palatinate locker room issue 717

22
THE LOCKER ROOM Tuesday 16 th March 2010 ISSUE ONE Durham County Cricket Captain Will Smith on all things Cricket EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ALSO INSIDE Round up your college’s performance this term Latest College Tables AU president Katie Sykes on this term’s college sport Team Durham at BUCS Championships Finals Quentin Sloper evaluates Team Durham’s season so far Does college size really matter? REVEALED

Upload: palatinate

Post on 07-Mar-2016

227 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

THE LOCKER ROOM Tuesday 16th March 2010 ISSUE ONE

Durham County Cricket Captain Will Smith on all things Cricket

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWALSO INSIDERound up your college’s performance this term

Latest College Tables

AU president Katie Sykes on this term’s college sport

Team Durham at BUCS Championships Finals

Quentin Sloper evaluates Team Durham’s season so far

Does collegesize really

matter?

REVEALED

Page 2: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

As the second term of the year draws to a close it is a good time to reflect upon what was always going to be a tremendously ex-

citing year for Durham University Sport and there is perhaps no better way to do that than by celebrating the production of The Locker Room.

Palatinate have been hugely support-ive of our sports programme over the last

twelve months and this joint venture is a credit to all of those that have been involved in piecing The Locker Room together – let’s hope that it is the first of many.

The BUCS Championships, the culmi-nation of the winter sports programme, has just taken place and it is pleasing to report that the Palatinates were represented by far more teams this time around than ever before.

In BUCS Sport terms the question I was asked this time last year was whether we had fulfilled our expectations. Easter is of course too early to tell. There is still a lot of sport to take place including the cricket season, the BUCS rowing regatta and many cycling events – three of our strongest sports.

However, I would be lying if I said that institutions did not have a feeling for the quality of their season by the time Easter arrives.

Whilst statistics do not tell you every-thing, they are something of a useful ba-rometer so it is perhaps worth noting that we have had no fewer than thirteen sides reaching the last sixteen of the winter sport National Championship, our highest total in recent years by quite some margin.

It is perhaps worth going further – 10 of our sides reached the final eight, with five reaching the final four and beyond. We also had four Northern Conference 1 winners, all with a chance of playing in the Northern Premier League next time around.

Outside of the league sport competition rowing has been as impressive, as always, at both the Small and Large Boats Head. There will be plenty more to come from the club over the coming months as they gear up for what looks like another impressive summer.

Our Canoe and Cycling Clubs have also been busy picking up medals and they too have more to come.

Outside of BUCS competition it has been the England Hockey and England Basketball National League programmes that have commanded much of our attention.

Women’s Hockey missed out on pro-motion to the National Premier League by the narrowest of margins last time around, losing in the play-off final. Currently sitting top of National League North they are well placed to be back at the play-offs in April, al-though there does remain some way to go.

Men’s Hockey has got better and better as the season has progressed. Early season setbacks saw the Palatinates at the lower end of the table, however the team are now well placed for a top five finish in National League North.

Men’s Basketball has had an unbeliev-ably successful season. They have swept all before them, running away with the Eng-land Basketball National League Division 2 title whilst also winning the Patrons Cup on the way. They should be competing in the top amateur league in the country next season and are undoubtedly the most im-proved club in Durham over recent years.

So have we fulfilled our expectations? Thus far the answer is very definitely yes – let’s hope we are saying the same four months from now!

At this point in time it is probably op-portune to let all students know that the College Festival of Sport will take place on June 13th this year – let’s hope for the same weather as we had last year.

I do hope you enjoy reading the supple-ment. As is so often the case at Durham it has only been made possible by the hard work and endeavour of our students.

THE LOCKER ROOM Tuesday 16th March 2010

02 EDITORIAL

After a term of sweat, tears, and many caf-feine-induced late nights, the first edition of The Locker Room is finally here – and not a minute too soon if you ask me.

In a university that has an undisputed legacy of annually producing international calibre athletes and where 90% of the stu-dent body regularly participates in a sport-ing program larger than any other intra-mural competition in Britain, the coverage of sport is criminal!

However, while many lambast Palatinate for not covering their respective college or university team, there is only so much that can be done with the finite resources at our disposal.

Finding the right balance between fair coverage of the countless sports teams in Durham and newsworthy stories that in-terest our readership is, in many respects, an impossible task and something that has been problematic for all my predecessors.

With only four pages of space, limited reporters and photographers (who all have various academic, sporting and social com-mitments) I fully believe that under the circumstances we do as thorough a job as possible.

In an ideal world you would have a whole publication purely dedicated to re-porting the latest sporting news, but even this ever did become a reality not all sports or teams would feature.

For various reasons Palatinate and Team

Durham historically have never had the greatest working relationship. However, during my editorship I have made it a point to develop a close working relationship with our “supposed adversaries” and this supplement is testament to what can be achieved through a pooling of resources.

A lot of credit has to go to Quentin Sloper whose commitment to improving sport at all levels is second to none. I would also like to thank all the Team Durham staff who have contributed to the production of this pullout, as well as all my colleagues on Palatinate who have supported me throughout the last term.

A special mention must go to “Viza”, as they are affectionately known, for having the faith in me to finally make The Locker Room a reality, and giving me the freedom to do it in my own imitable style. Mean-while Matt Richardson has to be given credit for doing some of the more tedious and inane work behind the scenes.

While The Locker Room is in no way the absolute solution to the aforementioned problems, I at least hope that I have laid the foundations for my successors to build upon what I have started. However, for the section to continue to grow and improve we need more contributors, because a sec-tion is only as strong as its writers. Thus, I would urge anyone with the slightest pas-sion in journalism, sports or writing to get in touch at [email protected].

That’s enough of that; let’s talk about this first edition. The first of many I hope! The need to provide a more comprehen-

sive round-up of college sport means that a significant proportion of The Locker Room has been devoted to condensing each col-lege’s performances into a digestible format. While the fact that the date of publication nicely coincided with the BUCS champi-onship in Sheffield gave us the opportu-nity to, for the first time ever, provide our readership with eye-witness reports of the progress of our elite university teams.

To break up this monotony of reports, I decided very early on to try to arrange an interview with a famous sporting alumnus. Greenwood, Hussain, Strauss, Edwards and Carling are names that instantly came to mind, and with all due respect to Will Smith, who would actually be the first to tell you that, he isn’t mentioned in the same breath as these guys – yet!

Smith is a man on the verge creating his-tory and someone who has the potential to one day play for England. The idea behind The Locker Room was the need to break the mould and do something different, and in many respects the same principles are be-hind my decision to interview Smith over more well known ex-graduates – a decision that I think has proved to be vindicated.

All this being said, our fate firmly lies in our readers’ hands! Before we commit to another issue we need to hear your views – positive or negative – on this supplement and more broadly on the sports section of Palatinate as a whole. So please do get in touch at [email protected].

I hope that you enjoy reading the very first issue of The Locker Room.

Editor in Chief Rajvir [email protected]

University Correspondents Matthew WaltersTom Brown

Senior Writers Kat SaundersMatt [email protected] Middleton-RossDelaney [email protected]

Head of PhotographyJonny [email protected] Photography Delaney Chambers

Sub-EditorsLouise QuarmbyKatie [email protected]

Designed by:Rajvir RaiCover Image:Delaney Chambers

Special Thanks to:Jed Wee Quentin SloperKatie SykesDurham CCCWill SmithYvette ThompsonVincent McAvineyLiza Miller

Editorial BoardA long time comingINSIDE THIS ISSUE3-5: TEAM DURHAM AT BUCS

The Locker Room goes down to the four day BUCS Championship Finals to see how our athletes got on.

6-7: COLLEGE TABLES

Rajvir Rai catches up with Durham graduate Will Smith to talk all things cricket.

8-9: WILL SMITH INTERVIEW

The Locker Room reflects on the last two terms of sport and gives its opin-ion on how all 16 colleges performed.

10-15: FIND YOUR COLLEGE

Find out how your beloved team is doing in their respective league. Are you destined for promotion, worry-ing about relegation or enjoying mid-table safety?

BUCS Overall Championship Points Table

123456789

10111213141516171819202122232425

LoughboroughNottingham

Leeds Met CarnegieEdinburgh

BirminghamDurham

BathManchester

OxfordBristol

NewcastleExeter

ImperialCambridge

StirlingLeedsCardiff

SwanseaSouthamptonNorthumbria

GlasgowBrunel West London

WarwickBrighton

London Met.

2784.511561112

1089.510841074

1064.5870819789731728709693616567557487444421412409396376374

173546278

131012229

2815163120193318173221

Institution Points2008-2009

BUCS Position

A sparkling season of success for Team Durham

Rajvir RaiEditor in Chief

Quentin Sloper Team Durham Assistant Director of Sport

Please do email us at [email protected] with any criticisms, ad-vice or general feedback.

YOUR THOUGHTS

Table correct at time of printing, Monday 15th March 2010. An updated table can be found at www.bucs.org.uk

Page 3: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

03BUCS CHAMPIONSHIPS

THE LOCKER ROOM Tuesday 16th March 2010

Success for LacrosseMen’s Firsts - BUCS Champions 09-10

Women’s Seconds - BUCS Champions 09-10

JED

WEE

JED

WEE

Page 4: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717
Page 5: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

THE LOCKER ROOM Tuesday 16th March 2010

04 BUCS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Twenty-six sports, eighteen venues and five days of the highest calibre of university competition: this month saw Sheffield play host to the BUCS Championships for the third and final time.

We cover all the titles, trepidations and tears as another dynamic Team Durham season draws to a close.

Inch for inch, man for man, and pound for pound, Durham Men’s Basketball Firsts put in a tireless performance in Friday’s BUCS Men’s Championship Knockouts Quarter Final as they sought to match the speed and agility of Leeds Met. However, ultimately they succumbed to the narrow-est of defeats as they were edged out 89-79 in a pulsating encounter at the English In-stitute of Sport in Sheffield. In a match that saw Durham attempt to neutralise Leeds Met’s attacking versatility with a defensive solidity and composure, it was the York-shire side who stormed into an early lead, running in 20-16 leaders at the end of the first quarter.

It was in the second quarter that the Pa-latinates played some of the best basketball of their season, scintillatingly slicing open their opponents on a number of occasions to run in with a 43-39 half-time lead. As the game ebbed and flowed, swinging one moment in Durham’s favour and the next in favour of Leeds, the Palatinates held firm with several three-pointers ensuring the game was tied at 63-63 going into the final quarter.

With ten minutes remaining and Dur-ham committing men forward, Leeds Met made sure to exploit their opponents’ de-fensive vulnerability on the counter-attack, scoring two-point baskets unopposed and unattended as they built up an ultimately insurmountable 89-79 winning margin.

Ian Hewitt, Durham Men’s Basketball firsts captain, said: “We can be really proud of such a performance against what should be considered the tournament favourites. We were always the underdogs and to have kept things level for so long was a real testa-ment to our hard work and determination.

“There were only a couple of things that swung the tie in Leeds Met’s favour, and up until the last seven minutes or so I thought that we were in with a fighting chance of

getting a result.“We always knew that we would be put

under pressure in the way that we were, but the way we performed suggests that we can come back in later years and do even bet-ter. Our next priority is to finish fifth in the competition, and we’ll do everything we can to ensure that happens”.

In a sport where strength in depth is so absolutely vital, with the ability to make game-changing substitutions quickly, effec-tively and often, Durham found themselves wanting against an outfit whose players ul-timately had more stamina and the superior technique. However, the Palatinates didn’t disgrace themselves by exiting the compe-tition at this stage. They have proven that they can compete at this level in basketball for long spells, and that a few minor adjust-ments – particularly in a defensive sense – will see them go from strength to strength next season.

Durham Women’s Lacrosse Seconds were crowned BUCS Trophy champions for a third successive season, sweeping aside a Cardiff Firsts side lacking confi-dence and composure in a 13-5 victory at Sheffield’s Mount St Mary’s School on Thursday afternoon.The Palatinates pow-ered to an early lead inside the first fifteen seconds, with Alexia Arts slicing through the Welsh defence to dispatch a sublime ef-fort beyond the helpless Morgan Finlayson.

