Warrington GuardianCampus Supplement

Issue 001 15/012/14

Focus on football

Second team Captain Eri-ife Williams shields the ball from a Bangor player

Warrington has four football teams that represent the campus in the British University and Colleges Sport (BUCS) leagues, three being male and one female team. It has been a disappointing start for all teams involved who are all currently struggling at the foot of their respective tables.

As is the case with university teams, there has been much change in the line ups this year as former students have graduated or moved on. This is an issue that 2nd team captain Eri-ife Williams believes is responsible for his teams slow start.

‘As with any team, it will always take time for people to get to know each other and gel.’ ‘It’s even harder for the freshers (first year students) as they are trying to cope with university life for the first time and being part of a sports team.’

He continued, ‘I’m actually really pleased with them though, they have done everything I have asked and we’ve been really unlucky in the games we’ve played.’ ‘We came from 3-0 down in our first game to draw, if we continue to play the same way the results will come, I know it.’

Due to this being Eri-ife’s

can be happy with what they have achieved, they should have picked up more points than they currently have. ‘We’ve drawn a lot of games, but those draws should have been wins.’ ‘We have thrown away leads and conceded both late and sloppy goals which have cost us, if it wasn’t for those goals then we could be at the top of the table easily.

When asked how the season was going for him personally, he was pleased. ‘It’s gone well for me so far this season, I’ve scored three goals now in five games, and I’m obviously hoping for more.’ ‘If I can keep scoring then it can only benefit the team and that is the main thing.’

The one and only women’s team on the campus hav-en’t been able to fair much better. They are a newly formed team, competing in the BUCS league for the first year and now hold regular training sessions.

They have lost all four games so far having to concede one match after failing to field a full team.

Player Chelsie Jones is staying positive despite the obvious setbacks. ‘Its not always easy as we have few players so if people aren’t available for whatever rea-son then we struggle.’ ‘To even be in a BUCS league

fisrt season as captain he does feel that there is extrapressure and responsibility, but doesn’t feel it will effect him in any way.

‘When you’re captain of a university team, you are in charge of everything.’ He explains,’ You are re-sponsible for the kits being washed, the bibs, the balls, the formation, training, filling out team sheets, picking the team and making subs.’ ‘It is obviously a lot, but it’s worth it just for the captains armband.’

The team have so far drawn 3-3 with Manchester Met-ropolitan (7ths), lost 6-2 to Salford, lost 1-0 to Keele, lost 4-0 to Burnley and suffered a 4-2 defeat to Bangor. They have also exited the BUCS cup having been given a tough away draw to Manchester Metropolitan 3rd team.

The first team have also found success hard to come by. Playing this year in the Northern third division competing against a high level of opposition, they have managed just the solitary win so far this season. This came in their last outing, defeating Lancaster 1-0 away from home.

They also suffered a heart breaking cup exit, after

scoring a 90th minute leveller to take the game into extra time, they weredefeated on penalties by the University of Central Lancaster.

The team are heading in the right direction though according to James Beer, who is captaining the side for the second season running.

‘Its getting better, you can see that with the result we got away from home against a team a team who are second in the table.’ He went on to say, ‘ we know we can do it now, so I’m looking for the team to push on and finish in a respectable position.’ ‘We are the first team so obviously people will expect us to get results and show we are the best team on campus, there is that added pressure.’

The mens third team have arguably have had the most success without actually managing to win a game. They have so far drawn three of the five games played and lost the other two. The results see them sitting second bottom in the Northern seventh tier, but with a realistic chance of progressing in the second half of the year.

Striker Lewis Horsfield accepts that whilst the team

and have games to play is an achievement and no matter what the scores are, we are just happy to have the oppurtuinity.’

Former students have been brought in to help coach the sides, as they have degrees in sports coaching and can benefit both the current squads and their own CV’s.

Tom Upton graduated from the University last year, with a degree in sports coaching and has coached semi professional teams in Spain,. He now assists training sessions by delivering drills and techinques he has picked up from his time there.

‘Its great to help out where I can, I played in the first team when I was a student but I’m happy to help whenever needed..’ He contonued, ‘Obviously with the teams struggling somewhat people are looking for other options or opinions on whats going wrong and what can be improved, hopefully I can give pointers and help the team get the wins I believe they deserve.’

All of the teams fixtures, results and league tables are displayed on the BUCS website which can be found by going to the webiste, http://www.bucs.org.uk.

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Articles written and produced by EthanBarsdell

Nights out with Netball

The womens netball team may not be the best in terms of league tables and results, but when it comes to creative fancy dress ideas, they can’t be beat.

