Dan Cook and Lizzie Tearle chat to Wessex Sport editor Charlotte Woods and AU President Allan ‘Bermuda’ Staynor bout the benefits of being part of an intra-mural team.

Charlotte Woods: What are the benefits of playing sport for your subject?

Dan Cook: Well obviously, it’s a great way to meet new people, and it’s a great way to keep fit too.

Lizzie Tearle: Plus, playing for the Uni teams is such a selective process. Intra Mural is a bit friendlier and it means that people who don’t get into the Uni teams still have the chance to be in a sports team.

CW: Are all the same sports that are available through the AU, available through intra mural?

LT: The sports we offer are dependent on what people want to play, squash was introduced last year for History, but the point is that there is opportunity for anyone who wants to play a sport to do so through the intra mural system.

Allan Staynor: Alot of the people who play intra-mural sports aren’t of a high enough standard to play University sport.

Do you work at all with the University teams to ensure the highest standard possible?

DC: Not as such, but the quality doesn’t have to suffer.  There’s no restriction, lots of people play for both intra mural and a Uni team, but the main difference is the time commitments. If you play Rugby for the Uni you will likely to be training three times a week, plus gym sessions and playing a match each week, with us, it is one training session and one match. Intra mural is beneficial in this sense, particularly for third years. It is separate and different, but in a very good way, the quality of play can still be there.

CW: It sounds like Intra Mural sport can be much more laid back and requires less commitment than the University teams?

DC: That’s definitely true. I would never suggest that if someone is skilled enough that they should miss an opportunity to play for a University team, but equally, if you just want to play on a less committed basis, to enjoy yourself and to keep fit then intra-mural is the best way to do that.

CW: So elections for new sports reps for the history society and many other societies are coming up, how would someone go about standing for sports rep?

DC: The president will send a list of positions to stand for in due course, then it is as simple as responding to the email to express your interest really.

LT: It does help if you have experience of playing intra-mural sport as it will make your job much easier and will also give you a better chance of being elected.

AS: The University teams are often under scrutiny for their social and drinking habits, what do you two do to ensure that drinking doesn’t get too out of hand at sports socials?

DC: I like to attend all the History sport socials to keep an eye on events and take responsibility for any poor behaviour. Obviously I can’t be in control of an entire rugby team who have had a few too many, but we do make a conscious effort to attend the socials to keep an eye on what goes on. But then again, we are different to the Uni teams, we don’t go out every week, so I guess there’s less opportunity for intra-mural teams to be criticised. We always have brilliant socials. 

AS: My experience with intra mural is that often, games have to be cancelled because people don’t turn up, or don’t show any sort of commitment, what do you think about the intra-mural set up, do you think there should be any changes made?

DC: One thing that I think would make a huge difference is if the referees were paid as they are in AU games. I’ve never really experienced problems with players not showing up, but referees are a different story. I know at other universities, intra-mural refs are paid by the hour.

LT: It sometimes happens that other teams don’t show up because they don’t have a team together, which is obviously a waste of everyone’s time and should be remedied. It happened a number of times at netball games I was playing in.

AS: I guess the next obvious thing to ask you is how do you feel about the costs that you pay for your intra-mural sport? Obviously the more changes that are made to the intra-mural setup, the more it’s going to cost.

DC: With our current costs, History is happy to pay for us. If the costs have to go up in order to improve the setup, then perhaps the funding would have to come from the players themselves. It’s a tricky question.

CW: Does being a rep take up alot of your time and energy or does it complement your studies? Is it something you would recommend to anyone thinking of running for sport rep in February?

LT: It doesn’t really take up too much time at all. It does at the beginning, when you receive huge lists of every student who is interested in all sorts of different sports, but once the system is set up and the Captains are assigned, everything runs fairly smoothly.

DC: Being a sports rep is definitely something I would recommend. It’s the chance to be on a committee, which opens up a whole new set of doors for you. You can pretty much be as involved with the running of the society as you want being sports rep, it’s a very good position to be in. There’s no obligation to take on extra responsibility within the society, but if you want to boost your experience, there is much opportunity to do so. 

Don’t forget to look out for emails from your society’s president in the coming weeks advertising new Sport Rep positions. It’s never to late to play sport for your subject, halls or any other intra-mural team so go get yourself involved!

If you are a history student looking to play sport for your subject then search for University of Southampton History Society on facebook, or alternatively look up either Dan or Lizzie and get chatting to them!

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