”. One of the messages, posted using the account
name @Alex_WoodUKIP, said:
“Your sick form of Lesbianism and
militant queerism (sic) is destroying this country. Get out and give us
Britain back! #VoteUKIP.”
Responding to the comments
Ms Monroe, who is openly gay and
campaigns on food rights, tweeted:
“God it’s men like this that make
me wish I wasn’t a lesbian. Be still
my beating heart for the charm and
intellect.” In a tweet on April 18th
entitled “final word”, she wrote:
“Please do not retaliate to the trolls
and abusers with abuse. Not in my
name. Please, not in my name.” The
account also aimed abuse at Guardian columnist Owen Jones. UKIP
were quick to denounce the AlexWoodUKIP Twitter account as a
fake and said the party was treating the sentiments expressed on it
- which include a link to an overtly
racist blog - with “contempt”. A party spokesman said: “UKIP utterly
denounce the vile and uncalled-for
Twitter troll that is masquerading
as Alex Wood. We are very sorry for
the offence it has caused and treat
it and the sentiments it expresses
with the contempt it deserves. “We
have been in contact with Twitter
and hope that they will delete the
account as quickly as possible. So to
people like Jack Monroe and Owen
Jones we can only feel sympathy, no
matter our differences they do not
deserve these coarse and unpleasant
attacks.”
A 22 year old, who is believed to
be the perpetrator of the hate crime,
has been arrested and released on
bail. The suspect previously robbed
a police and avoided jail after a hoax
in which he accused a Muslim of assaulting a baby.
Pictured:
Jack Monroe
(source:
redonline.
co.uk)
SCIENCE
tweet us @gairrhyddsci
email us [email protected]
or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/science
Paracetamol may
dull emotions as
well as pain
Maria
Mellor
Got a story
idea? Let
us know:
science@
gairrhydd.com
I
magine you have a headache. You
want something to take the pain
away so that you can go about
your day as normal. One of the most
popular over-the-counter choices for
pain relief for over ﬁfty years has been
paracetamol, favoured for its eﬀectiveness in dulling a wide range of physical
discomforts. New research has found,
however, that the drug not only dulls
physical pain, but also emotions.
A few years ago, researchers found
a link between physical and emotional pain. It was found that there is an
incredibly similar pattern of activity
in the brain when test subjects were
hurt physically and when they were
hurt emotionally. We now know the
overlap of the two types of pain goes
further than this, as not only do they
function similarly, but they also react
in a similar way to painkillers.
The chemical acetaminophen is the
main active ingredient in paracetamol
and is thought to be the component
that dulls emotions. Acetaminophen
is an interesting compound because
although it is extremely commonly
used, with over 200 million packets
of paracetamol sold in the UK each
year, the mechanism by which it inhibits pain in the human body is still
unknown. It is thought to inhibit an
enzyme called cyclooxygenase (or
COX), which is involved in the inﬂammatory response. The inﬂammatory
response is one of the body’s basic responses to injury and is responsible for
a large share of the pain we feel when
we injure ourselves. If this response is
reduced then we feel less pain.
A study was carried out on 167 students at The Ohio State University;
half were given a 1000mg pill, and half
were given a placebo. After the drug
had been given time to work, the students were shown a range of images
chosen with the intent of triggering a
strong emotional reaction. They were
asked to rate how positive or negative
they thought image was. After rating
the images once, they were shown
Pictured:
200 million packs
of paracetamol
are sold every
year over the
counter in the
UK.
(Steve Smith,
Flickr)
them again and asked to indicate the
intensity of their emotional reaction to
the image on a 1 to 10 scale.
The results? Those who had taken
paracetamol had less intense reactions
to the images than those who had not.
The positive pictures made them less
happy and the negative images made
them less sad than those who had not
had their emotions dulled by the drug.
Baldwin Way, a co-author on the study
said that “people who took acetaminophen didn’t feel the same highs or
lows as did the people who took placebos”. It is speculated that paracetamol
may aﬀect signalling pathways inside
the brain, which may go on to aﬀect
the overall mood of those who take the
drug.
The study has been taken to the
NHS. They have suggested that anyone taking paracetamol on a longterm basis due to chronic pain or other
long standing conditions who may be
worried about its eﬀects on emotional
engagement should see their doctor to
discuss alternative treatment options.
The researchers behind the study
intend to go on and investigate other
painkillers such as ibuprofen and aspirin to see whether they have the same
eﬀects.
“
... people
who took
acetaminophen
didn’t feel the
same highs or
lows as did the
people who
took placebos
”
No, that Japanese beer will not make you prettier
Alcohol containing collagen claims to improve complexion
Shanna
Hamilton
“
You won’t
get prettier,
you may still
need those
beer goggles,
and you will
still get a
horrendous
hangover if
you drink too
much
”
S
tudents are arguably the demographic that love beer the most.