Durham continued to apply relentless attacking pressure, with goals for Mil-lie Beeston, Polly Borrows (two), Rosie Antcliff, Louisa Ingham (two), and then a further goal for Borrows. It was a tide of fearless finishes - stemmed only by a soli-tary effort from Cardiff’s Anna Tomlinson – which ensured that the Palatinates ran in 9-1 leaders at the break.

Cardiff opened the second half scoring through Philippa Tyler, and – following Louisa Ingham’s third of the match - Geor-gina Saunders boosted the Welsh outfit’s striking confidence with another goal, leaving the match poised at 10-3 with just over twenty minutes left to play. Durham increased their lead in the closing stages through further strikes from Borrows and Ingham, and a first BUCS final goal for Tessa Codrington. Late efforts from Anna Tomlinson and Eleanor Morris rounded off Cardiff’s scoring.

Katie Forbes, Durham Women’s La-crosse Seconds captain, said: “It feels fantastic to be national champions.  It’s a recognition for all the hard work we’ve undertaken over the course of the season – every training session, every weight session, and every match. It’s been a real privilege to be involved with this side.

“Before the start of the match, we re-ally didn’t know what to expect from Cardiff.  They of course play in a very competitive league and have a number of international players, so we expected a tough match and we certainly felt the pres-sure in the closing stages as they began to pick holes in our defence.

“The result is made all the sweeter by the fact that this was the last game in which we had Emily Blatter as coach, who has been a tremendous figure in overhauling and developing the lacrosse programme at Durham.  She’s worked tremendously hard, she’s been a great coach in terms of the tac-tics she’s introduced, and she’s built up a great personal relationship with each of the girls. This result was for our way of saying thank you to her.”

Free-scoring, flamboyant and fearless, it’s been a tremendous campaign for Emily Blatter’s side, on five occasions scoring more than twenty goals in a single match and becoming well-respected across the country for their defensive composure and attacking invention.

Durham Men’s Lacrosse Firsts remain invincible and indomitable as they sealed a 17-6 BUCS Men’s Lacrosse Champion-ship Final victory over Nottingham Firsts at Sheffield’s Mount St Mary’s School on Thursday afternoon. In a pulsating and of-ten bruising encounter, the Palatinates fell behind in the opening stages to an early Nottingham strike – with John Meade

levelling the scores moments later.  Meade scored another within seconds to send Durham into the lead, before Nottingham equalised to tie the scores for the second time in the match.

As the half progressed, Durham grew in stature, confidence and composure, displaying signs of the attacking fluid-ity and dynamism that have become the hallmarks of their season. The Palatinates retook the lead, the game now poised at 3-2, with Jono Linebaugh’s strike followed by a piece of clinical finishing from Andrew Sousa. Meade, Linebaugh and Sousa each scored once more to fire the Palatinates into a 7-2 lead at the interval.

A flurry of Durham strikes punctuated the start of the second period, their speed on the counter-attack and their scintillating wing play catching the Nottingham defence cold.  Kevin Discepelo, Scott Sullivan, John Meade and Omar Dupree each chipped in with fearless finishes to see the heretofore unbeaten side end the third quarter with a lead stretching to eleven goals to two.

Final quarter braces for Jono Linebaugh and Kevin Discepelo, as well as first BUCS Final strikes for Daniel Kemp and Max Walters, completed the scoring for the Pa-latinates on an afternoon that put the per-fect finishing touches to a season shaped by an unbroken series of twelve victories.

John Wheeldon, Durham Men’s La-crosse Firsts captain, said: “We’re absolute-ly ecstatic with the result and the perform-ance, and with the way we’ve performed throughout the season – we’ve worked hard together, and we’ve really demonstrat-ed how far a team can come in a matter of months. We’ve made huge strides.

“We always knew this would be a tough and physical match, and – although sec-tions of the crowd were occasionally creat-ing an awkward atmosphere for us – we’re really grateful that they came out to watch us, and ultimately drove us to perform to our best today.

“Other teams have commented on the fact that as a team, and as a group of indi-viduals, we are extremely hardworking – and that’s been the secret to our success this season.  We’ve trained hard, we’ve played well together – and it’s great to finally get recognition as national champions for that.”

Having seen out a tough encounter against a physical Nottingham side and a hostile Sheffield reception, the undisputed fact remains that Durham have in their Men’s Lacrosse Firsts an outfit to be reck-oned with on the national stage, deservedly named national champions after a season of scintillating attacking play and ruthless efficiency in front of goal.

Durham Women’s Tennis Firsts are of-ficially one of the top four university tennis clubs in the country, succumbing – despite early signs of real promise – to a 7-3 defeat at the hands of London Metropolitan Uni-versity in their BUCS Women’s Barclays Championship Semi-Final at the Hallam-shire Tennis and Squash Club in Sheffield on Saturday.

Durham’s Lucy Scott and Sally Pearson made the most auspicious of starts, emerg-ing 8-6 Doubles victors after a measured

Two BUCS Champions and lessons learnedTeam Durham travelled to Sheffield last weekend to take on the top teams in the country in the BUCS Championships

Matthew Walters and Tom Brown

MEN’S BASKETBALL

WOMEN’S TENNIS

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

MEN’S LACROSSE

The Palatinates played well in their Knockout Quarter Final against the tournament favourites

Women’s Lacrosse Seconds retained their BUCS National Trophy for a third successive season

JED W

EE

JED W

EE

“It was in the second quarter that the Palatinates played some of the best basketball of their season, slicing open the opposition”

Page 6: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

and composed display against the London-ers’ Anna Koumantou and Annabel Bann.

Over on the next court, Georgina Wire and Anna Oswald’s tenacious performance against Maja Kambic and Aleksandra Ku-jawska made for a fascinating spectacle, one the Londoners narrowly edged 9-7.

The Singles matches saw Lucy Scott overcome the stubborn resistance of Anna Koumantou, followed by Koumantou’s Doubles partner Bann making amends with a 6-2 6-3 victory over the Palatinates’ Sally Pearson.

Georgina Wire came up against an effer-vescent and flamboyant display from Maja Kambic, in which Kambic showcased her impressive arsenal of groundstrokes to win 6-0 6-1. In the final Singles match, Anna Oswald battled bravely but was ultimately undone by her opponent Aleksandra Ku-jawska to the tune of a 6-3 6-2 defeat.

Lucy Scott, Durham Women’s Tennis coach, said: “We’re delighted with the way we’ve acquitted ourselves, and if you had said at the start of the season that we would finish in the top four nationally, we certainly would have taken that.

“After our opening victory, we certainly felt that we had a chance in this match and on our day, Sally and I know that we can compete against the very best in the coun-try when we play Doubles.

“We are disappointed that we haven’t played more matches of this intensity this season. There’s a huge step up in terms of quality and intensity between the Quarter Finals and the Semi Finals, and so it would have been nice to have been more consist-ently challenged over the course of this year so as to better prepare us for a match against the quality of, say, a London Met side.

“That said, there are plenty of positives to take away for next year and for future matches, and we’ll ensure that we’re back in Sheffield this time next year”.

Last Thursday the Women’s Hockey Firsts hockey side took on Birmingham in the BUCS Championship Final. Having already lost to, and drawn with them earlier in the season, the Palatinates were hoping to make it third time lucky in Sheffield. Un-fortunately, despite a spirited performance from Durham, Birmingham ran out 3-1 winners.

Durham’s 2-2 draw with Birmingham last December had given them hope they could beat them in the Final, but they were undone by a player who had represented England at the Youth Olympics in Australia last year.

Although a good side, Durham cannot boast anyone of such international calibre, and therefore can feel proud to have given Birmingham such a close match. 2-0 down mid-way through the second half, they pulled a goal back and Birmingham were clearly worried. Unfortunately, as Durham pushed for the equaliser, their opponents caught them on the break to seal the vic-tory.

However, when they look back at the season as a whole, Durham will not be too disappointed. Of course reaching the final of the National Championships was no mean feat in itself; they finished second to Birmingham in the Northern Premier League, and were dominant throughout the knockout stages.

In the last sixteen they put eleven past a sorry Cardiff side, before thrashing Bath in the Quarters and defeating rivals Lough-borough away from home to reach the Final. Durham fully deserve to be one of the top two university hockey sides in the country.

Throughout the season captain Ruth Gordon has consistently spoken of the ef-fort this team puts in during training. Right

from the offset their goal was to reach the BUCS Final and the players worked tire-lessly to achieve this. On the pitch, Gordon represented the engine room in the mid-field with Danielle Bamber consistently leading the line superbly and Gabby Foster chipping in with a number of crucial goals. Watching on from the sideline was their coach Gavin Featherstone, who has been instrumental in improving the team’s for-tunes in recent years.

As well as BUCS, the team also plays in a national league at weekends, and as current league leaders they look set to secure pro-motion to the National Premier League, the country’s top hockey division.

So the team may have tasted defeat in Sheffield last week, but overall this season has been nothing short of a success for Dur-ham’s female hockey players.

Turning to Futsal, Durham Women’s Futsal Firsts – having reached the last eight through playoff victories earlier in the sea-son – recorded a 4-1 victory over Lough-borough to offset the disappointment of an early Sheffield exit, with losses against the universities of Bath, Northumbria and Brunel.

Richard Warburton, Durham Women’s Futsal coach, said: “We’re delighted with how we’ve performed over the course of the competition and actually improved throughout the time we’ve spent in Shef-field.

“Even though we lost 3-2 to Northum-bria in our third match, we performed bril-liantly against a side that are formidable national champions.

“We’re naturally disappointed to be leav-ing the competition at this stage, although we’ve learnt a lot and will take that into our rebuilding work for next season. We’ll aim to make the Semi Finals next year.”

05BUCS CHAMPIONSHIPS

THE LOCKER ROOM Tuesday 16th March 2010

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

Durham’s Women’s Lacrosse Seconds team winning the BUCS National Trophy prompted jubilant celebrations in Sheffield, but the day was not without one sad note; it was the last ever game for Emily Blatter, Durham’s first ever full-time lacrosse coach.

In 2008, Assistant Director of Durham University Sport, Quentin Sloper, had seen the potential the University Lacrosse sides had, but wanted to turn this into results. Employing a recognised lacrosse coach was not financially viable, so the decision was made to appoint a great player instead, in the hope that he or she would be able to inspire Durham’s athletes.

And for great lacrosse players you only have to look over the Atlantic, where you don’t have to have watched American Pie to know that the sport is huge. At Goucher College in America, Emily had been phe-nomenal, ending two consecutive seasons as the fifth highest scorer across the entire United States. She also set the second long-est scoring streak in American college his-tory, netting in an incredible 43 consecutive games. When the opportunity to spread her talent into the UK came, she jumped at it.

Emily was undoubtedly a brilliant la-crosse player, but it remained to be seen whether she would make a brilliant coach. She was certainly keen to make an impres-sion, describing it as an “amazing opportu-nity”, and on her arrival she set about revo-

lutionising Durham’s training structure. She demanded a lot more of the players, in-troducing extra training sessions and even inflicting weight training on the girls.

“They found it hard at first”, admitted Emily, “but eventually their hard work be-gan to pay off”. Her approach to training may have been stricter – being late resulted in extra fitness training, and it was not long before everyone was on time – yet she still maintained a very personal relationship with each and every player. As a result she is well respected throughout all three of Dur-ham’s Women’s Lacrosse teams.

She is also renowned down at Maiden Castle for her bubbly personality; you only had to witness her standing on a trailer at the Junior Fun Run, leading an under 6s’ warm up session, to see the fantastic energy she always has.

In her first season as coach, Emily took

the Women’s First team to the Quarter Finals of the BUCS National Champion-ships, and the Second team won the BUCS National Trophy. This season, the Seconds retained their title, and the Firsts went one better by making it all the way to the Semi-Finals.

Emily has almost single-handedly changed the face of lacrosse at Durham. Thanks to her, the number of college la-crosse sides has increased from three to 14, and Durham is the only university in the country to have three Women’s La-crosse teams. Next season the number of men’s sides will increase from one to three. Emily has also helped introduce the sport to over 2,000 children from local schools, after establishing an after school academy. Meanwhile, thanks to the success of this programme, basketball and netball now also have full-time coaches.

