Lancs Uni cuts college sports teams that aren’t A and B teams due to lack of funding

Lancaster University has decided to cut down the number of college sport teams participating within sport leagues, it was announced this morning. The sports which are affected include netball and football.

Within student backlash, college sport teams and students of the uni have been complaining about this decision as one student told The Lancaster Tab: “It goes against the idea of college sport and what it stands for by being elitist and not allowing all teams to play in the league”.

Ed Baker sent out an email which states: “There will only be college leagues in netball and football for A & B teams. C Leagues and Recreational leagues will not continue. The promotion and relegation plans for the college leagues will have to be discontinued.

“Cup competitions will no longer be supported in the new format introduced this year and will return to their prior format. There will be less staff support available for college teams as this moves from a dedicated College and Recreational Sports Coordinator to a single Sports Coordinator responsible for all student sport at Lancaster.”

He continued to say that, “I am fully aware of the impact that these changes will have on your clubs and vast number of individuals who are catered for with the C and Recreational leagues. As such, I would encourage you to share this with your members and please have them and yourselves submit any questions, comments or feedback to [email protected] so that they can be answered and collected to present a clearer picture of the what these changes will mean for students.”

In response to this news, college sports teams are emailing to complain and challenge this decision. Paul McCarthy, incoming VP sports, has commented on this problem by stating: “Want people to know that as the incoming VP Sports I’m completely opposed to this and will be doing everything within my remit to make sure this doesn’t go through. The lack of funding for college sport is already a joke, and the fact that the uni/union can preach about wanting more inclusivity, and extra care for the mental and physical health of students, and then proceed to make a decision like this which is clearly detrimental to all of these things is a disgrace.”

Paul then goes on to encourage everyone to voice their complaints. He says, “I urge everyone whose effected or sympathetic to email [email protected] to let the union know where they stand, the more who do it the more likely it is to be reversed. Obviously I’m not instated until June, but I’ll make clear I was elected on a manifesto with a high college sport weighting, and there’s a clear mandate to act to increase participation, rather than make college sport elitest and take a fundamental part of uni life away from so many students.”

This decision will negatively impact so many students who play these sports. Paul continued to say, “There must be other alternatives available, this is a decision that will genuinely take away the best part of uni for 100+ students, and this needs to be opposed.”

A Facebook group has been made called “SAVE COLLEGE SPORT” as a way for college and recreational captains to voice their concerns. There are talks of creating a petition to act against this decision.

As players of every college sport team has to pay a membership fee to join, to hire out the courts and use equipment, it looks as if this money holds little value if not every player is able to play within a league. College sport teams pay the majority of expenses so it is difficult to see why this decision to cut teams due to funding has been made.

This news has come with inevitable backlash from college sport teams. Please email [email protected] to voice your concerns and save college sports.