In fact, you be may currently
enjoying a crisp, refreshing lager in a
beer garden, in the worst form of procrastination from depressing exam
revision. It is well known that beer,
although its consumption can be a
joyful experience, has some terrible
side eﬀects, and is not wholly good
for our bodies. Yet a Japanese brewery
believes they have deﬁed all scientiﬁc
reasoning: their latest beer “Precious”
is branded as making drinkers “more
youthful and beautiful”, because it
contains collagen. Is this claim just too
good to swallow?
Collagen is a natural and important component of our skin, one of
the most abundant proteins found in
animals. It is the main component of
connective tissues, which support and
connect the skin, muscle and nervous tissue in the human body. This is
why, as we age and collagen supplies
deplete, our skin wrinkles up in those
crow’s feet around the eyes, gathers
up under the neck, and creases up in
those tell-tale frowning forehead lines.
Japanese brewery Suntory are exploiting the large chunk of the country’s female population who believe
that by ingesting collagen they will
improve these wrinkles and their
looks. Each can of beer “Precious”
contains two grams of collagen plus
the usual ﬁve per cent of alcohol.
Suntory have aimed for scare tactics
with their branding: the unusual advertising suggests that “guys can tell if
a girl is taking collagen or not”.
The collagen business has been
booming in Japan for several years,
with supermarkets oﬀering boosting
beauty creams, while restaurants oﬀer
foods naturally rich in the protein: this
includes sharks ﬁns and pig trotters,
just to name a few of the delightful
delicacies.
Experts, including the British Skin
Foundation, categorically state that
eating collagen does not beneﬁt the
skin in any way, and there are no published scientiﬁc studies to support
these claims. Suntory have also failed
to reveal how this beer is supposed to
work, or oﬀer any evidence to suggest
that it does.
There is also the issue of what happens to collagen when you drink it.
Some sceptics argue that since it is a
protein, your digestive system is likely
to break it up before it even reaches
the skin.
Despite the complete lack of any
medical reason why somebody would
ingest collagen, the trend appears to
be growing in Japan. Thankfully, the
beer is only currently being sold in
Hokkaido, a north island of Japan:
hopefully “Precious” will not make its
way into the hands of perhaps gullible,
or desperate, university students any
time soon.
So no, I wouldn’t waste your time
on “Precious”. You won’t get prettier,
you may still need those beer goggles,
and you will still get a horrendous
hangover if you drink too much. Stick
to what you know – Carlsberg might
taste like a bodily ﬂuid, but at least it
does what it says on the can.
Pictured:
A pint of
Carlsberg
might quench
your thirst,
but certainly
won’t make
you prettier
like Precious
beer claims
to. (Source:
basegreen,
Flickr)
SCIENCE 21
Giving birth at 65 is not a feminist issue
Health risks should take precendence over possibility for late motherhood
Meryon
Roderick
“
It is important
to consider
whether it is
reasonable to
have children
when there
is a strong
possibility you
will become
unable to
care for them
properly until
they reach
adulthood
”
A
nnegret Raunigk, a 65 year old
woman from Germany, has announced that she is pregnant
with quadruplets. This pregnancy will
be record breaking if Raunigk carries
the unborn children to term making
her the oldest woman in the world to
have quadruplets. She already made
news a decade ago when she gave birth
to her youngest daughter Lelia at the
age of 55, making her Germany’s oldest mother.
It was Lelia’s request for a younger
sibling that spurred Raunigk to travel
to Ukraine in search of an IVF clinic
that would work with her, as artiﬁcial
insemination at her age is illegal in
Germany. Four embryos were made by
combining sperm and eggs from two
anonymous donors and implanted
into Raunigk’s uterus. This method of
implanting several embryos at once is
often used in IVF because it raises the
chances of one of the embryos sticking to the uterine wall well enough
to be carried to term. The Ukrainian
doctors never expected all four of the
embryos to implant successfully.
Raunigk’s pregnancy has ignited a
furore, both in Germany and across
the world. There has been widespread
condemnation of her actions which
has been combatted by a large number of vocal supporters of Raunigk’s
right to give birth how and when she
pleases.
One problem with the public discourse surrounding the birth of these
quadruplets is the perception of some
that this is a feminist issue. Clearly a
woman has dominion over her own
body and should of course be able to
decide the timing and manner of the
birth of her children but this should
only apply within reason. There are
many double standards in western
society when it comes to gender but
the fact that an older woman having
children incites a much greater reaction than a man of the same age simply
isn’t one of them.
The ethical implications of Annegret Raunigk’s decision are of course
wide ranging. It is important to consider whether it is reasonable to have
children when there is a strong possibility you will become unable to care
for them properly until they reach
adulthood; the oldest woman ever to
give birth died of cancer when her
children were two and a half. There is
also the question as to whether it is environmentally responsible, in a world
that is already hugely over populated,
to have 17 children which is the number Raunigk will hit once her quadruplets are born.