Many people across the university will be sorry to see Emily leave. Sloper has un-derstandably said he has been “absolutely delighted” with the impact she has had, whilst the Women’s Second team captain Katie Forbes praised her coaching style, adding that the girls would be sad to say goodbye.

So the next time you hear about Dur-ham’s dominance in the sport of lacrosse, or when you see your college side playing at Maiden Castle, think of Emily Blatter, be-cause without her none of that would have been possible.

Farewell to Coach BlatterDurham Women’s Lacrosse says goodbye to first-ever full time coachMatthew Walters and Tom Brown

Blatter transformed Lacrosse at Durham and made it the BUCS-winning team it is today

WOMEN’S FUTSAL

Woman’s Futsal lost to the National Champions, but can hold their heads high

JED W

EE

JED

WEE

“Emily has almost single-handedly changed the face of la-crosse at Durham - the number of college sides has quadrupled”

Page 7: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717
Page 8: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

06 COLLEGE ROUND UP

THE LOCKER ROOM Tuesday 16th March 2010

Men’s HockeyPremiership

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

1311111311121213

108764420

23113130

1036477

13

32272219151390

Hatfield ACollingwood AVan Mildert ASt. Aidan’s ASt. Cuths ASt. John’s AHild Bede ATrevelyan A

College

1114127999

11

107733231

13220020

0432674

10

312423119653

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

St. Mary’s AButler AGrey AUstinov ASt. Chad’s ACastle AJohn Snow AHatfield B

College

Division One

Women’s HockeyPremiership

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

1211101210101110

98443222

21333321

12354577

2925151512987

Hatfield ACollingwood ASt. Aidan’s ASt. Mary’s AUstinov AGrey ASt. Cuth’s AVan Mildert A

College

1211129

1211129

1110833321

00010212

11459696

3330241098-2-1

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Hild Bede AButler ASt. Chad’s AStephenson AJohn Snow ACastle ATrevelyan ASt. John’s A

College

Division One

Women’s Rugby

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

67557

53311

02110

12136

15111043

St.Cuths AGrey AHild Bede AVan Mildert AHatfield A

College

Premiership

Women’s Netball

Hild Bede ACollingwood A Hatfield AGrey ACastle ASt. John’s AButler AVan Mildert ASt. Aidan’s ASt. Mary’s AGrey BSt. Cuth’s A

111111111111111111111111

1098765545321

000000010010

12345666688

10

302724211815151312973

PremiershipCollege Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Division One

Hild Bede BStephenson AJohn Snow ACollingwoodBTrevelyan AHatfield BCollingwood CTrevelyan BVan Mildert BSt. Aidan’s BSt. Cuth’s B

91010101010101010109

99765544410

00000000000

01345566699

2727211815151212123-3

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Division Two

Hild Bede CCastle BSt Chad’s ACollingwood DStephenson BJohn Snow BSt. John’s BSt. Mary’s BHatfield CVan Mildert CSt Chad’s BButler B

111111101198

1088

116

1199654422101

000200021100

0222654656

115

3327272015121287100

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Can’t find the table you’re looking for?If you support or play for a team that isn’t represented in these tables, go to www.teamdurham.com for a com-pletely comprehensive list of results, champions and league tables.

The Locker Room would like to apologise for not reproducing all of the Astro Football tables or any of the

Pool tables. Due to the size of these tables we could not fit them on this double spread.

These tables were correct at the time of printing, Monday 15th March 2010. Results are regularly by Team Durham each Friday so standings may have changed.

Men’s RugbyPremiership

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

8888786788

7665442210

0000100001

1223244577

2118181513126631

St. Cuth’s ACollingwood AHatfield AVan Mildert AGrey ASt. John’s AHild Bede AButler ASt. Cuths BCastle A

College

Division One

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

10999

10109

109

109

99855444310

00000000000

10145656699

2727241515121212930

Aidans AStephenson AJohn Snow ASt. Chad’s ATrevelyan AHild Bede BSt. Mary’s AGrey BCollingwood BAidans BHatfield B

College

Men’s Basketball

76577655

75432120

00000000

01145535

21151296330

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Grey AJohn Snow AUstinov AButler AStephenson AAidans ATrevelyan ACollingwood A

College

Premiership

744454455

444322200

000000000

300132255

121212966600

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

St. Cuths AUstinov BHild Bede AHatfield ASt. Marys AVan Mildert ACastle AVan Mildert BSt. Chad’s

College

Division One***

Women’s Basketball

554233

433100

000000

121133

1299300

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Castle AVan Mildert AAidans AHild Bede AHatfield ATrevelyan A

College

Premiership

44444

43210

00000

01234

129630

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Grey ACollingwood ASt. Marys ASt. Cuths AButler A

College

Division 1

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

2202

2100

0000

0102

6300

St. Chad’s ACollingwood ASt. Mary’s AHatfield B

College

Division One

Premiership

Grey AHill Bede ATrevelyanASt. Aidan’s AUstinov ASt. John’s AVan Mildert ASt. Chad’s ATrevelyan B

887887774

865552100

000000000

022335674

24181515156300

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Table Tennis

Division One

Grey B Hild Bede BButler AGrey CSt. Cuths BSt. Cuths AVan Mildert BSt. Aidan’s BTrevelyan CGrey D

9888676655

8773322200

0000000000

1115354455

2421219966600

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

887757

764200

101110

022447

221813710

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Hatfield AVan Mildert BVan Mildert ATrevelyan AGrey ASt. Cuth’s A

College

Division One

88767

74411

01010

13346

21131243

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Van Mildert ASt. Mary’s AButler ACastle ATrevelyan A

College

Division One

College League Tables

Men’s Astro Football Women’s Astro Football

Page 9: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

Hatfield BSt. Marys BHild Bede CTrevelyan BVan Mildert DUstinov B

455433

333110

100100

022223

1099430

07COLLEGE ROUND UP

THE LOCKER ROOM

Men’s Badminton

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

5666555

5443210

0000000

0223345

1512129630

Butler AVan Mildert AHatfield AGrey ACastle AJohn Snow AHild Bede A

College

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

6465465

4433310

0000000

2032155

121299930

St. Cuth’s AStephenson A Van Mildert BCollingwood ATrevelyan AGrey BSt. Aidan’s A

Premiership

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

767865434

655431010

000000000

112434424

181515129300-3

Butler BHatfield BCollingwood BSt. Chad’s ASt. John’s ASt. Mary’s ASt. Cuth’s BTrevelyan BHild Bede B

College

Division Two

Division One

Women’s Badminton

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

888888888

776532222

000000000

112356666

2121181596666

Van Mildert AButler ATrevelyan ASt. Chad’s ATrevelyan BHatfield ASt. Aidan’s ACastle AJohn Snow A

College

Premiership

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

9997768988

8765332222

0000000000

1232436766

24211815996666

Grey ASt. Mary’s AHild Bede ASt. Cuth’s AStephenson A Butler BCollingwood AGrey BVan Mildert BSt. Cuth’s B

College

Division One

Men’s FootballPremiership Championship Pool

Van Mildert AHatfield ACollingwood AGrey ASt. Cuth’s AJohn Snow A

545554

333211

100100

112243

1099733

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Premiership Relegation Pool

Collingwood C Hild Bede A Stephenson ASt. Aidan’s ASt. Aidan’s B Collingwood B

454443

432110

001100

021233

1297430

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Division One Promotion Pool

Butler ATrevelyan A St. Mary’s ACastle AHild Bede Ustinov A

433455

333110

000101

100244

999431

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Division One Relegation Pool

Van Mildert B Collingwood DSt. Chad’s AJohn Snow BSt. Aidan’s CStaff A

443324

322111

000000

121213

966333

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Division Two Promotion Pool

Van Mildert CGrey BSt. John’s AStephenson AHild Bede DSt. Cuth’s B

444424

322110

011101

111213

977431

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Division Two Relegation PoolCollege Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Women’s Squash

Men’s Football

Conference Pool B

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

9988776989

7664322221

1202021101

1122433667

22201814987764

Grey CCollingwood GCollingwood EHild Bede ESt. Cuth’s DCastle CJohn Snow CVan Mildert ESt. John’s BGrey D

College

Conference Pool A

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

9109

108

109

109

1010

99554443331

00101002000

01353655679

2727161513121211993

Hatfield CButler BCollingwood FHatfield DStephenson CCastle BTrevelyan CSt. Aidans DSt. Cuth’s CButler CHild Bede F

College

67647446

66332110

00000000

01315336

1818996330

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Hatfield ASt. John’s ACastle AHild Bede AVan Mildert AGrey ASt. Aidan’s ATrevelyan A

College

Premiership

Men’s Squash

67643233

55211111

00000000

12432122

1515633300

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

St. Mary’s AGrey BVan Mildert BCollingwood BSt Chad’s ACollingwood BButler ASt. Cuth’s A

College

Division One

44332

43100

00000

01232

129300

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

St. Johns ACollingwood ACastle AGrey ASt. Mary’s A

College

Pool A - Term 2

Mixed Lacrosse

1113

1110

0000

0003

3330

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Hatfield ATrevelyan AButler AStephenson A

College

Women’s FootballPremiership

Ustinov AButler ACastle AVan Mildert AJohn Snow ASt. Cuths AGrey ACollingwood ASt. John’s ASt. Aidan’s A

9899889899

8754434300

1002121111

0143334488

252115141311101011

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Division One

St. Mary’s AHatfield AHild Bede ACollingwood BTrevelyan ASt. Chad’s AHild Bede BSt. Aidan’s B

76666467

65432210

01100000

10134257

18161396630

College Played Won Drawn Lost Points

77676667

65434211

00000000

12242456

18151299633

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Collingwood AVan Mildert ASt. Marys AHatfield ASt. Aidans AHild Bede AButler AGrey A

College

Premiership

Ultimate Frisbee

910989

1099

1089

99775333310

00000000000

01214766779

2727212115999930

Played Won Drawn Lost Points

Grey AButler ACollingwood AGrey BHatfield ASt. Aidan’s AHild Bede ATrevelyan ACastle ASt. John’s ACollingwood B

College

Premiership

Writers and Deputy Sport Editor Vacancies We are always on the lookout for people with a passion for sports to

join our team. If you like what you see and are interested in joining our

team, please get in touch at [email protected].

Pool B - Term 2

Tuesday 16th March 2010

Curious for more? Follow us on Twitter at PalatiSPORT

Page 10: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

Team Durham’s exceptional start to the season means that the Palati-

Page 11: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

08 WILL SMITH INTERVIEW

THE LOCKER ROOM Tuesday 16th March 2010

Name: Will Smith

Age: 27

Clubs: Nottinghamshire CCC, Durham UCCE, Durham CCC

Batting style: Opening right-hand batsman

Bowling style: Right-arm off break

Highest first class score: Unbeaten 201 against Surrey during 2008

Career highlight: Winning the County Championship last year as Captain

Career regret: That it has taken me so long to realise what I need to do to be a successful cricketer. When I was younger I was a bit naive and immature, and I regret that it took me so long to mature

College: Collingwood

Course: Molecular Biology and bio-chemistry

Grade: 2:2

Highlight at university: Making lots of friends who I am still in touch with and hold very dear

Moment to forget at university:I don’t have any real regrets, but I did get a little bit too stressed in my last year

Best College bar: Castle

Best Club: Klute

Hobbies: Aspiring journalist

Football Club: Rushden + Diamonds

Best Batsman in the World:It has to be Sachin Tendulkar after his recent double hundred

Best Batsman in the World: Nobody really stands out at the mo-ment, but when Daryl Steyn is on top form he is right up there

Best Test Side in the World: It is close but I would have say Australia just edge out India

Best One-day Side in the World: Again it is a toss up between Australia and India, but South Africa are good on their day too

Best Twenty20 Side in the World: Pakistan are the World Champions, but they are bit mercurial. India have a great team and I would rather some of their batsmen.

Profile

What you didn’t know

Ask someone to name three products of Durham University’s Centre of Cricketing Excellence and the response is likely to be Nasser Hussain, Andrew Strauss and James Foster. However, in recent years one former graduate has quietly been making a name for himself and is hoping to make history come the end of this season.

