Imperial captains gear up for new season

Head of Sport Imperial Neil Mosley sounded the start of the new sports season on Monday at the Club Captains’ meeting held in Ethos. Introducing himself and the rest of the Sport Imperial team to the hundred or so team captains and sports club committee members, he was full of praise for the achievements of IC sports clubs last season. “Five years ago, our objective was to get into the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) league table top twenty. I’m delighted to say we did it.”

Imperial has indeed seen an exceptional rise in the BUCS rankings, going from 39th at the end of the 2006 season to 17th at the close of last season. Impressive wins for the fencers and a haul of points from the Imperial Boat Club are among the main successes of last year, but points have come from an extremely wide range of sports in an excellent sporting year (as reported by your favourite newspaper). Mosley has ambitious plans for the future, with a very concrete short-term goal: “We finished just behind Leeds University last year, who have more than thirty thousand students. The gap was only ten points – that’s nothing, it’s a podium finish at BUCS. We’re aiming to beat Leeds this year.”

Moving past a university with almost three times the amount of students we have is no mean feat – but apparently Sport Imperial has loftier goals: “Ultimately, in the next few years, the objective is to finish higher than Cambridge, who are in 14th place at the moment. There’s already an academic rivalry with them, and getting past them in the league tables would mean a lot to many people at Imperial.” However, unlike Cambridge or Oxford (10th), Mosley says there won’t be a concerted effort to attract elite-level sportspeople – we won’t be having ex-All Blacks on our rugby team any time soon.

The gap was only ten points – that’s nothing, it’s a podium finish at BUCS. We’re aiming to beat Leeds this year. Neil Mosley on Imperial's ambitions

Nevertheless, such ambition does cost money, and Sport Imperial have been establishing commercial partnerships to bring in the funds that will go towards success. A happy consequence of this was announced on Monday: Varsity will be free for all students this year. “We want to see if we can fill the Stoop”, said Mosley, referring to the ground of the Harlequins team in Twickenham where the rugby varsity match will be played.

The other, much more visible consequence of Imperial’s renewed sporting ambition is a new partnership with sportswear company Kukri. Beginning with this season, all sports clubs will be able to order a wide range of sport-specific kit in Imperial colours.

This also meant that the second part of the meeting on Monday was a fashion show in the sports hall. Some of the best looking sportsmen-and-women strutted down the catwalk in style (including my fellow editor Dave Wilson) modelling everything from rugby to volleyball attire. Kukri are also producing Imperial hoodies and tracksuits as part of their leisurewear range – which are on sale in their new shop in Ethos.

As a sports editor, all of this sounds very promising – and Felix Sport hopes to bring you all the action every Friday on the back page. One last thing before I let you get on with your Friday afternoon: we need contributors! Whether you were at the meeting or have just signed up to a club, any sports-related news or match reports are more than welcome.

Just email them into sport.felix@imperial.ac.uk, along with some nice pictures - and you’ll more likely than not find your exploits in the paper!