900 miles, 27 hours, 5 hockey clubs and 1 Aussie: Banister returns home from Edinburgh Fives

Edinburgh Fives fresher Jack Banister has finally arrived back in Exeter.

The EUMHC first XI keeper was ‘kidnapped’ by the Bristol Uni Hockey Club last night as he undertook the painstaking annual round-trip to Scotland’s capital.

Speaking exclusively to the Tab this morning whilst midway through a breakfast at the Impy, Banno said he currently felt ‘seriously ropey’, but ‘glad to be home’.

After getting off the train to meet his fifth hockey club of the day, the English and Politics student exchanged stash…only to discover that Bristol had tweeted Exeter and got their permission to ‘kidnap’ him for a night in Britain’s edgiest city.

Banister and the Bristol boys prepare to hit the town

He described how he was whisked away from Bristol Temple Meads by the BUHC boys, straight to a social, where they shared each other’s cultures by exchanging drinking games. Karaoke and a swift bottle of rosé were on the cards at the social before they headed out to the O2 Academy – with Jack dressed in the Birmingham hockey shirt he acquired at New Street Station earlier that evening.

Loving the bow tie

At the O2, the boys ‘dominated’ the stage, with Jack adorning stash from all over the country and claiming that he ‘danced in front of half the uni’.

He arrived back at St Davids at 9.41am this morning. Great though the night was, Jack admits that ‘it would have been nice to get back for TP.’

As well as meeting the Edinburgh boys at Waverley station like Ben Sully did last year, Banno had a 45-second meeting with the Durham hockey boys on the way back down. He said: ‘I got off the train and they met me. Literally, they gave me a load of food, we took a photo, and then I was going to chat for a bit…but they said ‘make sure you don’t miss the train’ so I hopped back on.’

Jack dons his new Edinburgh tie for this quick selfie with the Durham boys

A couple of hours later at Birmingham New Street, Jack was met by club captain Will Selfe, where he swapped ‘a club shirt for all the food that I couldn’t eat’. Jack assures us that the Exeter kit sponsors will be sending a shirt up to Brum in exchange.

New signing for Brum hockey? You can keep him…

The Tab writer told us he’d had ‘about four hours sleep over the last three days’ – as well as his night out in Bristol and the hockey dinner the night before, he was up until 8am studying on Monday night. However, rather than going to bed, he’s heading to a study group meeting later and then to the nutritionists – and claims that a night out tonight ‘may well be on the cards’.

Jack Banister – the Tab salutes you. Here’s a picture of us playing fives against a pug at HQ to show our gratitude.