However, the major issues surrounding the quadruplets in my
opinion are purely scientiﬁc. Though
Raunigk’s babies are due to be born
in August, they will almost certainly
arrive much sooner due to the established link between late in life pregnancies and premature births. This
problem is further compounded by
Pictured:
The chances
of a natural
quadruplet
pregnancy
is one in 13
million.
(darkroom.
baltimoresun.
com)
the fact that she is carrying quadruplets, which in itself carries a high
risk of premature birth.
Prematurely born children carry
greatly increased chances of developing conditions such as cerebral palsy,
which can greatly reduce quality of
life. To subject your own children to a
hugely elevated chance of contracting
a debilitating and life altering condition, just so that your child can have a
baby brother or sister, is reckless.
Frank Louwen, secretary for the
German society of Obsetrics and Gynaecology notes that carrying such a
large number of foetuses late in life
carries extreme risk of “high blood
pressure, pregnancy diabetes and preeclampsia, all of which impact on each
other.”
All of these factors are why the
condemnation of a late-in-life mother
far eclipses that of a late-in-life father.
Whilst the sperm of an older man
does carry greater risks of imparting
genetic diseases and the question of
whether the father will see his children grow up still remains, the risk
of death to both the unborn children
and the parent simply do not exist
in the way they do for a late-in-life
mother. This is not a question of gender discrimination but of basic biology.
I sincerely hope for the sake of
Raunigk’s children that the pregnancy
continues to term with no complications but I can’t help but agree with
Frank Louwen when he says that “ for
a 65-year-old to get pregnant through
egg donation with quadruplets, it’s little more than someone trying to prove
it can be done, and I ﬁnd that disturbing.”
Why are iPhone games so addictive?
Meryon
Roderick
“
We now
carry hugely
powerful
gaming
machines
around with
us in our
pockets...
”
W
hether or not video games
are dangerous is a hotly debated topic. From encouraging violent crime to aﬀecting how
children relate to one another, the list
of crimes the video game industry
stands accused of is extensive. However, a US man recently succumbed to
a danger we never even saw coming.
The 29 year old from Virginia who
wished to remain anonymous for reasons that will become apparent was
admitted to hospital with a torn tendon in his thumb, which he suﬀered
due to spending much of every day
for six to eight weeks playing Candy
Crush on his iPhone. The repetitive
strain caused by matching those candy pieces all day every day had proved
too much for his connective tissue
and he required surgery to correct the
damage to his hand.
Candy Crush is a smart phone
game that has become notorious for
its addictive nature, with some people
spending eye-watering amounts of
money on in-game powerups just to
get them to the next level.
The reason that games such as Candy Crush, which conceptually sound
mind numbingly dull, are so incredibly addictive is mostly to do with
the delivery method. Psychology Today notes that opiates such as heroin
weren’t viewed as problematically addictive substances until the hypodermic syringe was invented, allowing
large doses to be delivered with ease.
In the same way video games have
become more and more addictive because they oﬀer instant gratiﬁcation.
It is no longer necessary to travel to
an arcade and sink hard earned cash
into huge monolithic machines to
play your favourite games. We now
carry hugely powerful gaming machines around with us in our pockets
at all times, oﬀering an escape from
boredom at a ﬂick of the thumb.
Games keep people hooked by activating the dopamine system that
is otherwise activated in the natural
world by things like sex and eating
tasty food. Dopamine encourages
feelings of well being and contentment but these feelings are often
short lived which is why activities or
substances become addictive as people chase the next high.
The behavioural biologist Burrhus
Skinner identiﬁed that animals are
more likely to repeat a behaviour if
they are not rewarded constantly for
it but at random. Candy Crush works
based on the same concept, with the
diﬃculty set so that you don’t win so
often you become bored but you do
win just enough to keep you playing
until you win again.
As far as addictions go, an addic-
tion to smartphone games is relatively
harmless as long as it doesn’t interfere
too much with your day-to-day life.
However, if you are going for some
kind of Candy Crush record, maybe
wear a thumb brace.
Pictured:
Candy Crush,
the root cause
of many a
failed degree
(Alper Cugun,
Flickr)
##"
###"#
##
"# "
##$$
#$#!!
"#!"
! LGGHZLV,!
Dylen ni gael swyddog sabothol
dros y Gymraeg gan fod yr iaith yn
perthyn i holl fyfyrwyr Caerdydd a
bod angen ei chynrychioli yn deg.
Ni ddylen ni gael swyddog sabothol
dros y Gymraeg oherwydd mae
yna ddulliau mwy effeithiol i wella
gwasanaethau’r iaith Gymraeg
heb reolwr canol a biwrocratiaeth
ychwanegol.
#" ! Dydd Llun 27ain Ebrill 09:00–Dydd Gwener 1af Mai 17:00
%"!!"! &
#!
2I¿),FHUIRUWKH
"&
"$ !""! !