Ex-Collingwood student and now Cap-tain of Durham County Cricket Club, Will Smith has quickly risen to prominence since returning to the North-East from Nottinghamshire in 2007. Averaging 51.38 with the bat as Durham won their maiden County Championship title in 2008, Smith ended the season as the club’s player of the year ahead of then England regular Steve Harmison, and former West Indie’s captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

At the tender age of 26, and to the sur-prise of many, Smith was given the Durham captaincy after South African batsman Dale Benkenstein, who led the club to three tro-phies in two seasons, decided to step down and recommended the Luton born bats-man as his replacement.

“A lot of credit has to be given to Dale,” said Smith. “The fact that he was thinking about the future and how the club could progress shows what kind of captain he was. To have his backing and unwavering support was great, because I knew if I was having a hard time I could go to him and he would help me out”.

Having been captain of our Univer-sity, Durham County’s second XI and his school team – a side which included current stand-in England skipper Alastair Cook – Smith was always confident that he had the experience and ability to take over from Benkenstein.

He said: “I think you have just got to be yourself, you can’t try and be like someone else – especially as a captain because people will pick up on this and realize that you are not being genuine”.

“I have definitely learnt a few things from playing under Dale and Steve Fleming at Nottinghamshire, but I will always try and captain in a way that suits me and I feel is best”.

According to Graeme Fowler, current head of the UCCE, it did not take long to spot Smith’s leadership skills and the fact that he would always captain in his own unique way.

He said: “What I like about Will is that he has his own mind, he always has done, and he is prepared to accept information but ultimately he always makes his own mind up”.

It is testament to the kind of character and captain that Smith is that he readily ad-mits that in the last campaign he was more focused on the team as a whole than his own individual performances.

“Being my first year as captain I spent more time thinking about what I needed to do in that role and how I could get the best

out of people, as oppose to thinking about myself and that is probably why my average did drop off a bit”.

While Fowler commends Smith’s atti-tude to the Durham team, he hopes that his former captain focuses on himself a little bit more and in many respects becomes more “selfish” so that he can fulfil his potential.

“Will is the sort of bloke who could sacrifice his own career in order to help Durham. Whilst that is fantastic and great for Durham, I still want to see Will play for England”.

Smith guided Durham to a second suc-cessive County Championship title last season, and he fully believes that they can become the first county since Yorkshire in the 1960s to win a hat-trick of pennants.

“It would be phenomenal if we could do it,” said Smith. “It is our main aim for the season and it is going to be a lot of hard work, but it is definitely something we can achieve”.

Yet, Smith is adamant that Durham will try just as hard in the shorter formats of the game, but did concede that if he could only bring home one trophy at the end of the campaign he would like it to be the Cham-pionship.

“I am old-fashioned and prefer the four day stuff as it is a real test of your ability over

a long period of time”.On personal note Smith is hoping that

this is the year that he can finally score 1,000 runs in the Championship, a milestone that has so far eluded him.

With the ECB restructuring the domes-tic game so that there are only three com-petitions (the LV County Championship, an enhanced Friend’s ProvidentTwenty20 league and the Clydesdale Bank 40 over competition) and introducing a new scor-ing system (now 16 points for a win and 3 for a draw as opposed to previously being 14 for a win and 4 for a draw) 2010 in many respects is a crucial year in the development of the game.

Many have deemed these changes un-necessary and argue that they actually haven’t addressed the inherent problems at the centre of county cricket. Despite this Smith has backed the ECB plans saying: “I think what they have done is good and beneficial, and as long as they don’t try and tinker with too many things year on year they may have struck upon a formula that works”.

Central to the ECB’s thinking was the need to reduce the amount of cricket in one season. But, paradoxically, the restructur-ing has led to more days of cricket despite the scraping of a tournament. Yet, Smith

believes that because of the increase in the amount Twenty20 games it “won’t feel like there is more cricket this year, even though there is”.

To the disgust of many cricket tradition-alists the annual curtain opener between the MCC and the County Champions is unconventionally being played away from Lord’s in Abu Dhabi, under lights and with a pink ball. While, Smith recognizes that ultimately the MCC have probably made such a decision so that they can make a “hefty financial profit” off the back of the game, he is looking forward to taking part in “such a historic, ground breaking” occasion.

Clearly, the game is being used an ex-periment to gauge whether day-night Test matches with pink balls could actually work, but Smith is sceptical of logic behind

“Will is the sort of bloke who could sacrifice his own career in order to help Durham”Rajvir RaiEditor in Chief

60 seconds

“I am old-fashioned and prefer the four day stuff as it is a real test of your ability over a long period of time” “If I keep doing well in

the short-term then who knows interna-tional reckoning may come in the future”

Page 12: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

such an innovation.“Under lights the conditions would

change so much from one hour to the next,” he said. “In a four-day game you want things to progress naturally and not just suddenly change.”

“They’re trying to do it because they see it as a way of making more money, but I hope it doesn’t happen because I can’t see how it would work.”

Despite the talk being more about off the field events than the game itself, Smith remains focused and is treating it like any other first class game. Chris Tremlett, Mark Ramprakash and former Durham student James Foster are a few of the names in a very strong MCC side that should provide stiff competition for Durham.

In some circles Smith has been tipped to force his way into the thoughts of the England selectors in the future. Benken-stein, who was nominated as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the year for 2009, has even earmarked him as a potential England captain.

While, Fowler believes that Smith has the ability “to push for a place” and hopes that the “obsession in this country” with picking young players doesn’t ruin the Dur-ham captain’s change of proving himself at the very top level.

Smith has already, if only very briefly, experienced what it is like to be part of the England camp, having fielded as a 12th man for the Test side while at Notting-hamshire in 2006, and he is hoping that if he con-tinues to score runs for Durham he can follow in the footsteps of his county team-mates, G r a h a m O n i o n s and Paul C o l l i n g -wood, and to become a regular in the national side.

“It is an old cliché, but it would be a dream come true,” said Smith. “How-ever, I am realistic and I know that I will have to perform consistently well for the next two years before I can really start to think about making the step-up.

“I want to be a good captain but I also want to do well as an individual too, I don’t want to focus on just one thing, I will always give my all to ensure that Durham is suc-

cessful and that I am playing well.“If I keep doing well in the short-term

then who knows international reckoning may come in the future. But for

now I am just focused on the season ahead.”

Much has been made of current

England cap-tain Strauss’ decision to sit out the cur-rent tour of Bangladesh. Some be-lieve it to be

disrespectful to the hosts,

while legen-dary Australian

leg- spinner Shane Warne has even gone

as far as accusing the former Durham student of “disrespecting

Test cricket”. But Smith has backed his de-cision:

“I think a lot of people don’t realize quite the rigours of international cricket, and I am sure he will come back from the break refreshed and hungry to do well.

“He is an intelligent guy and he would

have known that the time was right for him to take a rest. I think you have to respect his decision and I hope he can come back and prove his critics wrong.”

Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether Strauss has made the right decision. If Eng-land retain the Ashes next summer in Aus-tralia then even the staunchest of critics will be appeased. If they fail to do so and then have a dismal World Cup too, Strauss can expect this episode to be held against him.

Nevertheless, the controversial decision has provided Cook, who was in need of some big scores to silence his own doubt-ers, with the chance to show that he has the temperament and ability to one day take over from Strauss on a permanent basis.

After last November’s debacle in South Africa, where Cook looked completely at sea whilst the hosts completed a humiliat-ing 84-run win over England, many de-clared that the Essex opener was not ready for the responsibility that comes with the captaincy.

But Smith has been impressed with Cook’s performances in Bangladesh so far and believes that his old school friend has what it takes to lead England.

He said: “Cook is an intelligent player who knows the game well and I am sure he will be a great captain in the future as long as he stays fit and well.

The Durham conti-gent in Bangladesh have had a mixed time. Collingwood has taken his great form from 2009 into 2010, and Smith had nothing but praise for the batsman.

“He is a fantastic player,” said Smith. “For the last 12 months he has been one of England’s most reliable and consistent performers”.

However, Liam Plunkett and Onions have had less successful tours. Onions has returned home due to a back injury, and Plunkett wasn’t able to make the squad for last Friday’s first test in Chittangong.

“It has been hard for both of them, but they are top quality bowlers and I am sure they will move on from this and go onto have very good seasons.”

It seems as if for one Dur-ham player the England door is firmly shut though. Paceman Steve Harmison has been over-looked by the selectors for the last two tours and many believe that there is no way back into the international reckoning for the man who helped England to two Ashes victories. Yet, Smith believes that his teammate still has a chance of again one day spear-heading England’s attack.

“You can never say never to someone of Stephen’s experience and quality,” said Smith.

Smith is astute enough to recog-nize that Harmison’s desire to prove a point to Geoff Miller and the rest of the selectors can only benefit Dur-ham’s chances of retaining the County Championship this year.

And what about those three years at

Durham university? Surely, he misses those early morning lectures on the science site and all the excitement of a night in Klute?

“I absolutely loved every minute of my three years at university, and I wouldn’t swap them for anything,” laughed Smith with what I was pretty sure was a hint of nostalgia in his voice!

“Without those three years I probably would not have had the success I’ve had over the last few years. I grew up a lot in my time Durham both on and off the field.

“Graham is a great coach, he will give everything he can to help a player progress and he certainly improved me. He made me realize what I needed to do to take my game to the next level, and was just what I needed at that point in my career.”

Smith is a quiet, unassuming man who has the technical ability, mental strength and attitude, not only lead Durham to the history books, but to one day represent his country. Despite being the cricketing equivalent of Gary Neville or Rio Ferdi-nand, in other words the captain of the best team in the country, Smith remains surpris-ingly down to earth and humble.

Even more impressive is Smith’s ac-knowledgement that last season he focused more on others than himself. His potential jeopardizing of his own career for others speaks volumes for the integrity and nature of the former Durham student.

What remains most striking, though, is that Smith doesn’t seem to quite realize the magnitude of what he has achieved. And more importantly, what he might

yet achieve if he contin-ues down the same

successful path.

WILL SMITH INTERVIEW

THE LOCKER ROOMTuesday 16th March 2010

Clockwise: Will Smith with ball in hand ushers his troops onto the field of action, Smith shows us his skills with the bat (below right), Smith and Durham County Cricket pose with the County Championship Trophy(below).

“Will is the sort of bloke who could sacrifice his own career in order to help Durham”09

WW

W.D

URH

AM

CCC.CO.U

K

WW

W.D

URH

AM

CCC.

CO.U

K

DELA

NEY CH

AM

BERS

Page 13: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

Team Durham’s exceptional start to the season means that the Palati-

Page 14: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

At the outset of my presidency one of my main aims for the year was to ensure the college sport programme continued to run from strength to strength. As the win-ter sport leagues draw to a close and the preparation for summer sports begins, I can say with confidence that the Durham intra-mural sport programme is the strongest in the country.

Despite the poor weather conditions at the outset of epiphany term, the 70-team strong college football league has been sucessful as ever. In the men’s competi-tion Hatfield A beat John Snow A 2-1 to become the men’s premiership champi-ons. Also still in the running for both the knockout cup and floodlit football compe-tition, Hatfield look set to challenge for the treble. Elsewhere in football the addition of Collingwood G, the college’s seventh men’s side, into the men’s conference reflects the strength and depth of the college sport pro-gramme.

College netball has been witness to a Hild Bede domination this year, with A, B and C teams winning the Premiership, Di-

vision 1 and Division 2 titles respectively and after an incredible trophy final, Hild Bede A defeated Collingwood A to be-come knockout champions. In the mixed netball knockout competition- new for this year- Josephine Butler and Grey are looking strong but the title could still be anyone’s at this stage.

In badminton Josephine Butler A look certain to take the men’s title. Butler women narrowly missed out on the women’s pre-miership which was won by Van Mildert A on rubber difference. The mixed premier-ship has been a popular addition to the college badminton programme. Josephine Butler A currently top the league undefeat-ed, and they will hope to retain this form as they progress into the latter stages of the season to cement what has been a very strong year for Butler badminton.

It should be a very exciting end to the college hockey season as both the men’s and women’s Premierships are being close-ly contested by Hatfield and Collingwood.

