Here’s to Imperial’s sportsmen and women
Despite our unshakeable reputation for being nerds that goes hand in hand with the whole “science” thing, there are probably way more sports fans here than you think
People's habits when they pick up a Felix every week can be quite telling. What kind of reader are you?
Are you more of the half-arsed-skim-through type, trying to escape a boring lecture? Do you flick straight to the centrefold to see if there are any girls in it this week? Maybe you're an incurable puzzle junkie, overjoyed by the thought of weird grids that need to be filled?
You might even be one of those people who pick the paper up every Friday and turn it around. That's right, turn it around, read the back page and continue from there. This would have to mean that you're interested in sports.
Despite our unshakeable reputation for being nerds [...] there are probably way more sports fans here than you think
Despite our unshakeable reputation for being nerds that goes hand in hand with the whole 'science' thing, there are probably way more sports fans here than you think.
For starters, the sheer number and variety of clubs here is brilliant. You can do anything from golf to Gaelic sports, or even start your own club if you want to share your own (presumably obscure) sport with others. In case you doubt people's enthusiasm for it, I invite you to go to the absolute chaos known as ACC bar night to see for yourself.
It must also be said that we're not just a bunch of casual geeks getting some fresh air. We're in it to win, as evidenced by Imperial's constantly improving BUCS ranking (British Universities and Colleges Sport). We're currently fifteenth, and a haul of medals at the BUCS championships last year showed how committed we can be to getting the victories.
This is all helped a great deal by Sport Imperial, with free gym and pool facilities in the centre of London and amazing support for all the Imperial teams (as I know well from experience as fencing captain).
Finishing off, I can't talk about people getting hot and sweaty at Imperial without mentioning Varsity. Continuing a long, historic tradition, IC face off against Medics in a host of different sports to see who will come out on top. Also continuing a long tradition, Imperial wins basically everything except rugby (hey, someone had to say it), everyone gets drunk and people do dodgy things with the mascots.
So next Friday, turn over the paper, congratulate someone you know (or yourself) on their great result, and then stop wasting time and look at the centrefold.
