E2 #284

e2

Just my luck...

Mouni Feddag

What is Varsity?

Alyx Murray-Jackman UBU Sport and Student Development Officer

Varsity means something different to every person here at the University; for some it’s a showcase of all the hard work they have put into sport throughout the year, for others it’s about embracing the rivalry and being in it to win it. Lots of people come along to support their friends, many get involved to raise money for charity and there are a few who don’t even know what Varsity is.

Varsity is the biggest sporting event of the university calendar, happening every year. We compete in a whole range of sports against clubs from UWE, with a few societies thrown into the mix as well! Thousands of students take part across two months of rivalry, competing in their chosen sport while raising money for local charities.

This year, we’ll be donating 50 per cent of the Varsity series profits to 1625 Independent People, a charity set up to help young people take hold of their lives after facing homelessness and get them heading in the right direction. 1625 Independent People run specialist projects and services to help young people in a variety of ways including housing, life skills, confidence-building, education, training, jobs and fun. You can help by donating online, volunteering to bucket collect at one of the Varsity events, or donate to the bucket collectors!

We have already seen a few of the events take place, as the series opened with UWE prevailing in American Football on 1 February.

There are many more to come though, don’t you worry! We’ve got the Boat Race on 21 March down at the Harbourside, which is always a great event with lots of community support. Rugby Union is on 23 March at the Memorial Stadium and we have always had far more supporters than UWE, so let’s keep it that way please! The whole series culminates with Varsity Day on 25 March when the majority of sports have their time to shine.

Whether you’re competing in one of the events, a club member, have friends taking part or have never been before, make sure you come along to support as many teams as possible. Most of the events are free and your support is needed to make sure we can win back the Varsity series victory title from UWE. Last year

our cross-town rivals won the title for the first time, with a final score of 18.5-19.5. Until that moment we had always been victorious, so Bristol teams will undoubtedly be fighting back with a vengeance.

Epigram Sport would like to thank Rose Noble for permission to use her photos.

Who said it’s the taking part that counts? Embrace the rivalry! #mightymaroon

Varsity dates back to 1995, when University of Bristol first challenged University of the West of England to a boat race in the Bristol Docks.

Two decades after its inception, the Varsity Series now includes 1500 athletes in over 80 teams, participating in over 20 sports from both institutions. It is without question one of the biggest multi-sporting events in the South West. (www.uwesu.org/varsity/events)

Who, what, where, when?

Varsity 10K 22 February, Go to http://www.uwesu. org/varsity/events/ to sign up!

Canoe Polo 21 March, UBU Richmond Building Swimming Pool

Varsity Day 25 March, venues and times TBA

Boat Race 21 March, Harbourside

Riding 16 March, Summerhouse Equestrian Centre, Windsurf Gloucester 22 March, Bowmoor Lake Societies Varsity 18 March, Anson Rooms Rugby Union 23 March, Memorial Cheerleading Stadium 21 March, ICC

The UoB Club Captains speak...

Louis Morris Windsurfing

Izzy Day, Eleanor Shorrock Women’s Rugby

John House Men’s Volleyball

Epigram Sport: What happened last year? How do you predict it’ll go this year?

Epigram Sport: What’s been your personal highlight/best Varsity memory?

ES: What’s been your personal highlight/best Varsity memory?

Louis Morris: Last year UWE won. This year, Bristol will win.

Izzy Day, Eleanor Shorrock: Varsity 2014. We beat UWE for the first time in years, in front of a very supportive crowd.

ES: Where are your side’s strengths?

LM: We go windsurfing more often, have some high standard people in our team, and a larger team as well this year.

ES: Which of your team should we watch out for?

LM: Not sure, I’m quite likely to win, but anyone could put in a strong performance, it all depends on what happens on the day.

ES: What happened last year? How do you predict it’ll go this year?

IZ & El. S: Last year we won, this year I predict it will be another great game with enormous determination to win from both sides and a fight to the end - but I reckon we’ll come away with a win.

John House: Forgetting my shorts last year but still managing to play and win in some very suspect trousers.

ES: What happened last year? How do you predict it’ll go this year?

JH: Last year we fielded an understrength side and fought back from a set down to take the victory. This year we won’t even give them a sniff at victory. We’ve beaten them already this year in the league and intend on doing so again at Varsity.

ES: Where are your side’s strengths?

ES: How do you inspire your team before the game?

LM: They don’t need inspiring, they love windsurfing anyway.

JH: Height; we have five players over 6 foot 5 and a definite psychological advantage; in my three years at university, we have never lost to UWE.

ES: How will you celebrate winning your Varsity?

ES: How do you inspire your team before the game?

LM: Probably a good excuse for an XL social the Tuesday afterwards.