!"! !$" We should have a sabbatical
officer for the Welsh language
because the language belongs to
every Cardiff student and needs to
be fairly represented.
We should not have a sabbatical
officer for the Welsh language
because there are more effective
ways of improving Welsh language
services without having a middle
manager and more bureaucracy.
$"#!! !"! Monday 27th April 09:00–Friday 1st May 17:00
SOCIETIES
Barney’s Note
W
elcome back everyone!
If you are reading this,
you are probably back
to Cardiff and distracting yourself
with everyone’s favourite student
newspaper! Things have been quiet
while you were gone but we have
started this term off with a bang –
VARSITY! For another consecutive
year, Cardiff are victorious! It was an
amazing day of sportsmanship and a
real event for celebration!
The Societies Ball marches ever
further – I recently signed off the
payment for enough wine to fill
several baths and the table plan is
completed! Of particular fun was
choosing the music people will
have played as they walk up to accept their awards! Considering how
tweet us @gairrhyddsoc
email us [email protected]
or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/societies
much fun planning this event is, I
am sure the evening itself will be
magical!
In other news, the Societies Executive will be meeting for the last
time quite soon to decide the fate
of new society applications. This
time, we have a Latin Dance Society
proposed and also StitchSoc (a sewing society!). If they are approved,
watch out at the next Freshers’ Fair
for new kinds of activity open to
Guild members! Now, read the rest
of this fantastic section and have a
lovely day!
Final Bake Oﬀ
8pm
Face 11, Cathays Terrace
What’s On
Wednesday 29th April
Monday 27th April
Xpress Radio
Live on 87.7FM Radio
20th-30th April
xpressradio.co.uk or 87.7FM
Cardiﬀ University Students’ Union
The Big Debate
6pm - 9pm
Great Hall, Cardiﬀ University
Students’ Union
Amnesty International Society
Jamnesty 2015
7.30pm
The Moon Club, CF10 1BR
SHAG AGM
All are welcome as any student can
attend and run for a committee
position. Come along to ﬁnd out
more and put yourself forward.
6pm
4G, Students’ Union
Boardgaming, Roleplaying and
Wargaming League
Dragon’s Hoard board games evening
6pm - 11pm
The Crofts pub, 14-15 Croft Street,
CF24 3DZ
Tuesday 28th April
Socialist Students Society
Social
7pm - 1am
Starting at the Owain Glyndŵr
Sexual Health Awareness Group
Baking Society
Pictured:
Cardiﬀ University Big Band
at a previous concert
(Photographer:
Cardiﬀ University Students’
Union) concert
Let’s get quizzical
Join Cardiff University’s new quiz society!
Charlotte
Gunn
T
he Quiz Society is basically
what it says on the tin. We’re
a new society who just have
a great time quizzing and being as
genuinely nerdy as possible.
We’ve been around for less than
a semester and have already started
having the best time. Our society
commenced with a social, aptly titled,
Paxman Pub Golf. was hilarious
and our Countdown evening was so
hard! We hope these fun nights can
continue.
In the next year we hope to develop
an inter-faculty University Challenge
style competition and go on fun
educational adventures! I have been
loving every minute of Quiz Society
so far, especially taking a dictionary
to Gassy Jacks! Come chat to us
at Fresher’s or join us at our next
events. We’ll also be selecting next
years Team Cardiﬀ for University
Challenge, details to follow nearer the
time. We’re looking for more extreme
quiz enthusiasts, people who are
similar, who love of all things Paxman,
themed game nights, and competitive
quizzing. A good sense of humour
and a pun-derful nature required.
For more information, search Cardiﬀ
University Quiz Society on Facebook.
Maths Society
MathSoc End of Year Ball
7pm – 11.30pm
National Museum, Cardiﬀ
Thursday 30th April
Music Society
Anything Goes Final Lunchtime
Concert
12.30pm-2pm
Concert Hall, School of Music,
Corbett Road
Committees
New Committee Welcome Talk
6pm - 8pm
end of year awards.
Doors open 6.30pm, begins at 7pm.
£1 members, £3 non-members
Concert Hall, School of Music,
Corbett Road
Friday 1st May
Grimsoc and Altsoc
Alternative Ball 2015
6pm – midnight
Urban Tap House
Chaos Society
Annual Chaos Ball
7pm – 11.30pm
Radisson Blu, Cardiﬀ
HistorySoc
History Society Masquerade Ball
7pm - 11pm
The Angel Hotel
Saturday 2nd May
Xpress Radio & Cardiﬀ Union TV
Cardiﬀ Central Decides
6pm – 7.30pm
Y Plas, Cardiﬀ University Students’
Union
Wilderness and Expedition Medicine
WEMS Go Kayaking
9am - 4pm
River Wye, Monmouthshire
Japanese, German, French, Spanish &
Italian Society
Languages Ball
7pm – 3am
Marriott Hotel, Cardiﬀ
Boardgaming, Roleplaying and
Wargaming League
All Day Roleplaying and Wargaming
9.30am - 10pm
4A/B/C, Students’ Union
Jazz Society
Swinging Into Springtime
An end of year showcase of Jazz
Society’s Ensembles: Big Band,
Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Choir and Sax
Choir. Including a bar, loads of
sweet jazz and the presentation of
Sunday 3rd May
Boardgaming, Roleplaying and
Wargaming League
CROW roleplaying afternoon
Noon - 6pm
4 H/I, Students’ Union
Have an event
you want
covered?