The college rugby season has been excit-ing as ever. St Cuthbert’s Society should be very happy with how the leagues currently stand; their men’s and women’s As are both

topping their respective premierships. In

men’s division 1 the battle for promotion has been a thrilling one; George Stephen-son A, John Snow A and St Aidan’s A have all been in contention for the two promo-tion slots. However, in a gripping end to the season Aidan’s defeated Snow to secure

their place in the premiership next year.

Stephenson meet Snow on Wednesday in what is sure to be a fantastic match and will decide who will be joining Aidan’s in pro-motion.

The overall college points table is the closest it has ever been. Grey college has

been in the prime position for the major-

ity of the year with Collingwood following closely behind. With no outright leader and the summer sport leagues and college festival of sport’s points still to factor in, the esteemed title of ‘Overall College Champi-ons’ is still very much in the offering.

Team Durham’s exceptional start to the season means that the Palati-

10 COLLEGE ROUND UP

Josephine Butler are 6th in the college points table – a fantastic achievement for a college only in its fourth year.

The college’s enthusiasm for sport con-tinues to grow, and a Butler cheerleading squad has emerged as a result.

They have received some impressive training from the University coach and look set to encourage all of their sporting teams!

It has been a great year for badminton in Josephine Butler. The Men’s A and B teams are top of the Premiership and Division Two respectively.

The A team seem unstoppable, yet to lose a game, while the B team claimed 7-2 wins over Cuthbert’s, Chad’s and Hild Bede, and clinched 5-4 victories over Collingwood and John’s.

In addition, the Women’s A team sit sec-ond in the Premiership having won 7 out of their 8 games. The college are also at the top of the mixed badminton league.

Butler’s netball teams have, however, had a mixed season. The A team are seventh in the Premiership.

While the B team bottom of Division Two, and have had their only points of the season deducted.

The Men’s Basketball team are 5th in the Premiership, but have had two great wins against rivals Collingwood, 45-36, and Aidan’s, 49-24.

But the Women’s team have struggled this season, and, with no wins, they finished last in Division One.

The Women’s Squash team have had a disappointing season, suffering 5 defeats. They did, however, win 3-2 in a fiercely contested match against Van Mildert.

Similarly, the Men’s team have too strug-gled, and find themselves joint bottom of Division One with Cuthbert’s. But with games in hand they will be looking to move up the league.

Many of Butler’s clubs who were pro-moted last year are performing brilliantly in the Premiership leagues this season. The Women’s Football in particular have had a great year and are currently one point off the top spot.

Equally notable is the performances of the Men’s Rugby team, who have had five members go on to represent the University 1st side, and are currently 7th – an impressive feat for a team competing in the Premier-ship for the first time. They fought hard for

their 13-12 win over Castle, while a strong defence helped them to secure their 20-7 victory against Cuthbert’s B.

Butler Womens’ Hockey team have per-formed exceptionally throughout the year. Having lost their first match of the season 1-0 to Hild Bede, they have not tasted de-feat since and are currently top of Division One.

The team have also fought hard to make the Knockout Cup final, where they will face a strong Collingwood side.

They have consistently racked up large score margins with a very impressive total goal difference of 62 throughout the year. Moreover they have only conceded 6 goals all season despite having had no goalie due to injury.

The Men’s Basketball team are in a strong position to avoid relegation to Divi-sion One as long as they pick up points in their remaining games against Grey A and Stephenson A.

With the team also through to the quar-terfinals of the knockout cup after a 45-24 win over Castle, there is added optimism that the team can record its highest number of college points for a single season.

JOSEPHINE BUTLER

Highlight of the seasonThe Badminton Club have had an impressive year and the Men’s As may finish the season undefeated.

Highlight of the season

The Men’s Football firsts hammered their Trevelyan counterparts 8-0 to win promotion to the Premiership.

HatfieldCollingwoodGreySt. Hild and St. BedeVan MildertJosephine ButlerSt. Aidan’sSt. Cuthbert’s SocietyTrevelyanSt. Mary’sUniversitySt. John’sJohn SnowSt. Chad’sUstinovGeorge Stephenson

6th

2nd

5th

4th

1st

10th

3rd

8th

7th

14th

11th

9th

15th

12th

13th

16th

186822602003210023531076225215401613692923

1127609874714407

144914161408125711801118903720718708682575510411402398

8241178810

12341125810834

1153712676821447

1600406

16001032

College 2008-2009Position

2008-2009Points

This YearPoints

College Size

Katie Sykes

Aidan’s have experienced a relatively fruit-ful season with impressive performances in a variety of sports. The college are currently in 7th place in the college points table, with a respectable 903 points.

There have been some great victories for their boat club, with Gary Blyth tak-ing Gold at N.E.I.R.C (North East Indoor Rowing Championships) and, Women’s captain, Georgina Hales taking Bronze. Aidan’s Men were also crowned the fastest college in the team race and finished sec-ond overall to DUBC (Durham University Boat Club).

The Men’s Rugby A team are top of Divi-sion One and have progressed to the final of the Floodlit Plate competition under Captain Tom Sedgewick. Meanwhile, the newly formed B team, under the captaincy of Rich Allinson, are continuing to find their feet, after taking their first win against Hatfield B.

The Women’s Hockey team got off to strong start last term under Captain Liz Openshaw and managed to triumph over some tough opponents, even with a miss-ing keeper on one occasion! They have continued to play well this term, and are 3rd in the Premiership. The Men’s team are 4th

in the Men’s Premiership, and their season highlight was defeating Hatfield after an 18 month undefeated stint.

There have been some trials for the col-lege’s football teams this season. The Men’s A and B teams are currently fighting to re-tain their Premiership status, while the C team are languishing near the foot of the Division One table and have a real fight on

their hands to stay in Division One. The Women’s teams have also had a dis-

appointing campaign. The A team are 9th in the Premiership, and the B team finds themselves firmly rooted to the bottom of the Division One table having not won a game all season.

Aidan’s women lie 6th in the Squash Pre-miership, with some promising wins against

Grey, Josephine Butler, and Hatfield. While the Men’s team are struggling in 7th position in the Premiership, having lost three of their four matches. But with games in hand they have the opportunity to move up the table.

The Men’s Badminton team have had a torrid season and having not won a single game, relegation to Division Two is now inevitable. With two wins to their name, the Women’s team are performing slightly better in the Women’s Premiership. They are currently 7th, but with 4 teams all on 6 points their fate is still undecided.

The Men’s Basketball team have strug-gled to pick up victories in the Premiership and their only points, thus far, have come from a walkover. However, the women’s team have managed to secure wins against Hatfield, Trevelyan and Van Mildert, which has propelled them up to 3rd in the Premier-ship.

The Netball A team are currently 10th in the Premiership, but they have had points deducted for various reasons.

The B team are just outside the relega-tion places in Division One, but with St Cuthbert’s B on minus 3 points they should be able to avoid the drop.

ST AIDAN’S

Highlight of the seasonThe Men’s Rugby A team have the chance to bring home some silverware in the Floodlit Plate final.

Moment to forget

The Women’s B team will still be hav-ing nightmares about their 17-1 batter-ing by Collingwood B.

THE LOCKER ROOM Tuesday 16th March 2010

CHRIS W

ILLETS

JON

ATHA

N A

LLEN

Page 15: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

11COLLEGE ROUND UPUniversity College currently hold 682 points, meaning that they are 11th in the overall college points table. The last two terms have proved to be a particularly suc-cessful time for Castle’s sports teams, with impressive results across the board.

Michaelmas term proved to be a par-ticularly successful time for UCBC (Uni-versity College Boat Club), who excelled in the Novice Cup, with Lenin Meringue Pie IV getting Castle’s first victory since 1999. UCBC Mens also won their category (IM3) at Tyne and the women did equally well in their novice category.

The first term also saw the emergence of a Castle Ultimate Frisbee team, who notched up a 13-7 victory in their first game. Since then they have only won twice, but look set to secure a mid-table position.

Castle’s rugby team have had a poor sea-son in the Premiership, and they are yet to secure a win. However they comfortably beat Trevelyan A in the first round of the Floodlit Cup with a commanding display from man of the match Tom Lowton, who scored two tries.

Castle Men’s Football A’s had a great first term, finishing 2nd and qualifying for the

promotion pool largely due to an impres-sive defence. However, they are currently 5th in the pool, after losing all of their games so far this term.

The Women’s A team are 3rd in the Premiership, after solid victories against Collingwood, Aidan’s, John’s and Van Mild-ert. Having played all their games for the year, their final position is ultimately now out of their hands.

The Men’s Squash team are doing well in the Premiership, currently sitting in 3rd place. Having won 3, lost 3, and with the same amount of goals for and against, the team have had a balanced season.

Castle’s Women’s Hockey have had a mixed season, finishing 6th in Division One. The Men’s team currently find themselves in a three horse battle, with John Snow A and Chads A, to avoid relegation from the

Premiership. Castle’s pool teams have been

impressive this season, and the A team are currently un-defeated in Division One as they push to retain the trophy.

Castle’s Men’s Badminton are cur-rently 5th in the Pre-miership, with two great wins under their belts. They beat Hild Bede 7-2, and were also the victors in a close match against Van Mildert. However, three subsequent losses have halted their journey up the league table.

The Women’s team have had a tough sea-son with 6 losses and only 2 wins. This has left them at the bottom of the table alongside John Snow.

Castle Netball have

performed well in the Premiership this season, and are currently 5th in the table. Some of their great victories include a

29-22 win over Grey, a 27-8 thrashing of Mary’s, and a 38-16 triumph over Cuth-

bert’s. Castle B have been outstanding in divi-sion two, and are 2nd in the league, after

nine wins. Their only two losses have been against league lead-

ers, Hild Bede and 3rd placed Chad’s.

The Castle’s Men’s Basket-ball team have had a mixed season on the

court; two victories have been interspersed with loss-

es against Hild Bede and Cuthbert’s,

l e a v i n g them 6th in Division One. The

mixed lacrosse team have gained momentum with a large

influx of freshers, and look set to dominate Durham lacrosse for years to come.

Castle’s cricket team also hope to domi-nate the League next year.

CASTLE

Highlight of the season

UCBC have had an impressive year and recently became the fastest crew at Tyne Head in the IM3 category.

Moment to forgetWomen’s Badminton lying at the bot-tom of league after six losses and only two wins.

Perennial sporting house Collingwood have earned themselves 1416 points so far this season, putting them in 2nd place in the overall college points table behind Hatfield.

The Men’s Rugby A team are at the top of the Premiership with six wins under their belt. In addition, they made it to the semi-finals of the Floodlit Competition, before being knocked out by Hild Bede A. The B team have struggled in Division One, where they are currently 9th having only won 2 out of their 8 matches. While the Women’s team have only played one game all year, losing 31-5 to St Chad’s, but did get a walkover result against Hatfield.

The Men’s and Women’s Hockey teams are both 2nd in their respective Premiership leagues to their Hatfield counterparts. The women are one behind by one point, while the men are two points off the pace.

The Men’s Badminton team are also per-forming well; the A team are 4th in Division One, while the B team are 3rd in

Division Two and on the same points as 2nd place Hatfield B.

The Women’s team’s losses have out-weighed their wins this season, leaving them in 7th position in Division One and

one of four teams at the bottom of the table with only 6 points.

On the squash courts, the Men’s B team are outperforming their A team counter-parts in Division One. The B team sit in 4th, while the A team are in 6th, but with most of the games still to be played things are likely to drastically change. The women’s team have had a great season, managing to knock Hatfield off the top spot in the Premiership table.

In pool A of the mixed lacrosse competi-tion, Collingwood are 2nd after four games. They have had notable wins against Jose-phine Butler (11-5) and Van Mildert (11-4), but lost 13-5 to table toppers St John’s.

However, on the basketball court, the Men’s team have had a tough time, losing all 5 games and they looked set to be relegated to Division One. The Women’s team, who are 2nd in Division One, have fared slightly better, winning three out of their four games and if they can avoid another defeat they should achieve promotion to the Pre-miership.

The Men’s Football teams have had mixed luck. The A team are 3rd in the Championship pool, but the other teams

are all fighting to avoid the drop in their respective leagues. The C team currently sit top of the Premiership relegation pool after winning all their games this term. However, the B team look set to be plying their trade in Division One next season. While the D team having won two and lost two in the Division One relegation pool.

