Team Warwick all in: Varsity is coming

[dropcap]V[/dropcap]arsity. It’s coming. The one word that gets spines tingling, pulses racing and people talking about University Sport. The dawn of the new year on campus brings with it essay deadlines, January exams and ridiculous levels of academic stress. As the student population dig their heels in and start to get serious, there’s a rumbling amongst members of our sports clubs. You can feel the anticipation sweeping across Cryfield, you can see the tension ratcheting up out on Westwood, the frenzied squeeking of trainers in the Desso Hall becomes that much more intense. Each passing #BUCSWednesday performance matters more than the last as we come closer to the biggest sporting showcase on campus, the weekend that sees our clubs become the centrepiece of our collective student attention.

we have condensed the program into one big Varsity weekend, made all the events as accessible as possible, and really given Varsity every chance to be a bigger event than ever before

For a few days in frosty February, Warwick stand united against Coventry each and every year, pitting our sporting might against theirs and guess what? We’ve never lost. Never have Warwick fallen at the feet of our inner-city rivals. Behind last year’s appropriate tagline Unshakeable. Unforgiving. Undefeated. Warwick dominated across 60 events, running out comprehensive 74-20 winners. No matter how little or how much you care about sport, it’s impossible not to catch a little bit of that Varsity fever, whether it’s the Ice Hockey in Coventry’s Sky Dome which has famously closed the show the last few years or a game of Pool taking place in a dusty corner of Riley’s, it all matters so much more.

Sidelines that were quiet suddenly become filled with onlookers, social media becomes awash with posts wishing our teams good luck and damning our magenta clad opponents. The numbers speak for themselves: 6000 spectators were on hand to watch some of the action last year, a figure you can guarantee beats the total for all the sporting clashes combined over the course of the year in standard BUCS competition. As Warwick students there always seem to be reasons for discontent, reasons to be up in arms, disappointed by a sweeping changes, frustrated for one reason or the other, but Varsity always gives us a reason to be proud of our University as we proceed to #SmashThePoly. Behind a new kit launch that’s seen our sporting outfits swapping their respective hues for a united red and the unveiling of banners across campus you can feel the anticipation. Shoved to the peripheral for months, University Sport suddenly matters as much as anything else.

For a few days in frosty February, Warwick stand united against Coventry each and every year, pitting our sporting might against theirs and guess what? We’ve never lost. 

This year will see changes to the format to freshen up what was fast becoming a stale Warwick victory parade. Sports officer Alex Roberts explained the new look programme stating: “To really try and ignite Varsity again and make the truly campus-wide event it has the potential to be, we have condensed the program into one big Varsity weekend, made all the events as accessible as possible, and really given Varsity every chance to be a bigger event than ever before.”