Email:
societies@
gairrhydd.
com
Pictured:
Want to be the
next Loveday?
Join the quiz
society
“
I have been
loving every
minute of Quiz
Society so
far, especially
taking a
dictionary to
Gassy Jacks
”
SOCIETIES 25
Poppy Parker
An originally
written absurdist
play by Act One
V
oluntas Electio is an originally
written play marrying aspects
of contemporary dance,
physical theatre, naturalism and
absurdism.
It is a play exploring the effect of
your choices on the world around
you. Poppy Parker the director
comments, ‘I wrote it because I
had become disillusioned with the
nature of the justice system and
policing in the UK and America.
I also find the idea of the way the
things we do affect everyone around
us and how if we’d made a different
choice, it could change our whole
life.’
There is a satirical element that
considers the policing and justice
systems of the world we live in.
Lucy Spain is the choreographer,
and dance is an important element
in Voluntas Electio. Dance is
designed to deal with the play’s
difficult issues in a striking yet
sensitive manner. Fusing together
contemporary dance and physical
theatre in the performance we have
aimed to create a dynamic approach
to the important issues prevalent
in our society. The main challenge
faced when choreographing these
pieces was how to portray the harsh
reality of this difficult subject matter
without it being too graphic; thus we
have utilised a melange of contact
and reaction in the movements to
ensure a balance between physical
and implied violence.
Although
there
are
some
disturbing scenes we have tried to
approach them sensitively.
The play is being performed at the
YMCA Theatre, Roath on the 27th
April with doors at 7pm. Tickets are
£6, or £5 for students.
“
We have
aimed to create a dynamic approach
through the
use of dance
to the important issues
prevalent in
our society
An Arc de triumph for Music Society
Victoria
Thomas
“
The trip
was
brought
to a close
watching
the Eiffel
Tower
lights
display as
the sun set
”
T
his year has seen the Music Society make its ﬁrst trip abroad,
spending four days during the
Easter break seeing the sights of Paris.
Once in Paris we saw the city’s skyline from the steps of La Basilisque du
Sacré Cœur de Montmartre, before
wandering around the market-stalls
of Montmartre itself.
The second day was planned with
the guidance of Dr Caroline Rae, who
is both a lecturer at the School of Music and a member of the Conference
Committee for the Philharmonia’s
‘City of Light’ concert series, which
explores music composed in Paris
1900-1950. With the advice of Dr
Rae, this day included visits to some
of the places discussed in modules
across the 2nd and 3rd years of the
music course, giving the trip a link to
our course appealing to both the interests of those going, and to bring a
new dimension to discussions held
in lectures. First up was a tour of the
Palais Garnier; a nineteenth-century
opera house, home to the Opèra Nationale de Paris. This was followed by
a visit to the Musée de la Musique,
part of the Cité de la musique, which
is an area of Paris dedicated to music.
The Cité de la Musique contains a vast
array of instruments from across the
world from the seventeenth-century
to the present day, all of which have
been collected by the Conservatoire
de Paris. The collection includes many
unusual and rare instruments such as
a theramin – an electric instrument
which you do not touch to play – and
an Octobass – a string instrument
similar to the double bass, standing
at around 3.5m – one of only a few in
existence. The musical day ended with
a visit to the newly opened Philharmonie de Paris to see the Russian National Orchestra play Tchaikovsky’s
6th Symphony and Piano Concerto
with Nikolai Lugansky, conducted by
Dmitri Liss.
After seeing some of the locations
related to the course, the next day
was all about being tourists, visiting
the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris;
”
Musée D’Orsay; and the Eiﬀel Tower.
After joining the queue to see inside
the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris;
we were able to see just how spectacular the cathedral’s design truly is,
climbing the 385 steps to the top of
the bell tower where gargoyles and a
breath-taking view of the city greeted
us. Jelly-legged after climbing and descending the many stairs, we made
our way to the Musée D’Orsay to view
works by the likes of Van Gogh, Monet and Manet. Following a lovely meal
at Le Petit Cler, the trip was brought
to a close watching the Eiﬀel Tower
lights display as the sun set, before
making our way back to the UK the
following morning.
Pictured:
Music Society
in front of the
Eiﬀel Tower
(Photographer:
Patrick Reardon-Morgan
and Victoria
Thomas)
SPORT
tweet us @gairrhyddsport
email us [email protected]
or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/sport
Cricket Club’s innings just beginning
Rory Benson
C
ardiﬀ University Cricket Club
has gone from strength to
strength since its creation in 2010.
