Southampton Sports Socials UNCOVERED! (Part one)

We’ve all heard the stories, seen the Snapchats and watched the videos. Downing a pint with a goldfish in it, public nudity, and generally incessant drinking. But how do our University sports teams compare?

Our Features Editors took up the challenge to find out. With some University teams guarding the details of their sports socials with a Fight Club like mentality, it was a tough job. Luckily, others were more open minded. One thing’s clear- what happens on tour, doesn’t always stay on tour. 

Want to hear about a team member found in Sainsbury’s children’s play area with a knife? Fresher curries? General debauchery including drink, vomit and blood? Keep reading…

Some teams whisk their members on exotic “Welcome Drinks”… to the Isle of Wight:

“I know in the past they took the freshers to the Isle of Wight and they all had to skinny dip in the sea. We had fresher challenges…one of my worst was being told to eat a raw leek which was disgusting!”

Others treat their members to fine cuisine on tour:

“They got us into groups… we had to blindfold one of us, and then feed them baby food. We had to down a carton of cheap Spanish wine. We had to lick a nappy of Nutella and sweetcorn and carrots. We had to pick a Frankfurter covered in a condom from a bucket of water and cottage cheese, and pass it via mouth to the last person who would then eat it. We also had to do a cracker challenge (three in a minute).”

Tour is also the place for Usain Bolt style sprints:

“We had one girl who did a naked mile on tour with only a funnel to keep her decent and she got attacked by a girls football team and pulled to the floor. We had two girls get in someone’s green bin on a house crawl and get stuck only to fall out on the floor. They then got chased down the street by a man in his dressing gown”

…and fancy dress:

“There weren’t many things we had to do, just loads of funnels, the usual. On tour in first year, all the freshers had to dress up like pigs and crawl on the floor whilst being tied up to each other and then jump in the pool fully clothed”

Tour madness

For many, however, the local streets of Portswood provide great entertainment:

“After a ‘Fresher curry’, you have to eat a poppadom as fast as you can without fluids, shot of Sambuca, run to the nearest shop (about 150m away), buy a tin of baked beans and hot dogs or canned mac n’ cheese, run back, eat it cold, then neck a pint. Last one has to eat another tin of cold beans. You then play danger can* all the way to Jesters”

*Danger can is when you take a can of beer, shake it up immensely, then you take in turns in a circle to shake it up and smash it against your head (sideways) until it breaks, whoever it breaks on has to down it.

“We had to fill out forms about ourselves, filling out how many guys we’ve slept with, how hot we think we are. The highest score on how many guys they’ve slept with got eggs and flour thrown on them, and the girls who rated themselves highest on looks had their faces coloured in with Sharpie. They then had to go to Jesters like that!”

As does Sainsbury’s children’s play area:

“One fresher challenged three freshers to go to Portswood and get a pumpkin to carve. Their place of choice to carry out this deed was the Sainsbury’s children’s play area…they had a knife on them to carve and they were caught by the police for having a knife in public!”

Last year on a social, one chilly fresher had to strip down to his boxers and knock on random residents’ front doors

Pokemon is also adapted for some socials.  Due to the way in which this information was acquired (at 1am by a drunk Soton Tab editor in Oceana) it’s hard to remember exactly what was said. From the fragmented notes this was pieced together:

“In groups of eight, freshers have to make a card each about themselves based on Pokemon cards (rating yourself). The second years rank them first to eighth. The eighth person had to do a forfeit. They also all have to do a naked mile, and at certain points down dirty pints.”

How do you think Southampton’s sports teams compare?  Look out for our second article, coming soon…