The Men’s A team are also doing well in the Division Three Astro-league, and after seven wins, they sit 2nd in the table.

The Women’s A team are currently 7th in the Premiership, while the B team’s im-pressive performances have moved them up to a comfortable 4th in Division One. The Women’s A team are also at top of the Astro-league, having only lost one game all season.

In netball, the A team are 3rd in the Pre-miership, joint on points with 2nd place Hatfield and only 3 points behind 1st placed Hild Bede A. While in Division One, the B and C teams are battling each other for bragging rights as they sit 6th and 7th respec-tively and are only separated by 3 points at the minute. Meanwhile the D team are cur-rently 4th in Division Two.

COLLINGWOOD

Highlight of the seasonThe Men’s Football firsts hammered their Trevelyan counterparts 8-0 to win promotion to the premiership.

Moment to forget

Collingwood Men’s college basketball have had a tough time, losing all five games and set for relegation

Durham’s smallest college St Chad’s cur-rently find themselves term 14th in the overall college points table, with 398 points.

However, despite Chad’s small size, the college have still caused quite a stir in the leagues this season, felling some of the great sporting giants along the way.

Active sporting fresh-ers and post-graduates breathed new life into the college’s sports teams as they set about taking on the rest of the University.

As newcomers in Division One, the Men’s Football team have had a hard season. They finished bottom of their pool, and are currently third in a very tight relegation pool.

However, they showed off their skill and determination in the first round of the Floodlit Cup, beating competition favour-ites Hild Bede A.

The Men’s Rugby team also performed well in their respective Floodlit Cup, mak-ing it through to the semi-finals. Unfortu-

nately, they were unable to overcome a strong St Cuth-bert’s outfit.

However, they have had mixed fortunes in the

Division One, win-ning five and

losing four of their matches

so far. They currently find them-selves 4th in the t a b l e , but pro-motion s e e m s

near im-possible.

T h e Women’s

R u g b y team have performed

well this s e a s o n

with a n e w

intake of keen freshers, and have won both of their matches, beating Collingwood A, 31-5, and destroying Hatfield B 72-0. They are currently at the summit of the Division One table.

The college’s hockey teams have had relatively successful season under the lead-ership of Jen Laws and Will Brooke. The Women’s team narrowly missed out on promotion, while the Men’s team respect-ably sit 5th in Division One.

Chad’s A Netball team have battled hard all season and currently find themselves 3rd, joint on points with 2nd place Castle B.

However, the B team have had a less suc-cessful season, but they have never been short on great team spirit, even on wet, cold Sunday mornings!

Women’s Badminton have continued to hold their own in the Premiership finishing 5th, and the Men’s team sit quite comfort-ably in the middle of the Division Two league table.

The Men’s Squash team have had a dis-appointing season so far, with more losses than wins, but with matches to play, they will be looking to move their way up the table.

St Chad’s Boat Club also continues to go

from strength to strength. A huge number of freshers participated in the Novice Cup and a number of teams have been entered in regattas across the country.

The college’s is also very much involved in sport at a higher level, with many stu-dents representing the University in rug-by, rowing, cycling, boxing, hockey and

squash. A special mention should be made

to Tom Beaumont who despite being in his first year is currently playing for the Durham University Rugby Union 1st XV. Equally impressive is the fact that a number of Chad’s women have stepped up the play for the Women’s University Rugby team in-cluding Beth Turner, Kate Langham, Lydia Meeson and Polly Crossman.

“despite Chad’s small size, the college have still caused quite a stir”

ST CHAD’S

Highlight of the seasonThe Men’s Football A team proved giant killers in the Floodlit Cup as they dispatched Hild Bede A.

Moment to forget

The Women’s Netball B team have lost of their 11 games this season and find themselves struggling in Division Two.

THE LOCKER ROOMTuesday 16th March 2010

“Our cricket team will be looking to domi-nate next term”

Simon Prosser, Castle Sports Rep

Ashley Farrel, Chad’s Sports Rep

DELANEY CHAMBERS

JAM

ES WA

LKERJO

NATH

AN

ALLEN

Page 16: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717
Page 17: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

Hatfield have had a stunning season, reign-ing supreme at the top of the college points table, with 1449 points.

HCAFC (Hatfield College Athletic Football Club) are enjoying their best sea-son in recent memory. An almost perfect record, along with a heap of goals, sees them second in Premiership Champion-ship Pool. With a game in hand and only one point behind leaders Van Mildert A, Hatfield are widely tipped to 2009/10 as champions. They are also top of the Divi-sion One Astro-league, with seven wins and one draw and look well set to be crowned champions come the end of the year.

The women’s team have also had an im-pressive year. They are yet to lose a game in Division One, and currently occupy a pro-motion spot.

The men’s rugby A team also seem to be hitting form. Fantastic victories over Hild Bede, John’s, Josephine Butler, Grey, Castle in the league, and Van Mildert in the flood-lit, reflects the strides they’re making.

However, the B team are yet to win a game, and are rock bottom of the Division One table. Likewise, the women’s A and B teams have had equally disappointing

seasons, finish- i n g bottom of the Premier- s h i p and Division One re-spectively. Between them they have only one won game, and the B team are yet to even score a point.

In badminton, the men’s A team have won over half of all their games this season, earning them 12 points and 3rd position in the Premiership.

The men’s B team are 2nd in Division Two, after also performing consistently well this season. They have not lost all sea-son and with a game in hand over

leaders Butler B they may well still finish the season as champions.

The women’s team have had a more trying season, and are one of four teams

on 6 points in the lower half of the Pre-miership table. This can be attributed to

some severe losses against rivals such as Chad’s and Castle.

Hatfield’s mixed badminton team currently sit 4th in Premiership ta-ble. They had two initial wins, over

Mary’s and John Snow, but subsequently were overpowered by Josephine Butler and Van Mildert.

Hatfield’s men are unbeaten and top of the Squash Premiership, and with a game in hand over their nearest rivals they are in control of their own fate.

While, the women’s team respectably sit in 4th place, having won three and lost four of their games this season.

Hatfield’s mixed lacrosse team have been at the top of their pool for both the Michaelmas and Epiphany terms, and have yet to lose a game.

Highlights of the season include a 15-7 win over Stephenson and a 9-1 victory against Castle

Hatfield’s netball teams also finish the season strongly, having seen a number of impressive wins and performances from all three teams.

The A team are currently second in the Premiership and only 3 points behind league leaders Hild Bede A. The B team sit 5th in Division One, while the C team are 8th in Divsion Two but do have games in hand to push themselves up the table.

HCHC (Hatfield College Hockey Club) are having an equally successful season with the women’s team sitting top of the Premiership by a single point. They have been prolific all year and have scored an impressive 25 goals in 11 games.

While, the men’s A have gone from strength to strength and are at the top of the Premiership, and they have found the back of the net an impressive 44 times in 12 games!

However, it is a different story for the B team. They currently linger at the bottom of the Division One table and only have man-aged to score once all season, but have let in 47 goals in their 10 matches.

Overall, Hatfield’s consistancy means they fully deserve thier number one status.

12 COLLEGE ROUND UP

HATFIELD

Highlight of the seasonHCAFC at the top of the Premiership Championship pool and should end the season as champions.

Moment to forgetBoth women’s rugby teams have had torried seasons and are currently both bottom of their respective leagues.

One time leaders of the college points ta-ble, Grey now sit in 3rd place, with 1408 points behind their Hill rivals Hatfield and Collingwood.

GCAFC (Grey College Athletic Foot-ball Club) have had a great year. The B team are currently second in Division Two Promotion Pool, and the C team’s top the Conference Pool B. Promotion now seems undisputable for both teams. Meanwhile the A’s are in 3rd place in the Premiership Championship Pool. The A team have also maide it to the semi-finals of the Floodlit competition with an impressive victory over favourites Collingwood.

The women’s team have had a less suc-cessful season, currently lying 8th in Pre-miership table, but their stunning 6-1 win over Cuthbert’s and 8-0 defeat of Aidan’s must be given credit.

As usual, men’s rugby has provided its fair share of ups and downs. The B team were much improved in Michaelmas, but finish Epiphany 8th in Division One, while the A team’s losses have left them 5th in the Premiership. However, the A team had a fantastic result beating rivals, Cuthbert’s A, 16-15, and made it through to the Floodlit Plate finals, where they will face a much im-

proved Aidan’s side. The women’s rugby team have had a

more successful season, finishing the term in 2nd Premiership with notable victories against Hild Bede, 27-10 and Hatfield, 48-5.

Grey men’s hockey A team have played well and are currently 3rd in Division One, but with games in hands over the teams above them promotion is still a very real possibility. They also had a comfortable 10-0 victory against Castle in the knockout cup. While, several losses for the women’s team leave them in 6th place in the Premier-ship and only a point off above the relega-tion places.

Grey netball have had a solid season; the A team are 4th in the Premiership having secured some great wins against Hatfield, Cuthbert’s and Hild Bede.

Grey men’s Basketball finished the term top of the Premership table and are yet to lose a game in the league, and recorded a notable victory over last year’s champions, Ustinov. The women’s team are also unde-feated and sit top of the Division One table.

The badminton teams have had a mixed season with the Men’s A team in 4th place in the Premiership. The B team are in 6th place in the Division One and after a tough sea-son they looked doomed to be relegated The women’s A team are top of Division One, while the B team linger in 8th and are one of four teams on 6 points at the foot of the table.

The men’s squash B team have fought their way to 2nd position in the division one table, after some great wins. Meanwhile the A team find themselves 6th in the Premier-ship, but with games hand they will surely climb the table.

Unfortunately the women’s team have not fared any better. They are currently at the bottom of the Women’s Premiership, having only won once in 7 games.

GREY

Highlight of the seasonGrey rugby club recored an impressive 28-13 victory over St. Aidans in the plate final.

Moment to forget

Having scored 5 points all season it is no suprise that Women’s Squash team are bottom of their league.

Cuthbert’s sports teams had a rather slow start to the season, but have started to ac-quire points in recent months, and they now sit in 8th place in the overall college points table with 720 points.

Cuthbert’s have retained the title of rugby giants as the men’s and women’s A teams both sit at at the top of their respec-tive Premiership leagues. Highlights for the men’s team include a 48-8 win over Hatfield and a 67-0 win over John’s. The team are ad-ditionally gearing up to defend their title of Floodlit champions in the final against Bede A. The men’s B team have not been quite as successful. They are lagging behind their A team counterparts with only one win, and are 8th in the Premiership.

The women’s team, meanwhile, have won all bar one of their matches, taking down Grey, Van Mildert and Hatfield. It has only been Hild A that have stood in their way.

The men’s basketball team are yet anoth-er Cuthbert’s team at the top of their game. They’ve had a great season with notable wins against Chad’s, Van Mildert and Cas-tle and are top of the Division One table. The women’s team are 4th out of 5 teams

in Division One; a well deserved win over Josephine Butler has been marred by losses against Grey, Collingwood and Mary’s.

Cuthbert’s men are also at the top of Division One for Badminton, after a sea-son filled with wins against Collingwood, Aidan’s, Grey and Trevelyan. However, the women’s badminton teams have had mixed luck. The A team suffered a run of losses at the beginning of the year, before picking up some wins, while the B team never really seemed to find their feet.

Cuthbert’s are currently 7th in the mixed badminton league, after a fantastic 6-3 win over Van Mildert.

The men’s B football team had a great Michaelmas, making it into the Division Two Promotion Pool, but have been un-able to compete against other superior teams in the pool. The A team are 5th in the Premiership Championship pool, and the women’s team are 7th in the Premiership.

It’s been a bad season for the Cuthbert’s hockey teams, with the women sitting in the relegation places in the Premiership, after 7 losses. The men’s team has faired slightly better, currently 5th in the Premier-ship.

The netball A team is at the bottom of the Premiership, securing just one win dur-ing the season. The B team have faired even

worse, and having not won a game all sea-son they consequently sit at the bottom of Division One.

ST.CUTH’S Highlight of the season

Cuths have continued to dominate college Rugby this year. The Men’s team have reached the Floodlit final again.

