FREE Take a copy
Is there room for faith in student theatre? pg. 28
Let’s circle back to 2004 pg. 26
We do feel like dancing pg. 23
No.920 Friday 2nd February 2024 varsity.co.uk The Independent Student Newspaper since 1947
Balliol battered: John’s athletes punished after Oxford frenzy Sports teams face community service after urinating on the floor and smashing a bar on Oxford swap
DANIEL HILTON ▲
Eleanor Mann Senior News Editor St John’s College’s sports teams have amassed over 130 hours of community service for their behaviour at a sports day swap with Oxford last term, which reportedly involved verbal abuse, and urine and beer funnelling. The men’s football team, known as the ‘Poulets’, and the mixed croquet team were given 120 hours and 12 hours respectively by the College Dean, Dr Nick Friedman, last week (24/01) for their misbehaviour while visiting sister college, Balliol, for a weekend of sports and socialising in Michaelmas. Recorded on Oxford’s CCTV, Johnians were seen battering the grounds, allegedly trashing Balliol College’s bar, leaving mud, broken glass, and urine in the changing rooms. Varsity was told that a member of the opposite team was even called a “midget”. In an email addressed to the men’s and mixed teams’ captains, Friedman asked the captains to “attend an urgent meeting with the Dean”. Friedman had been contacted by the Domestic Bursar of Balliol, who expressed his “upset at the condition in which St John’s sports teams left the changing rooms,” he said. Friedman included a list of allegations made by Balliol: “The men’s changing room was reportedly left ‘trashed’ with large amounts of rubbish, including broken glass, all over the floor. It appeared that someone had urinated on the changing room floor. Rubbish was also left on the pitch, which our students were asked to clean up but didn’t.” “Some of our men’s team verbally abused the Balliol football team, and in general showed little to no respect for Balliol’s facilities or people. The security staff reported our students drinking beer through funnels, and then sliding on beer spilt on the floor,” the email continued. “The majority of the cleaning up was done by Balliol students, who were horrified to discover the situation in the early hours of Sunday morning,” Balliol also alleged.
Continued on page 2 ▶
Inside ● Don attacks pronoun ‘zealots’ pg. 2 ● Universally Challenged: Cambridge’s worst feedback pg. 12 ● The strange death of the explorer pg. 16 ●