Sport

Folami Iyiola – HUS Sports Officer

Homerton + Emmanual College AFAB Football Team

The team began this year in Division 1 after a well-deserved promotion last season. We started strong, winning our first two games by a margin of two goals each. Our third game was a close one, with the opposition clutching a win in the final 10 minutes. Not deterred, we continued to win our next League game and are currently undefeated in Cuppers. We have had an excellent turnout from Homerton freshers who have performed exceptionally in training and on the pitch. This term we expect to hit the ground running and continue to work hard, running head-first towards the finals. As the first Cambridge University team to actively recruit transgender and non-binary teammates, we are always open to new players, experienced or not. The team’s success this year is a testament to their continued and unrelenting hard work and camaraderie, and the rest of the season should be exciting indeed.

Homerton Men’s Badminton

At the turn of the academic year, Homerton assembled two teams to be entered into the College Badminton League. Following impressive showings during the last full season (Lent 2020), both the Men’s and Women’s teams were set to resume proceedings in the very highest tier of competition.

The Men’s team were resigned to losing some of our strongest players from prior seasons but spirits were high going into what would be many of our shuttlers’ first experience of inter-College badminton. The team battled hard throughout

Men’s Badminton team

and put in a valiant showing in all six matches that Homerton competed in. Sadly, it was not to be, as despite our performances, we fell into one of the relegation spots at the business end of the competition. We will seek promotion during the Lent 2022 season and a return to the promised land! Our players have gained a lot of experience throughout the last three months, and we thank them all for their commitment and dedication. Congratulations also to the Women’s team who finished in a very commendable second place amongst tough competition in Division One. Led superbly by Paula Suchantke, we believe that they will make a strong push towards claiming the crown this upcoming season.

The Badminton Society would like to extend our thanks to Hills Road Sports Centre for allowing us to host training sessions and matches at their venue, as well as the HUS for their financial backing.

Men’s Team Roster: Phupha Amornkijja, Bartek Formela, Naomi Izatt, Anchit Jain, Lewis Kelsall (Captain), Shumpei Kimura, Binglun Li, Meherwaan Sayyed, Jake Stewart, Kogulan Vipulan (Vice-Captain), Jordan Waters, Kofi Wilkinson, Adam Wood.

Lewis Kelsall & Kogulan Vipulan Homerton Badminton Society Co-Presidents 2021/22 Homerton Women’s Badminton

In October, it had been exactly one year since the last matches in the intercollegiate badminton league were played so the team this year is entirely made up of new members, mostly comprising first and second year undergrads and a couple of postgrads. At the Freshers’ Fair the interest in the casual badminton sessions we host twice a week at Hills Road Sports Centre was great and so it was relatively straightforward to put a team together. It’s been great to provide a platform for players of different abilities and experience to give proper badminton matches a go for the first time or give it their best to move Homerton up the league table, respectively.

We started as team No 7 (out of 8) in the 1st women’s division and were able to play six out of our seven scheduled matches (our week 8 opponent was unresponsive). We won three out of these games, with the other three being tight matches. Our league rank should be 3/8 – each match consists of nine games and we won a whopping 26 overall! It has been great to meet players from other Colleges and the atmosphere at most games has been super friendly! Paula Suchantke

Women’s Badminton team

The Netball team in action

Ultimate Frisbee team Netball

Netball has been really great this term, with lots of enthusiasm for both mixed and women’s netball, and lots of team bonding including two socials! The mixed team won four of their matches and had lots of players turn up to play and support them in some of their final games. The women’s team won their division and will be promoted to division 2 for next term!

Ultimate Frisbee

A group of veteran players and rookies reassembled in Easter term for what would turn out to be the only competitive frisbeeing of 2021. Nonetheless, the team showed excellent spirit and enthusiasm throughout. With limited preparation, Homerton re-entered into the College league, mostly hoping to gain experience for the newer members as well as ultimately having some fun! Our determination paid dividends as two impressive wins followed against the St Catharine’s College team, dubbed the Thundercatz, and a local club, Frisee Rascals. The highlight of these was a 13-1 victory over the latter. These were interspersed amongst some close defeats, but it was overall a thoroughly enjoyable time for everyone involved.

We would like to thank Kai Junge and James Booth for their fantastic leadership and service to the Ultimate Frisbee society during their time at Homerton. We wish them, and all our alumni disc throwers, best wishes in their future endeavours!

Louis Cohen & Kogulan Vipulan Homerton Ultimate Frisbee Society Co-Captains 2021/22