Following their third successive Varsity
triumph, the club now looks to be in the
best shape ever.
Club Chairman Jonny Carpenter
oversaw this year’s victory at Swansea
and is very proud of the direction the
club is going both on and oﬀ the ﬁeld. He
said: “It was a fantastic day for the club
in general. The support was absolutely
superb and the boys did themselves
justice on the pitch.
“The club over the last few years
has only grown stronger and stronger
due to the great work of the previous
committees, meaning there is now a very
strong foundation at the club.
“Financially we are the strongest we
have ever been, members-wise we are
increasing each year. On the pitch we
have arguably our strongest ever ﬁrst
team and our football team have just
won the division one title in IMG so this
year we are extremely happy with the
progress the club have made thus far.
“Next year we have again another very
strong committee and I am very excited
to see how they can continue to take the
club forward to even bigger and better
things.”
The sharp Varsity performance saw
key players performing well, such as
opening pace bowler Nick Kent, whose
ﬁgures were exceptional, and MCCU
batsman Zac Turley, who hit a matchwinning 82.
Despite claiming victory over Cardiﬀ ’s
South Wales rivals, the Varsity ﬁxture
was the ﬁrst outdoor game the club has
had since the last match of last season.
The club participated in a friendly ﬁxture
against St Fagans on Saturday and are
raring to get back to playing their BUCS
ﬁxtures.
The club had a diﬃcult season last
year, with the ﬁrst team being relegated
into the same league as the second team.
Although this would give the league
competition an extra spice, Carpenter
believes that the ﬁrst XI should be
pushing for promotion from BUCS
Western 2A league to get back to the
stage they were at before the start of last
season.
He told Gair Rhydd: “At the start of
the season, myself and ﬁrst team captain
Josh Allen set two targets: win Varsity
and get the ﬁrst team promoted after
their unfortunate relegation last year.
“The 1s and 2s are in the same league
this year so hopefully the 2s can ﬁnish
behind the 1s in the league in second
place and it would be seen as a hugely
successful season for the club.”
The diﬃculty for the club over the
short time it has been running has been
how to deal with players graduating and
leaving the successful club.
With losses in the last few years
including Varsity winners as well as the
committee that made the club what it is
today, Carpenter spoke about the vital
cogs in the cricket machine that will be
leaving. He said: “The ﬁnal year members
we have in the club this year are going to
be hugely missed next year and sadly a lot
of big characters will be leaving.
“Cricketing-wise a special mention
must go to three of the boys who have
played and won in every Varsity are
leaving including captain Josh Allen who
has been a rock for this club and will be a
massive loss for the club as a whole next
year. Everyone would agree that he has
been a great friend to all and a huge help
personally for myself.
“However, as the last few years have
shown, we are very lucky to have had a
great new bunch of lads come in each
year and we are very much looking
forward to welcoming the new boys next
year!”
The cricket club has also never been
far away from controversy, with the latest
issue to come to light being the ﬂags
hung outside Koko Gorilaz supporting
the Unionist terrorist group, the UVF.
Although a Cardiﬀ University Cricket
Club member did hang the ﬂags, the
club has punished the oﬀender and has
openly condemned the actions of the
individual.
Despite the occasional incident,
which usually involves the actions of
individuals and not the club as a whole,
the camaraderie and passion that the
club produces is second to none.
Cardiﬀ University Cricket Club must
be widely recognised as both a successful
sports team and the club with one of
the most revered social scenes: giving
the club an impressive reputation which
their members claim is unmatched by
any other.
Glamorgan open season with a pair of draws
David Hooson
“
Mark
Wallace,
though only
scoring 18
runs in total,
became
the first
Glamorgan
wicketkeeper
to pass
10,000 runs.
”
Steffan
Thomas
lamorgan CCC have failed to
make a signiﬁcant impression
in their two opening ﬁxtures in
this year’s LV= County Championship
Division Two, playing out draws
against Leicestershire and Surrey.
Failing to make a mark in their ﬁrst
game, held from April 12th to 15th,
against Leicestershire, the bottom team
in the County Championship for the
last two seasons, is certainly the more
disappointing result of the two.
Having made an imposing 513/9dec.
in the ﬁrst innings at a fair scoring
rate with Rudolph and Wagg making
centuries, they led by 78 and added a
further 227/7dec. in the second innings.
Tight but unexceptional bowling
allowed Leicestershire to trundle along
in response, surviving 120.3 overs in
the ﬁrst innings and the 38 overs they
needed for the draw in the second.
Mark Wallace, though only scoring
18 runs in total, became the ﬁrst
Glamorgan wicketkeeper to pass
10,000 runs in this game - a testament
to his service to county cricket.
Managing a draw against a Surrey
side that included the legendary Kumar
Sangakkara and ubiquitous headline-
G
maker Kevin Pietersen was certainly
more or an achievement.
