I had a pint with Cuth’s Rugby

Flo: How do you feel about the new FemSoc and rugby partnership?

Cuth’s Rugby: Definitely a step forward from what Cuths has been and what people have perceived. It sets down a marker for how we want to be seen in the future.

Flo: Are you happy to be more involved in feminism?

Cuth’s Rugby: You forget that every member of this club has some close female to them and for us all to be branded as misogynistic anti-feminists is actually quite wrong. On behalf of the team there is quite a feeling of progress on that front.

Flo: What do you think it was about the environment of the club that made this game acceptable?

Reconciling their differences. Flo Perry with the Cuth’s Rugby team.

Cuth’s Rugby: I don’t think anything made the game acceptable, possibly the environment we were in spurred us on to make a stupid decision to play a game like that, but it was never acceptable. Acceptable is potentially the wrong word, misjudged covers it far better, as you’ve seen in the apology that has come since the game. Obviously none of us thought the game to be acceptable. It was an environment that created some poor judgement.

Flo: Why do you think no one complained about it?

Cuth’s Rugby: I think if you’re in a big group of lads it’s hard to stand up by yourself. I think that’s true for any sport though not just rugby.

Flo: What makes it hard to stand up?

Cuth’s Rugby: As a fresher you want to be part of the group, like when I was playing the game, I thought you could say the correct thing – It’s (not rape if)… it’s between two consenting adults – and that’s what you should say, but as a fresher you want to be part of the group and if you say something like that then you kind of set the wrong tone.

So you want to be accepted by saying something stupid. You know what you should say but you don’t say it. I think there’s an illusion that if you don’t join in your not going to be included. We have people who don’t drink on socials, and it’s applauded that they join in. We’d rather they turned up and had a good time.

Flo: So obviously you are not the only Durham club that’s done something of this nature, so how can you spread this message that jokes like this aren’t ok?

Cuth’s Rugby: Doing mixed socials and mixed events. We’ve been in touch with the FemSoc and will be doing lots of joint events with them, particularly next year. We want to turn this into something positive, because obviously we’re not looking great. We’ve been misportrayed. We’ve got the perfect opportunity to make a stand.

Flo: Do you think there is an epidemic of Durham clubs taking lad behavior too far?

Cuth’s Rugby: I don’t think so. I think lad culture is as dangerous as the queen bee culture in Durham University Hockey club. The two along side each other, where there is an obvious hierarchy of people within the club, that’s where the problem lies.

Cuth’s taking a stand!

Flo: Do you think if I hadn’t caught you, you would have played this game at your next social?

Cuth’s Rugby: It’s not a game we played at every social.

Flo: But you’ve played it before.

Cuth’s Rugby: Maybe…not very often.

Flo: Do you think you would have played it again?

Cuth’s Rugby: I’m not sure.

Flo: What’s that other game you play where you all take off your trousers? I like that one.

Cuth’s Rugby: Hot thighs… as the evening progresses you might find the bar warms up a little bit so it might be an idea to cool down the thighs. It’s also a game of good practice, bad practice, if you are wearing a pair of fantastic boxer shorts then that’s applauded. So if you have any DUFemSoc stash…

Flo: Well funnily enough I am just about to put in our stash order!

Watch this space for rugby boys in feminist boxer shorts.