On October 3rd, as Yorkshire’s monsoon season yet again failed to disappoint, the huddled masses of students were drinking and growing more raucous. This was no ordinary Wednesday night, for Leeds University and Leeds Metropolitan were tied, in the annual sporting Olympiad known simply as- Varsity! The Rugby union match, already the jewel in the crown of the series, was about to be watched by thousands, in the daunting Headingly Carnegie stadium. As chants of ‘UNAAAAAY!’ echoed around the arena, it was strange to think that this annual event had transcended all others to become the paramount expression of Leeds University’s collective ‘spirit’. Should Rugby culture and all the drinking, chauvinism and violence that comes with it, really be so inextricably linked to Leeds student life?
Rugby in many ways is as far from a politically correct sport as you can get. At Varsity, there is often violence, both on and off the pitch. Unlike last year, fans were separated from each other, so as to prevent the outbreaks of violence between Met and Uni students that have plagued the event in the past. Fans were searched on their way into the stadium, a measure that seems more appropriate for football hooligans instead of conscientious university students. There was also a large fight that broke out in the middle of the game itself, let alone all the viscous high tackles and bone-crunching scrums.
The violence in the stands is fuelled by the ‘booze’ culture that surrounds the event. Spectators drank before and during the game, and most ended the night with even more alcohol as they piled into the city centre clubs and pubs. The next day is often a largely forgotten affair, with seminar and lecture attendance minimal on Thursday morning, as many try to remember the post match merriment.
‘Rugby culture’ doesn’t foster a positive, modern role for women either. As I perused my news feed that evening, there was more than one Facebook status I saw commenting on the ‘hotties’ out on the field. It strikes me that being part of a drunken crowd whilst ogling big, middle class boys thump each other, is hardly the feminist vision that Mary Wollstonecraft imagined. Where’s the women’s rugby varsity? Not many gather to watch this event.
Perhaps most worrying about the varsity event is the nature of the chants being screamed by the students of our University. Leeds Metropolitan was of course a former polytechnic, and our ‘fans’ don’t forget to remind them about their perceived lack of job prospects and poorer background. In one memorable chant , University fans question whether Met’s student’s mothers supplement their income by working as ‘women of the night’ to a rather jaunty rhyming tune, as well as questioning their literacy- ‘You don’t spell Uni M,E,T’ and the future wealth of their graduates- ‘We pay your benefits!’.
So, if the annual rugby varsity match breeds a culture that encourages violence, excess drinking, chauvinism, class warfare and profanity, why is it our chosen way to celebrate the university? Maybe in the highly liberal, academic world in which we live in, we deserve a bit of a release every now and then. Varsity rugby allows us all to warmly embrace our inner savageness, abandoning all that academia has taught us for one night to revel in violence, alcohol and swearing. There is something almost liberating about casting off the shackles of our sanitized lifestyles, and in this perhaps lies the appeal of the annual rugby varsity match. It’s a perfect way to enjoy ourselves, precisely because it is the polar opposite of the values we’re meant to adopt at university.
It is naieve to expect any better of students, just as it’s unrealistic to expect the general public to switch off Jeremy Kyle and turn on BBC radio four. After all it’s unlikely that we would all prefer to rally around and appreciate a Varsity competition between the two University’s opera societies, and marvel in the wonderful performance of the open theatre group. So, next year, let’s all get drunk and enjoy the game!