What’s the best sport to be a Blue?

Blues are some of the most elusive types about

Blue Cambridge University eton fives korfball Sport Students

In between waking up at ungodly hours and telling everybody that they have a Blue, they can be seen wearing funny jackets in the Cindies smoking area, and can be spotted from a mile away in your college library – wearing layers upon layers of sporting stash.

The question on the lips of those of us that never reached the pinnacle of sporting achievement is simple: how hard is it, really, to be a Blue? Importantly too, is there an easy way to get one?

The Hawks’ Club website lists the sports that will earn you a Full Blue. You know them already. The big dogs. The ‘wow you must be a v good athlete wow’ sports. Rugby, Rowing and co. The people who are in these teams are almost always absurdly talented and work ridiculously hard (the fact that Cambridge would have come seventeenth in the Olympics just proves this).

Much sport. So activity.

Much sport. So activity.

Yet for those of us who are a few strings short of a tennis racket, there is a far more interesting list of sports that can earn you ‘discretionary full blues’ and ‘half blues’. From the stereotype-fulfilling polo, shooting and croquet, to alternatives like Korfball, Australian Rules Football, Eton Fives and orienteering, these sports could set you on your way to a blue without having to be the next Jonny Wilkinson.

Korfball

Much less exciting than it sounds. Basically people playing basketball or netball and pretending it is something different. Played either with 8 females per team, or 4 males, 4 females per team, the objective is to throw a ball through a bottomless basket. The University Korfball Club told us that they train for three hours a week, and you have to start Varsity in order to qualify for a half blue.

Eton Fives

A much more complicated game of squash. Involves playing in pairs, and hitting a ball against a wall – yet with infinitely more advanced regulations that this Tab writer is too unsporty to explain. More interesting than the practice of the game, in which you can gain a half blue, are its origins. Founded at only a few public schools across England (hence the name), Cambridge possesses one of the six indoor Eton Fives courts across the whole of England.

Named after this place.

Polo

Claiming to be the most ‘affordable University Polo Club in the country’, the Cambridge University Polo Club attempts to make the previously elite sport accessible to most, possessing an impressive collection of 16 ponies, and the Chair of the club remains HRH Prince Charles. Yet all this prancing with ponies comes with a price – annual membership costs £165 per year.

They do throw an excellent party each year

Shooting

If the pheasants in the field behind your mansion are getting a little pesky, you might want to join the Cambridge Univerity Small Bore Club – a half blue sport. Training twice a week, you will have to get your tutor’s approval to join this risky society (to make sure you won’t kill anyone).

Therefore, if rugby doesn’t float your boat, if football causes fear, perhaps try one of these sports and you may be on your way to a blue sooner than you know.