Aidan is the Sports Representative in New College's MCR Committee (the committee which represents our postgraduate student body). Alongside his studies, he supports our sports clubs throughout the academic year. Aidan tells us more about his role as Sports Rep plus sports at New College as a whole.
Tell us about a typical week as the New College MCR Sports Rep – and what is your favourite part of the job?
It varies quite a lot but generally, I’ll be answering questions from MCR members about how to get involved in whatever sports they’re interested in, looking after the sports equipment we have available for casual use at our sports ground, and there’ll be some sort of project we’re working on to try to improve an aspect of sport in the community. Things also crop up throughout the year like helping out with our sporting and cultural award which supports students in pursuing a sporting interest if it’s not already catered for by the college.
My favourite part has definitely been working on projects which help members take part in any sort of sporting activity. For example, putting on casual sport sessions and working to give students more spaces to exercise and practice their sport on college grounds. It’s been great to see how willing all the college staff are to support everyone in making the most of the sports facilities we have at college and how keen so many members are to get involved with sport.
What sports does New College offer?
There’s a whole load, our most popular clubs are the usual suspects: football, cricket, rugby, tennis, netball and, by Oxford tradition, rowing. But since all clubs are student run, it’s quite accessible for students to start up and organise clubs for less popular sports. So we often end up with a broad range of sports including table-tennis, basketball, croquet and lacrosse among others.
Does MCR sports differ from JCR sports?
All our clubs are mixed between the common rooms so we compete together for the college. We’re smaller in number in the MCR so most teams tend to be majority JCR members with MCR members dispersed across a variety of the teams. The MCR will also often hold casual sport sessions which can be quite popular; our main graduate accommodation is at the college sports ground so it’s very easy to get together and have a kick/hit/throw about, which is especially beneficial given the busy schedule that often comes with being a DPhil or master’s student.
Do clubs run social events for students?
Yes definitely, most clubs will hold regular socials throughout the year and even do joint socials with their counterparts in other colleges. There’s also a sports formal in hall each year where all the teams sit together and have dinner to celebrate sport in the college.
Are any of New College’s sports clubs involved with collegiate and/or national competitions?
The vast majority of our clubs compete in intercollegiate competitions, most notably cuppers which is held across nearly all college sports and typically takes the form of a knock-out tournament. This is always great fun and creates a bit of excitement around college if a team goes on a good run. Not too many will enter national competitions but our boat club has entered boats into some of these such as Henley and Head of the River.
Have we won any competitions in your time at New College?
Yes the college often puts in a strong performance across the intercollegiate competitions so quite a few. Cuppers wins in tennis, men’s rugby, hockey and netball all come to mind, and last year our cricket team won their T20 league. The rugby cuppers win particularly stands out to me as we had both our men’s and women’s team in their cuppers final that year which was a great showing for the college.
What are the highlights of New College’s sporting calendar during the 2023-24 academic year?
Right now all our winter sports are in full swing so there’s plenty on offer in the way of football, rugby, netball and the like, which will continue throughout Michaelmas and Hilary term with plenty of cuppers matches along the way. Then I think we really hit our stride when summer comes around and we get a lot of opportunities for both playing and watching sport. Several tennis nets are put up at our sports ground which are very popular for having a hit around and practising for our team. The cricket pitches also are set up and it can be quite hard not to sit and enjoy the sun while watching the team if you’re not playing. There’s also the summer eights rowing competition where we’ll enter several teams and many current members and alumni turn up to our boat house to cheer on the college (and watch several of our coxes get thrown in the river!).
