Third year biology student Liam Stacey, 21, remains suspended for the rest of the academic year and is banned from campus.

But he can sit his final exams at another venue next year as an external candidate and will graduate in absentia if he passes.

A university spokesperson said at the end of a disciplinary: “Swansea University deplores racism and has policies in place to ensure equality for staff and students.

“We are mindful that he has been given a prison sentence, and therefore has already paid a price for his actions.

“He has expressed genuine remorse and we are satisfied that he understands that his behaviour was unacceptable, and damaging to the University.

“Given the sanctions he has already faced and the contrition he has shown, and that he is a final year student, we have taken the exceptional decision to allow him to sit his exams.”

Stacey was jailed for 56 days for his comments on Twitter about Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba.

They came after 23-year-old Muamba collapsed during the FA Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, March 17, after suffering a cardiac arrest.

He admitted inciting racial hatred at Swansea Magistrates Court in March and was sent to prison.

Stacey lost an appeal against his sentence, claiming he had been punished enough.

He was released after serving half of his term and has remained at home in Pontypridd.

Stacey spoke for the first time on Tuesday in an interview with BBC Wales’ Week In Week Out programme.

He said he did not know why he made the remarks on Twitter, adding that it was a “stupid, massive, massive mistake and I’ve paid a big price for it”.

“What I struggle to get my head around was the week or two before I was just a normal kid getting on with my work in university, getting on with life, playing rugby with all my mates, then a week or two later I was just going to prison, everything had been turned upside down,” he said.

The men’s 1sts football, played on the Talybont astroturf, was abandoned around five minutes before the end of the second half when the crowd turned on a linesman.

Bottles and a flare were thrown on the pitch, at which point, the referee called an end to the match.

The following intramural match saw scuffles when Cardiff fans behind Swansea goalkeeper Luis Escott threw a bottle at him.

Ben Swanson, intramural secretary, said: “Luis ignored the Cardiff supporters and threw the bottle off the pitch.

“The Cardiff fans, then squared up to Luis who again did nothing to antagonise them.

“This confrontation caused numbers of fans from both sides to run around to behind the goal and several more ran onto the pitch.

“More bottles and cans were thrown as well as punches from both sides.

“The referee, with the help of his stand-in linesman and intramural treasurer Daniel Lewis, managed to control the situation and the game was completed which I was very surprised about.

“A lot of credit should go to the referee for completing the game as he could have easily abandoned it as his colleague had done previously which would’ve been devastating following our hard work which earned us a 4-3 victory.”

No police were called in either incident.

No one from the athletic union has been able to comment.

But Mr Swanson added: “It was really disappointing to see so much stupidity from fans from both sides and it would have been the players who suffered most of all.”

Ryan Batley took the advantage of a poor Cardiff clearance to provide Swansea with the opening goal.

And they stepped up their game putting Cardiff under pressure but with no success.

In the second half, Cardiff pushed early and scored twice past a sloppy Swansea defence.

First, captain Matt Foreman found the head of Dan Compton from close range with Swansea goalkeeper Zak Shaylar left stranded.

And late on striker Rupert Murray towered over the top of the defence to power home.

But Shayler was the last line of defence later in the match, with a key save that prevented the lead being extended Swansea thought they were level from a free kick but the goal was ruled out for offside before later hitting the bar.

This year’s match had to be played at the Talybont astroturf, owing to poor weather conditions and waterlogged pitches.

The damage this caused to Swansea’s game play was evident, with the attacking tactics not working for long and desperate longballs played in an attempt to maintain possession.

The match was abandoned 10 minutes early owing to Swansea fans heckling a linesman.

Swansea University 1sts 1-2 Cardiff University 1sts 

The excitement is building within the squad as May 2 approaches and the captain is certainly no different.

Ockwell said: “I am really looking forward to it as it is a great opportunity to play in front of a big crowd and get one over our rivals.

“Our league performance has been  up and down this season, but we are very capable of performing to a high standard when we are at our best.