Moment to forget The Women’s Netball B team are yet to win a game in Division One and have only scored 24 points all season.

THE LOCKER ROOM Tuesday 16th March 2010

“There have been a number of notable victories including GCRFC’s victory in the plate final”

Richard Owen, Grey Sports Rep

DA

N JEFFRIES

DELA

NEY CH

AM

BERS

DA

N JEFFRIES

Page 18: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

13COLLEGE ROUND UP

St. John’s are 12th in the college points table, with 575 points, which is quite an achieve-ment for such a small college.

One of the college’s biggest successes this year has been the men’s squash team. They are 2nd in the Premiership, and have won 6 out of their 7 games.

The men’s rugby team have also per-formed well, with some notable wins over Castle, Cuthbert’s B and Josephine Butler. They currently sit 5th in the Premiership.

While the women’s football team linger at the bottom of the Premiership having not won a game all season, the men’s A team played their way into the Division Two Promotion Pool. They have since beaten Stephenson Rangers, 3-0, and Cuthbert’s B,

1-0, lost 2-1 to Van Mildert, and drawn with Grey. They currently find themselves 3rd in the table and on the same points as Grey B who occupy the last promotion spot.

The B team are 8th in the conference’s pool B, where two 5-1 wins against both Hild Bede E and Castle C, could not make up for the losses against Collingwood’s E and G teams, Grey’s C and D teams, and John Snow C. As a result of this are sit 7th

in the table.The women’s hockey team have had

a poor season at the bottom of Division One. The men’s team have also had their fair share of losses, leaving them two points above the relegation places in the Premier-ship.

John’s netball A team are 6th in the pre-miership, while the B team sit in 7th position in Division Two.

Additionally, the Men’s badminton team are 4th in Division Two, with an equal number of wins and losses.

It’s been a great season for John’s mixed lacrosse team. They are flying high at the top of the league and are yet to lose a match. They have beaten Josephine Butler, 15-14, Trevelyan, 16-14, Collingwood, 13-5 and 19-3, Mary’s 13-6, Castle 24-3, and Grey

19-13 – a truly impressive run! However, the same success story can not

be told for the college’s pool teams. In Di-

vision two, the A team are in 12th position, and the B team are in 14th position. Both teams have won two matches.

ST.JOHNS

Highlight of the seasonThe Mixed Lacrosse team have not lost all season and have recorded some big wins over their rivals.

Moment to forgetThe Women’s hockey teams have spent most of the season propping up the Division one table.

Sporting giants Hild Bede are 4th in the overall college points table; 151 points be-hind Grey.

The men’s badminton teams have had a disappointing season. The A team have not won a game all year and are at the bottom of the Premiership, while the B team are also yet to record a win and are bottom of the Division Two table.

The women’s team have had a healthy 6 wins, putting them 3rd in Division One and just 3 points off a promotion place.

In squash, the women are 6th in the Pre-miership. While the men are 4th and with games in hand they will be looking to finish higher, with 3rd an achievable target.

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have had good runs this season. The Men are undeafeated and joint on 12 points with Cuthbert’s A and Ustinov B at the top of the Premiership. Bede and Ustinov have only played four games and look set to bat-tle it for first place. While the women are 4th in the Premiership.

In Division One pool, Hild Bede A are struggling in 15th, with only one win against Trevelyan. However, Hild Bede B are top of Division Two, with an unblemished record

thus far. Hild Bede C are slightly lower down the table in 10th position. While, in Division Three, Hild Bede D are 4th, having won a respectable three games. However, Hild Bede E have struggled, and are conse-quently 14th in the division.

In the Table Tennis premiership, Hild Bede A are 2nd. Highlights of the season in-clude a defeating Trevelyan, 7-2, and Usti-nov, 6-3. In Division One, the B team are also 2nd, after a season filled with victories.

Hild Bede women’s hockey team are top of Division One, after a season filled with many impressive wins. The men’s season has been less successful with some notable

losses leaving them 7th in the Premiership and facing relegation.

Bede A have had a poor season in the Premiership, but have made it through to the Floodlit Cup final. They take on reign-ing champions, Cuthbert’s, this week.The B team, meanwhile, are 6th in Division One.

Hild A are 3rd in the Women’s Rugby Premiership table. They’ve had two great wins over Hatfield, 29-10, and Cuthbert’s, 19-15. However, a loss and a draw against Grey have left them unable to move up the table.

Hild Bede Netball have had an amaz-ing season, with their teams taking the top spot in every division. The netballers have shown some truly stunning displays of tal-ent over the last two terms, and look set to continue their domination of the leagues next year.

On the football field, the women’s A team have played well, but the B team have failed to hold up the Hild Bede expectation, having only won one game. They currently sit in 3rd and 7th place in Division One.

The men’s A and C teams are fighting against relegation, while the B and D teams are playing for promotion.

HILD BEDE Highlight of the season

Hild Bede netball have dominated this year. They are currently top off all three divisions.

Moment to forget

A winless season for the Men’s A and B Badminton teams is something that will haunt the whole college.

John Snow are in 13th place in the college points table, with 510 points. The men’s rugby team have performed ex-ceedingly well in Division One and are only 3 points off a promotion place as things stand. Their strong defence means op-position teams have often gone the whole match without scoring. Though the squad is fairly small compared to the other colleg-es in Durham, their team spirit and passion for the game has definitely been the decid-ing factor in many of their matches.

A special mention goes to Will Scowsill, Angus Brown and Michael Bailey who have consistently performed well.

The netball teams have also performed brilliantly this year, winning all but one of their matches in both the league and cup in the Michaelmas term.

Players such as Elizabeth Glancy, Aisling O’Reilly and Louise Boyle have helped the teams to remain consistent in the Epiphany team. The A team are 3rd in Division One and the B team are 6th in Division Two.

On the badminton court, both the men’s and women’s teams have had a tough year, with the women at the bottom of the Pre-miership. The men are in the Premiership relegation places having won only one

game all year. The college football teams have also

had a mixed season. The men’s B team are in the Division One Relegation Pool, and their only win was a 4-1 victory over the staff team. The team have subsequently lost to Chad’s and Van Mildert, and so it is yet to be decided whether they will win their fight.

The A team have faired better; they bat-tled their way into Premiership Champion-ship, but have found it tough against the elite teams and are currently bottom.

The women’s team have performed well in the Premiership, winning four out of their seven matches.

The men’s basketball team have had a good season, and are currently behind basketball giants Grey in the Premiership. They won 61-50 against Josephine But-ler, 68-57 against Aidan’s, 55-52 against Queen’s campus rivals Stephenson, and 41-33 against Collingwood. The only team they have failed to beat is Grey, who look set to take the championship.

The club hockey teams have had re-spectable seasons. The men are 6th in Divi-sion one, and women’s team are 5th in Divi-sion one.

JOHN SNOW

Highlight of the seasonThe Men’s Rugby Club are in the hunt for promotion from Division One after some really strong defensive displays.

Moment to forget

The Badminton club have not had the greatest of seasons. With both the men and women’s teams facing relegation.

THE LOCKER ROOMTuesday 16th March 2010

“Hild Bede Netball have had an amazing season, their teams taking top spot in every division”

“St John’s are 12th in the college points table: an achieve-ment for such a small college”

LAURA

UN

WIN

ROBERT BU

RGESS

JON

ATHA

N A

LLEN

Page 19: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717
Page 20: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

14 COLLEGE ROUND UP

With 718 points, Trevelyan currently stand 9th in the college points table. For such a small college, this is an impressive effort.

Trevelyan’s netball teams have done extremely well in Division One and the A team are 4th, and have had some solid wins against Hatfield B, Aidan’s B and Colling-wood B. In particular, top-class Trevelyan

netball was shown in their 37-4 win over Cuthbert’s B. The B team are currently 8th and have struggled against some of the more dominant teams in the league.

However, surprisingly, when the two Trevelyan teams were pitted against each other, it was Trevelyan B that came out on top, winning the match, 14-12.

Trevelyan’s hockey, basketball and squash teams have had a difficult season. The men’s squash have been unable to se-cure a win, and are consequently bottom of the Premiership.

Likewise, the men’s hockey team are also are also desinted to be relegated from the Premiership having lost all 12 of their games this season. While the women’s team is 5th in Division One.

The women’s basketball team are anoth-er team bottom of their respective league. With three consecutive losses, relegation to Division One looks on the cards. While the men’s have picked up 2 wins and 3 de-feats and they find themsevles in the relega-tion places.

The men’s rugby team have had a steady season, with 5 wins and 5 defeats, and are

currently 5th in table. Meanwhile, on the football pitch, the

men’s A team have made promotion by beating Butler 2-1 with a great goal by Oi-sin Whelen. The B team have remained in Division One after a 4-1 victory over Van Mildert D. At present the women’s team are 5th in Division One.

The men’s badminton team had a shaky start to the season, with a loss against Cuth-bert’s, but have since beaten Grey B, 6-3, Aidan’s A, 6-3, and Van Mildert B, 5-4. They are currently 5th in division one. The women’s A team are 3rd in the Premiership with six wins to their name.

The mixed lacrosse team are 3rd in their pool. A great 6-3 win over Van Mildert was counteracted with a loss against John’s, who dominated the Trevelyan team for much of the match.

Trevelyan sit 6th in the Division One pool league. Losses against Hild Bede and Cuthbert’s followed a promising start to year, where the team beat Josephine Butler, 7-2, and Collingwood B, 6-3. Trevelyan E are performing well in Division Two, sitting 5th in the league. While, the C team are 7th, the B team are 11th and the D team are 16th.

TREVELYAN

Highlight of the seasonTrevelyan College Men’s football A team were promoted to the Premier-ship this season

Moment to forget

Men’s squash are firmly at the bottom of the league after having zero points and losing six games.

Stephenson currently claim the unenviable title of being the bottom placed college in the overall points table, having secured a mere 398 points.

The men’s rugby team have had a fantas-tic season though, and for many of the oth-er colleges, they have become the team to beat. They have won all 9 of their matches, and it is not unusual for them to be 40 or 50 points ahead of their opponents at the end of a game. They currently sit second in Di-vision One table with a game in hand over leaders Aidans A.

Stephenson’s netball teams have also been successful. The A team are 2nd in Divi-sion One, and they look certain to achieve promotion come the end of the year. They’ve had some fantastic wins, including a 28-14 victory against Collingwood B, and 26-22 win over Queen’s Campus counter-parts, John Snow.

The B team are doing well in Division Two, after a solid season, which included a heart-stopping match against Hatfield C. Stephenson B eventually came out as victors, winning 15-14.

Stephenson’s men are also unbeaten, after four matches, in Division One bad-

minton. They are currently second but have two games in hand over St. Cuthberts A and barring a dramatic loss in form they should end the sea-son as league champions.

The wo m en’s t e a m are 5th in Division One, following some mixed results. While the college is bottom of the mixed league, having only recorded 8 points all season.

The men’s basketball team are 4th in the pre-miership. They started the season well, with a 72- 5 3 win over Aidan’s and a 81-42 win over Colling-wood.

However, the team’s sub- s e q u e n t losses have halted their journey up the league ta-ble. Currently, the men’s

football A team are play-ing to stay in the Premier-ship. However, their fight is

going well as th team are currently It is currently looking positive, as the team are 3rd in the Relegation pool.

After a 2-2 draw with A i d -an’s, the

team have gone on to

win 3-1 against Hild Bede, and 1-0 against Collingwood B. They have

only suffered one loss so far, a 2-1 de-feat by Aidan’s B.

The B team are currently play-ing to move from Division Two to Division one. Their fight for promotion has been

rocky, starting with a 3-0 loss against John’s, followed by a win against Van Mild-ert C and a draw with Cuthbert’s B. But they were fortunate to only lose 2-0 to Grey B a few weeks ago. The Stephenson Rang-ers C are 6th in the Conference Pool A, after a season of mixed results.

In the Astro-league, Stephenson’s wom-en are 3rd. After a very shaky start, the divi-sion two team have gone on to beat John Snow, 5-4, Cuthbert’s A, 1-0, and Hild

Bede, 5-0. Elsewhere, the women’s hockey team

have had a season devoid of many victories, but still find themselves in 4th place. Despite having games in hand, the gap to third looks to big for the Rangers to overcome.

