Concerns over club’s future revealed as elaborate practical joke

Concerns that Warwick Surf was to lose its status as a sports club have been dispelled after it emerged that their ‘Save Our Waves’ campaign was part of an elaborate practical joke.

A member of the club, Lewis Fowler, played a prank on one of the exec by posting a Facebook status claiming that the Students’ Union (SU) were reconsidering Surf’s status as a sports club due to unruly behaviour at a recent social. The exec were quickly made aware that this was not actually true but decided to continue the joke at the expense of the rest of the club, which currently has 130 members.

Social secretary Hugh Eggar then created a Facebook group entitled “Save Our Waves” and asked
members to join the group, and to change their profile pictures and statuses, to vent their outrage at the SU’s ‘decision’.

He also posted messages on the ‘Overheard at Warwick’ and Warwick Snow Facebook pages, the
efforts of which saw over 50 concerned students join the ‘Save Our Waves’ group. The hype caught the attention of their Student Surf Tour Representative and Wavelength Magazine, who also expressed their support for the club via Facebook. Gul Watersports tagged the University in a post which proved that the joke had gone too far. The Surf exec then quickly quashed the rumours.

President of Warwick Surf and third-year Engineering student Richard Powe said, “In hindsight it may seem somewhat irresponsible but at the time we just thought of it as a harmless joke within the Club. We were overwhelmed by the support and it just goes to show how quickly things can go viral. Lesson has now definitely been learnt.”

Fowler, a third-year MORSE student, said: “What was intended as a 15-minute prank ended up with two multinational companies publicly supporting the club. It just goes to show the power of Facebook.”

Eggar said: “I was really touched by the sadness and the level of effort to save Surf. It made us feel really loved as a club.”