Varsity raffle ‘rigged’

The charity raffle at the Varsity ice hockey match between Warwick and Coventry may have been rigged, according to evidence obtained by the Boar.

Photographic and video evidence appears to show the raffle co-ordinators announcing a pre-arranged number corresponding to a raffle ticket that did not seem to have been purchased. The video appears to show the announcer, believed to be David Nicol, a former Coventry student, call for the owner of yellow ticket number 222, whilst his associate, thought to be Coventry student Sam Quilter, threw both copies of that ticket into the draw.

The Boar’s source, who wishes to remain anonymous, observed that even before the match had begun, a number of people surrounding Nicol had been invited to express a preference for certain prizes.

Nicol was heard asking who wanted the next prize on offer, before ripping a number of tickets from the book and throwing them into the draw. This process was repeated “several times” according to the source. As the ticket in question had not been taken from the book before the draw, it is quite possible that the ‘winner’ had not paid the £1 charity donation needed to enter the raffle.

Nicol was allegedly overheard boasting that he had rigged the draw in a similar manner at last year’s Varsity ice hockey event, adding: “it’s not cheating, it’s just doing things the way I want to.” It is not clear exactly how many prizes were handed out in this manner, or whether any Warwick students were involved.

The ‘winner’ of the raffle draw seen in the video received a sports bag, and other prizes on offer included alcohol and sweets.

When contacted, Nicol explained: “These people do it for nothing and As im sure you know it takes a hell of alot of comitment for people to make such huge succesful events happern and they do it for nothign while balacing there studys thats why each year i make sure thye receive a prize from the raffee as long as they buy a ticket. [sic]” Sam Quilter offered no comment.

Ali Burr, Vice President (Student Activities) at Coventry Students’ Union, declined to comment, adding that the raffle was organised by the club, run jointly by Warwick and Coventry students, and had nothing to do with either Union. Outside of Varsity events Warwick and Coventry ice hockey players compete as part of the same team, the Coventry & Warwick Panthers.

Neither Matti Konsola nor Ignas Romaskevicius, Presidents of the Warwick and Coventry branches of the club respectively, were willing to comment, on the grounds that they were not yet aware of the facts. Romaskevicius, however, did add: “I want to mention that both Coventry and Warwick Universities were happy with him [Nicol] to be the announcer.” Both also indicated that they were not aware of any rigging taking place. Chris Sury, Sports Officer at Warwick SU promised to raise the issue with Coventry Students’ Union, and to make sure that those responsible would not be in charge of the draw at next year’s event. He commented: “this is totally unacceptable, but I also want to stress that I’m very proud of those from both Warwick and Coventry who were involved in such a successful event.”

The source, who made clear that they would be happy to testify to police if necessary, said that they were left very disappointed by the whole affair. “What was even more shocking was that he wasn’t even discreet about it,” they said. “He openly and proudly conned people out of their money and I felt compelled to take action.”

Students of both universities have condemned these actions. Sabine Chassagne, a second-year WBS student who attended the game said: “People have every right to be pissed off – that’s not cool”, she said. A Coventry Engineering student, who chose to remain anonymous, was equally unimpressed: “I understand that Varsity takes a lot of hard work to put together, but rigging a raffle which other students have paid money into in good faith, especially a charity raffle, is unacceptable”.

The match, which took place at the Skydome in Coventry, saw Coventry claim a 10-5 victory.