As he has done so many times in
his career, Sangakkara proved his
class by scoring 149 oﬀ 230 balls in
the ﬁrst innings, backed up by former
Test player Steven Davies’ maiden
double century, ﬁnishing 200 not out.
Pietersen was Surrey’s top scorer in the
second innings with a fairly quick 50
not out.
After taking Pietersen’s wicket
for just 19 in the ﬁrst innings, Craig
Meschede top-scored with 101 not out
batting at number nine, his maiden
First-Class century, showing a glimpse
of what the 23-year-old might be
capable of.
Rudolph and James Kettleborough’s
smooth opening partnership to play
out the draw on the ﬁnal day was
perhaps the most encouraging aspect
of either game, proving what might be
possible this season when it all comes
together for the Welsh county.
Glamorgan will immediately have
another chance to prove themselves, as
they take on Championship minnows
Derbyshire from this Sunday, May 3rd,
onwards.
A recent defeat to local rivals
Newport Gwent Dragons in the
quarter ﬁnals of the European
Challenge Cup that the Cardiﬀ Blues’
season is virtually over with three
Guinness Pro 12 ﬁxtures still to play.
With the Blues languishing near
the bottom of the table, the capital
city region have been condemned to a
second successive season without top
ﬂight European rugby.
When one considers that the
Cardiﬀ region were once one of the
genuine superpowers of European
club rugby, their current position
is truly unacceptable. Of course the
spending power of the English and
French clubs in recent years has
made it extremely diﬃcult for the
four Welsh regions to compete on the
European stage.
However, there is no excuse for
the Blues’ woeful Pro 12 form, with
the Arms Park outﬁt having a better
squad on paper than many of the
sides ahead of them on the table.
With regional rugby facing
something of a cross roads in Wales,
a healthy future for the Cardiﬀ Blues
lies in the hands of their board of
“
At the start of
the season,
myself and
first team
captain Josh
Allen set
two targets:
win Varsity
and get the
first team
promoted.
”
Pictured:
Craig
Meschede
scored his
maiden First
Class century
batting at
number nine
directors. Although they may not
like to admit it, the appointment of
the now departed Mark Hammett as
director of rugby turned out to be the
wrong appointment.
Results
were
never
going
to improve over night, but the
appointment of former All Blacks
hooker Hammett just last year was
supposed to be a long-term project
with the region expecting to be in a
stronger position after his three-year
contract was over.
It is vital that the Blues appoint
the right man to take them forward,
whilst also allowing him a full three
years before judging whether he has
been a success or not. What is also
important is that the new head coach
is given the luxury of selecting his
own assistant coaches, and is also
given freedom to sign his own players
within the current budget.
With the Blues already ﬁnalising
their recruitment for next season it
is likely that whoever is appointed
is going to have to work with what
he has got in his ﬁrst season before
building his own side the season
afterwards.
SPORT 27
Team Cardiﬀ show support for LGBT players
David Hooson
F
or this year’s Welsh Varsity,
Cardiﬀ University and Swansea
University teamed up with Welsh
LGBT charity Stonewall Cymru
in support of their Rainbow Laces
campaign to challenge homophobia,
biphobia and transphobia in sport.
The Rainbow Laces campaign
was launched last year to encourage
sportspeople to wear rainbow-coloured
laces to demonstrate their support
for LGBT participation in sport.
The campaign has received support
from prominent ﬁgures including
Stephen Fry, Gary Lineker and Gareth
Thomas, as well as from 70 professional
football clubs including Arsenal and
Manchester City.
Luke Young, the Campaigns
Manager for Stonewall Cymru,
explained the signiﬁcance of the
campaign: ‘By wearing Rainbow laces at
the Welsh Varsity, Cardiﬀ and Swansea
students will be sending a strong
message toteams across the country
that a player’s sexual orientation or
gender identity should not be a barrier
to taking part and that university sport
is open to all.’
At Varsity, student athletes in many
sports wore their rainbow laces to
show that they support inclusivity in
sport, regardless of sexual orientation
or gender identity. Many athletes and
clubs posted statements and photos on
social media to promote the campaign,
often accompanied by the slogan ‘We
don’t care which team you play for’.
Speaking before last week’s Varsity
event, VP Sports and AU President
Bryn Griﬃths said, ‘Varsity 2015
will undoubtedly be the climax of
the year for Team Cardiﬀ and we’re
proud to show our commitment in
challenging homophobia, biphobia and
transphobia, showing it’s OK to be ‘Out
In Sport’. We are working with Swansea
University and Stonewall Cymru to
help break down some of the barriers
that make LGBT students feel excluded
or uncomfortable participating in
sport.’
Gair Rhydd discussed the state of
play for LGBT people in the world of
sport in February as part of LGBT
history month. There are still very
few openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender people participating in
elite sport and it is therefore still often
seen as a taboo subject. This makes it
much harder for those competing in
sport at amateur and recreational level,
including university sport, to come out
due to fear that there may not be a place
for them in the world of sport.