The college are 4th in the mixed lacrosse league after solid wins against Castle and Grey. With the league so tight nothing is decided yet and all is left to play for next term.

In other news, Stephenson are preparing themselves for the addition of new sports equipment and centres. The X1 centre is set to become the home for university badmin-ton, basketball, netball and volleyball teams.

STEPHENSON

Highlight of the season

The Men’s Rugby club have been a real force in Division One. They are current-ly the only team with a 100%.

Moment to forget

Stephenson’s women’s hockey team suffered a string of five defeats during two terms of play.

Mary’s sport got off to a strong start this year, and they have slowly climbed to 10th

place in the college points table. This year has seen the emergence of new established Mary’s sports teams such as mixed lacrosse, women’s basketball and women’s squash.

The mixed lacrosse team overcame rivals, Castle, to climb to 3rd in their pool, while the women’s squash team have also done well, beating Collingwood, Grey and Hild Bede. They are currently 3rd in the pre-miership.

The men’s rugby team had a shaky start to the season, but a 52-15 win over Trevely-an boosted their confidence and they now sit in 7th place. Their most recent win was a 19-10 victory over Grey B.

Mary’s Men’s hockey team are dominat-ing Division One this year, having scored 7 more goals than the team in second place, despite having played 2 less games.

However, the Women’s Hockey team have not fulfilled their full potential this season, but still sit 4thin the Premiership. They notched up several draws and a win early on in the season, but subsequently lost 2-0 to Collingwood, 2-0 to Ustinov, 3-0 to Cuthbert’s and 2-0 to Grey. They have since

proved themselves, coming back this term to beat both Collingwood and Ustinov!

One of the most successful teams in Mary’s is Women’s Football; with 6 wins under their belts, they are heading for pro-motion, and are also 2nd place in the top division of the Astro-League.

The Men’s Football team have also had a number of good matches this year, in particular a 3-0 win in the Floodlit Cup against a strong Van Mildert side who had six university players. They have also won all of their promotion matches thus far – so watch this space!

A strong men’s squash came back faster and more determined in Epiphany, mak-ing it to the top spot in division one. The men’s badminton team are 6th in division two after losses against John’s, Chad’s and Collingwood.

However, the women’s team have had a much more successful run. They cur-rently sit 2nd in division one, and have won against much bigger colleges, including Collingwood and Van Mildert. A special mention must also go to the Men’s Basket-ball team who won their first match in two years against Van Mildert. Fingers crossed it

won’t be so long until the next one! Arguably even better were the women’s

basketball squad, who, despite having only been founded in epiphany have now been promoted. This is despite having an entire squad of only 5 players!

The netball first squad have had diffi-culties this season, being unable to defeat some of their bigger rivals. However, credit

must be given for their nail-biting win over Cuthbert’s. Women’s badminton have also performed incredibly well and have been promoted.

As with basketball, this was the first year that Mary’s have competed in badminton. Mary’s boys badminton are not faring so well, with a mid-placed position in the third division.

ST.MARY’S

Highlight of the seasonSt Mary’s women’s basketball club being promoted after just two terms of existence.

Moment to forget

St Mary’s College Netball have lost a string of matches against some of their bigger rivals.

THE LOCKER ROOM Tuesday 16th March 2010

“Stephenson cur-rently claim the un-enviable title of being the bottom placed college”

“As usual Trev’s have punched above their weight ”

JON

ATHA

N SIM

PSON

ROG

ER BURG

ESS

CHRIS WILLETS

Martin Hind, Trev’s Sports Rep

Page 21: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

The often-heard excuse ‘Well, we’re a small college!’ resonates throughout Durham, but how relevant is that to sport? Does the size of a college actually determine its sporting success? By calculating exactly how many points each college has earned per person thus far, The Locker Room can finally answer this age old question that has caused countless students to argue in the early hours of the morning.

Sitting at the top of the points-per-person table is Grey, who been reigning supreme for much of the last two terms. Howeever, they have recently been super-seeded by Hatfield in the actual overall col-lege league table, but in The Locker Room’s ammended table they are behind their Hill rivals - albeit by the smallest margins.

However, more suprising is addition of Butler and St.John’s to the top five. The lat-ter college being the real movers climbing an impressive eight places. In light of their

respective populations both colleges are punching above their weight.

It seems that Collingwood’s size does contribute to its athletic success, as the Hill college giants drop several places.

Sitting in the middle of the table are a large portion of Durham’s colleges, includ-ing St. Aidan’s, Van Mildert, St. Mary’s, Hild Bede, St. Chad’s, and Trevs, rounding off the middle of the table with almost exactly one point contributed per person.

Only castle live up to the expected dog-ma ‘small college, fewer points,’ as the first college in the table with fewer than one point per person.

It is the large colleges that round up the bottom four, with a shocking half-point per person contributed by Cuth’s, Snow, Stephenson, and Ustinov. Cuth’s in particu-lar plummet five places in the ammended table. Overall, many colleges remain the same, with a few notable surprises.

15COLLEGE ROUND UP

Last year’s college champions, Van Mildert, have racked up 1186 points over the past two terms, putting them in 5th place in the table. 263 points behind leaders Grey, Mild look destined to lose their crown. However, the college still have enough time to secure and top three spot.

The men’s football teams have had mixed luck this season. The A team currently top the Premiership Championship pool, but have played a game more than nearest ri-vals Hatfield. The B team top the Division One Relegation Pool, and the C head up the Division Two Promotion pool, but the D team are fighting for their Division Two status and are second bottom of the Relega-tion pool. While, the E team are 8th in the Conference Pool B.

Meanwhile, the women’s team are 3rd in the Premiership. Overall, they have a had a good season, with some great wins, including a 14-0 victory over John’s and a 10-0 victory over Aidan’s, but some disap-pointing defeats against rivals John Snow and Castle A has halted their progress to the top of the women’s Premiership – they look set to finish comfortably in mid-table. The men’s rugby team have done well in their first premiership season. Having won

five out of their eight games the team find themselves 4th. The season’s highlight saw Mildert defeat Hatfield, 10-7, in a closely fought match. The women’s team, however, have been unable to shine in the Premier-ship and their only win of the season has been due to a walkover. The team have lost twice to St. Cuthberts A this season, with the second meeting ending in a thumping

70-0 defeat.The men’s Hockey club have had a suc-

cessful campaign to date, and this is in no small part to the efforts of top scorer Rich-ard Hartland who has helped propelled the team to 3rd place in the Premiership and into the final of the Knockout Cup.

However, the women’s team have had a less successful year and are currently prop-

ping up the Premiership table. There is still time for them to climb out of the relegation zone as only two points separate them and 6th placed Grey A.

The netball A team are 8th in the pre-miership. The season has been dotted with losses, but they’ve had wins against Jose-phine Butler, John’s and Grey. The latter match had everyone on the edge of their seats throughout all four quarters, and Mildert just manage to sneak the points as they won 21-20. After a mixed campaign the B team finished 9th in Division Two. After recoding 3 consecutive wins in a fantastic start to the Michaelmas term, the B team suffered a drastic loss of form and have only managed to win once during the remainder of the campaign.

The Women’s squash A pushed Colling-wood A right to wire for top spot in the Pre-miership, but a defeat at the hands of their rivals last term ultimately proved costly. However, they will still be very pleased with their second place finish.The men’s A team have been less successful only winning two matches all year and as a result they sit 5th in the Premiership. Meanwhile, the B team have performed well, and currently hold 3rd position in Division One.

VAN MILDERT

Highlight of the seasonVan Mildert Women’s Football A team beat St. Aidan’s 10-0 and John’s 14-0 in an impressive Premiership campaign

Moment to forget Van Mildert Women’s Rugby team were mauled 70-0 by their St.Cuthbert’s counterparts.

The postgraduate college lie 15th in the col-lege points table, with 402 points.

However, the college are still dominating in particular sports, especially Basketball. The men’s A team, who were champions last year, are currently 2nd in the Premier-ship after their year long winning streak was ended by Grey.

Ustinov were forced to play this particu-lar match without two of their star players, and with a full squad, Grey proved them-selves to be real challengers to Ustinov’s title.

Ustinov have, however, dominated their other four matches, winning effortlessly every time. Consequently, the team find themselves 3rd with a game in hand, but in a strong league they will need to be at their

best to retain their title.While, the B team are 2nd in Division

One, following a season of solid victories. Undefeated after four games, having scored an impressive 227 points, they look like real contenders for promotion as they have played two games less than table toppers St. Cuthbert’s but are level on points with them.

In football, the men’s A team made it through to the Division One Promotion Pool. However, they have not won in 5, with notable defeats to Trevelyan (4-1), Josephine Butler (7-0) and Mary’s(3-0), and so will be once again plying their trade in Division One next year. The B team are struggling at the bottom of the Division Two Relegation Pool and currently look set to join the Conference having lost all three of their matches so far.

The women’s team, however, have en-joyed a fruitful season, and are top of the Premiership. Throughout both terms they have played top class football and have the best defence and attack in the league. In an amazing season they have won 9-0 on three separate occasions with Collingwood A, Castle A and Chad’s A being the unfortu-

nate victims.After 6 games with

mixed results, the men’s hockey team are cur-rently 4th in Divi-s i o n O n e . W i t h an aston-ishing seven games in hand over second place Butler A, the team still have a very good chance of pro-motion – providing they can complete their fixtures!

The women’s hockey team are 5th

in the Premiership, following a season of ups and downs. The season started with a 2-0 loss against Colling-

wood, but the team soon found their feet and avoided defeat in their next games. They edged out Van Mildert 1-0, then drew consecutively against Cuths A, Grey A and Aidans A before dispatching Mary’s 2-0. However, their formed has dipped as they succumbed to several defeats over the last few months.

In the pool leagues, Ustinov A are 3rd in Division One, after an impressive five wins, and just one loss. They find themselves on the same points (15) with Grey A and Cas-

tle A, who lie first and second respec-tively, having played a game more.

While, Ustinov B have had a more difficult jour-

ney and are currently in

1 2 t h spot having won two, lost two. In Division Tw o, Ustinov C are 13th, having lost times and won only twice in a disap- p o i n t campaign.

In the Table Tennis Premiership, having won 5 of their 8 games so far, Ustinov A are 5thand one of three teams on 15 points.

USTINOV

Highlight of the seasonThe Men’s Basketball B team have been in devasting form all season and look like real contenders for promotion.

Moment to forget

Men’s Football B team are struggling at the foot of the Division Two Relegation Pool .

THE LOCKER ROOMTuesday 16th March 2010

“In an amazing sea-son they have won 9-0 on three separate occasions”

CHRIS W

ILLETS

JON

ATHA

N A

LLEN

The real college points table: points based on college sizeHow many points per person do colleges earn? Does size really matter? The Locker Room reveals the surprising results

GreyHatfieldJosephine ButlerSt. John’sCollingwoodSt.Aidan’sVan MildertSt. Mary’sSt.Hild and St. BedeSt.Chads TrevelyanUniversitySt. Cuthert’s SocietyJohn SnowGeorge StephensonUstinov

140811491118575

1416903

1180708

1257411718682720510398402

810842810447

1118834

1125676

1234406712821

1156929

10311600

1.741.721.381.291.201.081.051.041.021.011.000.830.620.550.340.25

Up TwoDown OneUp ThreeUp Eight

Down ThreeUp One

Down TwoUp Two

Down FiveUp Three

Down TwoDown OneDown FiveDown One

Up OneDown One

College This YearsPoints

College Size Points per students(2 dp)

Movement(from previous)

Overall College Points-Per-Person Table

Page 22: Palatinate Locker Room Issue 717

MA/MScOpenEventTAKEYOURCAREERTONEWHEIGHTSAT THE

AtDurhamBusinessSchoolweofferanunbeatablerangeofbusiness,management,economicsandfinancepostgraduateprogrammestogiveyouaheadstartinyourcareer.

To book a place on this Open Event please visit:www.dur.ac.uk/dbs/news and click on open days

Please book by 30th April

Wednesday 5th May 2010 2.00pm to 4.00pm at Durham Business School