By Sofia Gerace, Sachin Jhangiani, and Matt Sudlow
Michaelmas Term saw the welcome return of sport to LSE after a year of social distancing and postponements. As hard as we tried to adapt, those rugby matches were just not the same over Zoom. We put on our kits, laced up our boots, picked up our lacrosse sticks, and got back onto the pitch! With this, inevitably, came success, upholding the School’s strong sporting reputation. But that was never in doubt. We have seen triumphs from cup runs to running cups, and here we will highlight some of the best bits.
One of the most prominent sports clubs at LSE, Men’s Rugby, proved this term exactly why they are held in such high regard. Both the 1s and the “Golden Gods”, aka the 2s, ended the year undefeated, as well as storming into the quarter finals of their respective university cups. And somehow, the achievements stretch beyond this! The 1s are currently top of the league and promotion is almost certainly on the cards. And you wonder why the 2s would have such a nickname? Well, they haven’t lost a match in 3 years, and are also looking likely to be promoted for the second consecutive season. Outside of competition, there are more playing members than ever before, a surplus even. What can these guys do wrong?
The LSE Athletics and Running Club had achievement after achievement this term, as a team and individually. First of all, the whole club participated in a 24-hour relay for Movember, along with Hockey. Recently the club also competed in the LUCA (London Universities and Colleges Athletics) Indoor Championship, with Landon Shea retaining the men’s 800m title for LSE and Wenchy Lai winning the women’s 1500m. There has also been strong representation in this term’s LUCA cross country fixtures with particularly strong performances from James Fox.
As for LSE Boxing, Grace Oswald, a committee member, was victorious in a headline fight for her amateur club. The club is now looking forward to great achievements during the Lent Term, most notably the most anticipated sporting event in the LSE calendar: Fight Night!
The LSE Chess Club have been nurturing their claim for a place in the AU like a tamagotchi. Last month they competed in the first round of PUCL (Pro University Chess League) and won by a narrow margin of 0.5 against UCL, with the team consisting of Ivan Chan, Rafi’i al-Akiti, Marley Robinson, Ruslan Polovinko. An exceptionally active and social club, members have been following the World Chess Championships currently taking place, learning from the best. And if you don’t think chess is a sport? You should check, mate.
Another LSE club that had a great success is the LSE Men’s Football Club, with LSE Men’s FC 5s, 6s, 7s all joint top in the LUSL (London Universities Sport Leagues) Intermediate Premier League, with the 7s also currently top in their Saturday league. And in an extremely surprising twist, LSE 1s and 2s are proud to be leading their respective leagues as well. That’s almost more toppings than a Pizza Hut!
The Women’s Rugby team has yet to win any of their games, but we’re sure they will soon turn it around! They have, however, suffered an alarming number of injuries – two dislocated shoulders, a broken elbow, a broken ankle, and several more. We wish them all the best, and their injured players a speedy recovery.
The Kabbadi team has also had a standout start to the season. Made up of mostly first-time kabbadi players, they won the London and South Zone Championships this term, beating eternal rivals KCL and Imperial. A highlight of the season was captain Ahilan’s ‘super raid’, a raid in which he took down 5 opponents.
And finally: the Rowing Team. The senior men’s eight were the fastest University of London team at a UH time trial, completing the 3.7km course in 11 minutes and 8 seconds. They also won their category at the Cambridge Winter Head competition, completing the 2.5km course in 9 minutes and 21 seconds. The senior women’s 4 also had a successful term, winning their category at the UH Autumn Regatta. They’re certainly a team in very smooth waters.
