Uni rugby team banned from playing after sexual and physical abuse reported at initiations

The rugby team at Harper Adams Uni has been banned from playing after students claimed they’d been abused at the team’s initiations.

The harrowing claims have come to light after the uni started an internal investigation into rugby team initiations in 2022. Documents reveal an anonymous alumnus was sexually assaulted by a rugby team member at a “Pimps and Hoes” sports night social at a pub. He saw three students be sexually assaulted with a wine bottle on the bus back from a match as part of an initiation tradition. The rugby team put out five cigarettes on his back. This student said the abuse from the rugby team was so bad that he switched to another uni. The student’s father told The Telegraph that the student had experienced “anger, insomnia and night terrors brought on by the way [he] was treated at Harper Adams”.

Four other Harper Adams students backed up these claims and added other allegations. One student was reportedly “stripped naked and abandoned in unknown locations”.

The investigation also included claims the rugby team poured hot curry sauce on someone’s head and burned their scalp. One student apparently had to go to hospital because the rugby team sprayed a livestock marker – the spray paint which farmers use to write numbers on sheep – in their eye.

The campus at Harper Adams University (Credit: Richard Law via Creative Commons)

Other students say that the freshers were pressured to drink from a bucket of alcohol, vomit and urine which the older students called “The Baby”.  Freshers were pressured to drink beer until they vomited.

The older rugby players allegedly beat the freshers with belts.

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The Student Rugby Football Union has temporarily suspended Harper Adams Uni from playing in any organised rugby matches against other unis.

In the report, Harper Adams Uni said it didn’t pursue any further action against individual students, because most of the rugby players named in the report had left the uni by the time of the Uni’s investigation.

The Rugby Football Union said to The Telegraph: “The RFU and the Students Rugby Football Union (SRFU) are united in their concern for the actions of Harper Adams University in relation to this case and have yet to be reassured that the institution has undertaken action to correct behaviours and safeguard its players.”

Harper Adams Uni specialises in farming and property management. It’s in the countryside near Newport in Shropshire. Princess Anne is the chancellor. Really.

A spokesperson for Harper Adams University told The Tab: “We were notified on Friday 20^th September that the Students Rugby Football Union are interim suspending the membership of Harper Adams University Rugby Club.  We had a very constructive meeting with the RFU this morning (Monday, 23^rd September) at which reasons for the suspension were clarified. We will continue working in partnership with them on actions we can take to have the suspension lifted and to support the current and future club members who are committed to upholding safe and respectful behaviour standards.

“The safety and wellbeing of all our students continues to be our unequivocal priority. We offer an enriching programme of activity during Welcome Week to help students familiarise themselves with their new surroundings and as part of this, every student will attend mandatory training on our Respect Policy to understand the code of conduct at our University.”

If you have more information relating to this article or a story to share about uni initiations being taken too far, contact [email protected].

Related articles recommended by this author:

• Cardiff University rugby team caught in huge brawl with local residents during pub social
• Dead rats and urine: Inside the worst university initiation scandals of all time
• Cardiff Uni rugby team allegedly banned from playing in league after ‘wife beater’ social

Feature image credit: Tklages via Creative Commons. Image was resized.