Every wednesday night the student bar, Bar TwentyTen, hosts themed nights for the the sports teams with a cash prize for the those in the best costumes.

So far the girls have vitrually managed a clean sweep, only failing to collect the first prize twice in nine weeks.

Player Chloe Hayward believes that the effort is worthwhile. ‘Some of the costumes we’ve put together have been tricky, but when we get the money at the end of the night it means we can get the next night out as a team for free!’

‘It’s all good fun, even if we have a rubbish match we know that when we get back we can sort everything out and make up for it in the bar.’

When asked what her per-sonal highlight was, she replied almost instantly. ‘The night we went as sims.’ ‘The theme was anything but clothes and when sims are nude the computer covers them up to keep their dignity in tact, so we thought we’d do that.’

In terms of competitive games they play in the Northern divison nine and have taken part in four league games so far, winning two of them and losing the remainder.

This seasons win tally means they have won more games this year then they did in the last two seasons.

Above: Two examples of the netball team in fancy dress

Rugby round up There is only one rugby team on campus and that is the men’s who play rugby union in the Northern division five.

Their record reads the same as netballs, having played four games and winning two, and losing two.

They currently sit third in the table with a chance of catching Keele who are in second as they only trail them by three points.

The christmass break has come just at the wrong time for the side as they have picked up back to back wins against fierce rivals Chester and Manchester Metropolitan 3rds.

This is something that has come to the attention of 2nd year player Nathan Jordan.

‘We’ve won two on the spin now and we want to keep playing whilst we’re winning obviously as the momentum is there.’

Above: members of the Men’s rugby team after scoring a try

‘We know what we can do both collectivey and as a team now, so there wont be any excuses not to contue it and make a real go of winning promotion when we get back after christmas.’

He finished by saying, ‘It would be great to be part of a team that is successfull whilst I’m here and be able to play in the highest league possible.’

The teams next game is on the 28th January against second place Keele.

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Mens Womens

Mens hockey have struggled massively this year with the departure of a number of key players and as such sit bottom of the league with no points from four games.

This a stark contrast from the team that only lost two games last year and had a successful season.

Player Jay Bowie, has this to say, ‘it’s disappointing ob-viously as no one wants to lose every week but hockey is more of ‘have a go’ sport and there are a lot of people who have joined because they didnt get into others.’

We’re quite laid back, we

look forward to having our social in the evening at the bar.’

‘There is a bit of friendly rivalry with the girls team to see who can get the first win, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens after christmas.’

‘We are looking to go on tour at somepoint in the summer so it would be nice to able to go with something we can celebrate!’

The mens next fixture is a tough one as they host high flying Bangor who are currently second in the league having won four of their five games.

Like their male counterparts, the female hockey team are winless after three games.

They play in the Northern division six and have suffered defeats against Liverpool John Moores, Liverpool Univeristy and Keele.

They have also had a game that had to be postponed due to adverse weather conditions, which will be rescheduled for after the festive break.

Natasha Small, who has recently joined the team, believes that being part of a team is one of the best things about being at

university.

‘You don’t really realise just how much you are missing out on before you join a team. You meet people you might not neccassarily meet, and it becomes like a little family.’

‘It’s always good to be playing at home and seeing people you know coming down to support you, but I thinki that the away trip are probably the most fun.’

The next game for the girls will be away against Bolton 1sts who have won three out of three so far and are top of the table.

FutsalFutsal have three teams that compete in the Cheshire FA Futsal league.

They do no partcipate in BUCS like the rest of the sports teams as they are a society that have not been in formation for over a year.

They have however gained entry in the BUCS futsal cup at the end of the season, have booked a place on a sports tour of Lloret del Mar for the summer and will be participating in a varsity match at the end of the university year.

The first team which is captained by Ashley Thornton-Jones, is current-ly top of the league having failed to win only one game so far this season.

The second team which is captained by Jon Radcliffe are sitting comfortably in mid tabe having lost three games and winning two

The third team are captained by Liam Cornes and despite some spirited performances are bottom of the table still searching for their first points of the campaign.

Liam is not disheartened however as he belives that it will come in time.

‘We very nearly beat the first team, we conceded two late goals but gave them a really good match.’ ‘It shows that performances are there, I know it’s down to lack of effort because we train once a week and

everyone always gives everything. I couldn’t ask for more.’

The league has finished now like the others due to the

christmas break, but will be back up and running again the week commencing January 12th.

Upon the completion of the

Above: action from the FA futsal cup qualifiers

season, all three teams will be eligible to joing the BUCS leagues and compete against rival universities .