JH: Probably put on Dancing in the Moonlight by Toploader and then make some empty promises about how many drinks I’ll buy the team if we win.

ES: Do you have a message for UWE? ES: Why is Varsity important to UoB? LM: The tables have turned!

ES: Best sporting rivalry outside of Bristol/UWE? ID & El. S: This is a hard one as the teams change a bit each year due to moving leagues, but I’d say Bath or UWIC. Bath, since they are fairly close and always bring a good game, and UWIC, well, they are a team we always aim to win against and see as our main challenge each season.

ES: Why is Varsity important to UoB? ID & El. S: It is a great opportunity to showcase the University’s sporting talent, as well as promoting the University teams to support each other. It also can introduce new players into competitive environments.

JH: It’s always nice to disprove the chants that UWE students send our way on nights out. And after last year’s loss, it’s about time we reasserted our dominance.

What’sOn

The best pick of this fortnight’s theatre, film, music and more

Travel

Living

32

Editor: Sam Mason-Jones whatson@ epigram.org.uk

What’s On

Style

flickr: derekskey

Music

Father John Misty Thekla, 28.02

Underworld Colston Hall, 05.03

Sivu Birdcage, 27.02

Josh Tillman is making some of the most intelligent music around today. In a career that has taken in turns as the sticks-man for Saxon Shore, Stately and more recently Fleet Foxes, his own songwriting has always shone above the stuff for which he is keeping rhythm. Releasing a number of LPs as J. Tillman to warm, if not cacophonous, critical acclaim, he carved out a sound which drew as much from the writings of Flannery O’Connor as from the songs of Nick Drake. But something extraordinary happened after the release of Tillman’s fifth album. J. Tillman became Father John Misty, he released the wonderful Fear Fun, and people started to take notice. His latest album, I Love You, Honeybear dropped on the ninth of this month and is another cut above. A self-confessed selfconfessional album, it is an exceptionally funny, clever and honest testament to the reality of love.

Whether on the soundtrack to Trainspotting or on adverts for Coca-Cola and Pepsi, you’ll have heard Underworld somewhere. You probably should have consciously had a listen too - they are, after all, one of the seminal names in electronica, and the 20th anniversary reissue of debut album Dubnobasswithmyheadman last year was a reminder (if you needed it) of just how good these guys are. Rick Smith and Karl Hyde are no longer the spring chickens they once were - the two founded Underworld 35 years ago this year - but are seemingly enjoying something of a resurgence. Despite having not released any new material since 2010, a run of swanky European dates and the announcement of a headline slot at Bestival could point the way to some new material to slake the appetites. They open this tour at Colston Hall next month, so you better dress well.

Lurking beneath the indie-pop sheen of much of Sivu’s debut album Something On High is a real darkness. James Page, who’s name roughly translates into the Swedish moniker of Sivu, is a bit of a troubled boy by all accounts. He blends his gleaming melodies (given extra life by producer Charlie Andrew, who helped Alt-J out on An Awesome Wave) with brutally honest lyrics that often stray into the territory of real self loathing.

A record of extreme light and utter darkness, dizzying highs and inevitable lows, it was criticised by some for being just too painful a listen. At one of its bleakest moments Page murmurs ‘Are you afraid of death? I am too. / Cause they’ll be no more of me and no more of you.’ Yet in tracks like ‘Can’t Stop Now’ and ‘Departure’ there dangles a fragile hope, providing a dilemma that you can make your own mind up about when he plays the Birdcage.

Lecture

Theatre

In a really great initiative, the university is hosting a series of lectures conducted by its finest academics, who have been elected by the findings of student survey launched last year. Across the coming weeks the Wills Memorial Building will play host to a series of midday lectures from experts in their respective fields. These lectures are to cover subject matter ranging from film criticism to the challenges in ascertaining the colour of dinosaurs.

Visit the Facebook page for more information.

Set within a true-life narrative that hinges on a knife edge of betrayal, Helen Edmundon’s stage adaptation of Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz’s story impressed theatregoers and critics alike when it premiered at the RSC in 2012. The play, which balances the issue of religious devotion with that poetic practice and ambition with desire, comes to Bristol for eight nights at the Old Vic in a production directed by Jenny Stephens.

Best of Bristol Lectures Wills Memorial Building

The Heresy of Love Bristol Old Vic, 06-14.03

Poetry

Raise the Bar Union, 24.02

Raise the Bar returns to the Union for the fourth event of the academic year, an event which brings together student and external writers in an amalgam of poetic brilliance. This edition of the popular event brings a stellar pairing of Matt Windle and Vanessa Kisuule to Bristol, who will rub shoulders with some aspiring younger poets. Kisuule is the reigning Hammer and Tongues champion, while Matt Windle joins from his seat as the Poet Laureate of Birmingham.