“I’m confident we can get the right result from the game.”

The team will be training every other day for the two weeks leading up to Varsity and have also arranged to play the Swansea City youth team  to maintain their match fitness.

Ockwell believes their disappointing finish to the season, losing out on top spot by a point, has made the team all the more determined to come out on top at Varsity.

He added: “We have a point to prove to ourselves.

“We were unbeaten for six games at the beginning of the season, so we know how well we can play.”

But they have lost their last three matches which saw them miss out on the league title to Hartpury 2nds.

Cardiff has performed below  expectations this season, finishing bottom of the division with just seven points from ten games.

Swansea have faced Cardiff 1sts twice this season, beating them both home and away (1-0, 2-1).

Ockwell said: “Our league position will make us favourites going into the match.

“But it is not always a good thing as there will be less pressure on Cardiff to win.”

Last year’s match ended in a 1-1 draw, though Swansea were the winners on unofficial penalties.

The standings issued by the Complete University Guide show that Swansea is the most improved Welsh university, moving from 60th place in 2011, to 49th in 2012.

The guide covers a total of 116 universities across the UK and is based on nine measures by which the experience of the university life could be judged, including student-staff ratios, accommodation and the availability of part-time work.

Also revealed was that Swansea University now has an 89% degree completion rate.

Pro Vice-Chancellor Hilary Lappin-Scott said she was ‘pleased’ by the ranking, adding: “We have been working hard across a number of areas to improve our performance and are happy that we are beginning to see these pay off.

“We look forward to further improvements in the coming years.”

Captain Peter Ockwell was critical of his side’s performance following the 2-0 home defeat.

Captain Peter Ockwell said: “We could have given a lot more as we have played a lot better during the season and that was our worst performance of the year.

“We didn’t play the way we have practised in training, the result was very disappointing.”

UWE’s Vlad Djukic took an early lead when he scored just 15 minutes in leaving Swansea on the back foot for the rest of the game.

UWE took an early opportunity to increase their lead in the second half after a goal by Josh Thomson was scored after the ball ricocheted off the crossbar.

Through Steve Davey, Swansea attempted to level the score but they were unable to faze the UWE defence.

Swansea could not break the visitors down and UWE secured a much needed three points in their hunt for survival.

Ockwell remained hopeful that the team could achieve promotion.

He said: “Yes it was a dent but we now have one more chance of winning the league against Hartpury so it is still down to us to make sure we get promoted and win the league.”

Lane, a first year who also plays for the women’s netball first team, made her debut on Ashleigh Road in the match between Singleton Park Rangers and Photosinthesis on November 13.

Before the match, she said: “I’m really looking forward to refereeing this weekend.

“I hope there won’t be too much trouble and the lads will have a really good match.”

Lane began refereeing as a teenager after seeing it as a good money-making opportunity.

“My mum and dad used to drag me to watch my younger brothers play football every weekend,” she said.

“When I started needing money I realised refereeing was a job that would keep me fit and possibly lead on to a career.

“So instead of being sat on the sideline, I was on the pitch doing something I enjoyed instead.”

Intramural representative Ceri Parker welcomed Lane’s appointment on to the referees’ list.

“It just shows how those barriers between women’s and men’s sports are being broken down,” he said.

“It’s exciting to watch us mimic the Premier League where you’ve got Sian Massey officiating regularly.

“She’s well qualified, and will be with us throughout the season.”

Eleri Jones, the students’ union’s women’s officer, was also pleased with the news.

She said: “Obviously, I think it’s excellent.

“It is unfortunate that in 2011, modern perceptions of male and female roles in our culture create a need to push a story like this at all, but it’s  wonderful that women are gaining a place in this field.

“Women should, of course have the confidence in their own abilities to apply for these positions, and I think that it’s wonderful to have women referees in this club.”

The appointment was part of the intramural football’s committee scheme to promote equality and anti-discrimination.