VARSITY 2015 is well underway, with four events already having been competed and over 30 still to come.
Cardiff got the first points on the board by winning Saturday’s Swansea marina boat race by three races to one. The hosts claimed victory in the men’s seniors event under glorious spring sunshine.
Monday saw three more events unfold, with Cardiff going 2-0 up after emerging victorious from the equestrian event before Swansea levelled the scores with wins in cycling and boxing.
Currently poised at 2-2, one university will head into tomorrow with a slender lead depending on this afternoon’s rifle result.
But while the action is sure to be heavily competed, the two sets of players have come together to support a greater cause.
Swansea University rowing club sport their Rainbow laces at Saturday’s boat race.
Both universities have partnered up with Stonewall Cymru’s ‘Rainbow Laces’ campaign, which will see competitors sport Rainbow striped shoelaces in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) players and to show that sport should be all inclusive both on and off the pitch.
They join a host of influencial figures in supporting the campaign, with high-profile names such as Stephen Fry, Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas, England football’s Gary Lineker and Premier League football clubs Arsenal and Manchester City all publicly backing the movement.
Stonewall Cymru’s research with Sport Wales shows that one in three LGB people have experienced exclusion from sport because of their sexual orientation, and three in four respondents reported hearing homophobic ‘banter’.
Luke Young, Campaigns Manager as Stonewall Cymru, is delighted to have two of the biggest universities in Wales on board ahead of what is sure to be a hugely attended Varsity week where hundreds of students are due to compete and thousands more will attend
“It’s great news that both Team Cardiff and Swansea’s ‘Green & White Army’ have stepped up to challenge homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in sport,” said Young.
“By wearing Rainbow laces at the Welsh Varsity, Cardiff and Swansea students are sending a powerful message that a player’s sexual orientation or gender identity should not be a barrier to taking part and that sport must be open to all.”
Representatives from both student unions’ sporting organisations echoed Young’s comments, with both expressing their pride in helping out a cause that will help break down barriers at the climax of the universities’ sporting year.
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