The Rainbow Laces campaign is
hopefully making some progress in
this area, by helping LGBT allies to
show their support and create an
environment in which everybody feels
comfortable to be open about who
they are. By including this campaign
as part of Varsity, strides can be made
to making university sport a safe and
welcoming place for everyone.
Pictured:
(Above l-r)
Cardiﬀ athletes
showing
their support
(Sources:
Cardiﬀ_Netball,
VolleyballCU,
cardiﬀstudents,
RowCardiﬀUni,
LGBTplusCSU
on Twitter)
(Left) Cardiﬀ
Snakecharmers
promoting the
campaign slogan
Athletics Club shine at South West Champs
Nick Marsh
Dan Heard
W
ednesday 25th of March
saw the inaugural South
West Universities athletics
championships hosted in Exeter,
with the uni athletics teams from
Cardiﬀ, Exeter, Plymouth, Bristol and
Gloucestershire taking part. With a few
weeks to go until the entries deadline
for the BUCS outdoor athletics
championships, Cardiﬀ University
athletics club took a team of 25 athletes
down to Exeter, a club record for an
out of BUCS track competition, and
came away as the ﬁrst ever South West
Universities Champions.
Many athletes put in great
performances, some in their ﬁrst
track competition for CUAC. Makoye
Kampengele came away with two
victories in the men’s 100 metre ﬁnal
and his 200 metre race, while female
cross country captain Megan McBrien
showed why she’s going to be leading
the club’s charge next year with victory
in the women’s 5000 metres.
There was also a personal best for
Freek Van Arkel, en route to coming a
brilliant second in a close men’s 5000
metre race, along with PBs for Rhys
Annett, Alex Hiscock, James Best and
Tom Chandy, who were all running
a track 5000 metres for the ﬁrst time.
Patrick Baatz and Lizzie Harris ran new
best times over 400 and 200 metres
respectively, in a good warm up for their
competing at BUCS in a few weeks,
whilst Harry Thick, Beth Bradford and
Harry Vercoe all competed in a CUAC
vest for the ﬁrst time.
The Cardiﬀ performance of the day
however has to go to Sara Adel Sayed,
also competing in her ﬁrst track meet
for the uni, who having already won
the women’s shot put and competed
in the long jump, decided to join in
the women’s javelin and won that too,
bringing home maximum points.
After an incredibly successful day,
Track & Field Captain Nick Marsh
had to say, “It has been unbelievable to
take 25 athletes to a track competition
outside of BUCS has been completely
unheard of at this club before; we’re
The first Cardiff City game I ever
went to was on the March 30th
2010, Cardiff v. Leicester City.
It was a big season for us, one of
the best, actually (anything seems
better than this season’s showing),
as we had a real change of winning
promotion to the promised land
– the Premier League. Leicester
were tough opponents, but Cardiff
proved tougher.
Ross McCormack (yes, all
£11 million of him, who Cardiff
sold for £250,000…) opened the
scoring, before a certain number 7
smashed in a second. It was Peter
Whittingham.
Last week, Peter “Whitts”
Whittingham was named in the
Football League’s Championship
Team of the Decade, alongside
players who went on to star in the
top flight such as Adam Lallana,
Ricky Lambert and some kid from
Whitchurch now playing in Spain.
There with them in the middle, was
Whittingham. During the 2009/10
season, my first, he finished the
league’s joint-top goal scorer, as
Cardiff lost in the play-off final.
With 380 appearances, only eight
other players have worn the famous
blue shirt on more occasions, which
barely hints at the remarkable
impact he has made on the club’s
fortunes. To score 85 goals in the
process is even more outstanding.
His usefulness and ability have
come under fire in recent years,
particularly this season, where he
was shown his first red card against
Wolves and has been the target of
much criticism from the fans and
media. Certainly, he has never been
a player to get stuck in to challenges
used to just taking three or four to the
Cardiﬀ Met Grand Prix! But to then
win the competition and bring home
our ﬁrst ever track championship is
incredible, everyone has been brilliant.”
It’s safe to say that on this showing
CUAC on track has a very bright future
indeed and the team will be back next
year to defend their title.
Pictured:
The Cardiﬀ
delegation in
Exeter
like more robust players have, but
ability, particularly at dead-balls
and set-pieces, is one thing that
cannot be questioned.
Cardiff fans have had many
names to revere over the years
Keenor, Charles, Toshack, Clark
and Whittingham deserves to be up
there. He is a hero for Cardiff today,
as he should be.
My favourite moment from
Whittingham of course has to be
that iconic free kick in the play-offs
against Leicester. What a goal, and
what a great player.
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Glarmorgan CC season opener
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Blues column: Future on hold
P26>>
City column: Love for Whittingham
P27>>
Rainbow Laces at Varsity
P27>>