Editor’s Note: For those not familiar, in England, “Varsity” refers to sports played at the highest level at the collegiate level, not high school. The English also refer to higher education as “university” and not “college” as used in the United States. Welcome Oxford’s Gabe Barrie, whose twin brother was the Cambridge LSM, as he share his thoughts on the rivalry!
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“Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.”
It’s a cliché to open an article with a quotation but in this case perhaps it’s justified. Despite the fact that the words of George Orwell, a man who never played competitive sport, are simply wrong, Varsity really is a day of clichés. Oxford vs Cambridge, two of the first academic institutions in the world, facing off against each other in one of the oldest lacrosse rivalries; a century of legacy and sporting prowess stretching into the past; Good vs Evil (dependent on your perspective). Some of the games have been genuinely great contests, and some haven’t; no one can claim that the Oxford 4-3 victory of ’93 was sport at its zenith. The one constant throughout, however, has been fierce competition. And yet, despite this, Orwell was wrong to misrepresent the true spirit of serious amateur sports. As I reflect on the annual lacrosse match between Oxford and Cambridge, it isn’t so much hatred or jealousy that strikes me, but rather the enthusiasm and commitment to the game that pervade lacrosse in England now as much as they ever have. There’s no incongruity or contradiction in competitive collaboration and friendship.
In 1903 Edward VII sat on the throne of England, Theodore Roosevelt occupied the Whitehouse, Marie Curie won her first Nobel Prize in physics, and the Wright brothers recorded the first successful aeroplane flight. And the first lacrosse Varsity match between Oxford and Cambridge took place. It has taken place every year since, with a break for World Wars I and II, so that 2016 marked the 100th time the teams faced each other. It’s important to realize that the lacrosse Varsity matches are part of a wider series of sports competitions between the universities, from the well-known ,and televised, boat-race (that’s rare for English sports at the university level) to the slightly less athletic, but by no means less competitive, wine tasting. Moreover the match is always attended by alumni, some of whom fly in to watch, so that each member of the team represents not only their respective sports club, but their entire university and over a century of past-players.
It is, perhaps, the fact that our sport is played by people who do so only because they enjoy it which has allowed, despite the competition, the creation of joint Oxford-Cambridge touring teams. From the novelty of the first tour in the summer of 1903 to the phenomenon that was Terry Allsop, the semi-legendary one-armed goal keeper for Cambridge, capped for England and reputedly the world’s best goalie in his day. The match – as well as the Oxbridge union – is infused with historical significance. Indeed, many of the rule changes in England were brought back from these tours to the States. Oxford and Cambridge have always had their share of American students studying and visiting; one of these was Dean Rusk, a Rhodes Scholar in Oxford, 1931, when the only training rule was the limit of one pint of beer at lunchtime on game day. As the Oxbridge team travels together to Budapest, Hungary this summer to play in the club invitational tournament preceding the European championships, no doubt the one pint limit will be reflected upon.
What, I wonder, would Rusk have made of this year’s match? As a tense and low-scoring affair, it was fortunate that the majority of fans, more used to soccer scores than lacrosse, were unperturbed by the 1-1 end to the first half. As all real lacrosse enthusiasts know, however, a defensive masterclass can be far more interesting than a high-scoring game. Looking back on those 80 minutes, inevitably it is only disjointed snippets which come to mind – a goal here, a hit there, even an encounter with a certain twin brother of mine on the opposing team.
If it wasn’t for the wider significance of this match, the trade-off in time between the amount of build-up and match might seem out of proportion; for us, it is after all Varsity that we talk about on the first day of preseason, that we train for all year, and that ultimately makes a season. The game does, though, have wider significance. As a young man from Detroit once said, “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime (yo).” In fact, most people play Varsity more than once, but I think the point stands. This year, the game ended 7-4 to Oxford. Mr Rusk would be proud.
Things have changed since 1903, of course. Academic pressure nowadays within the universities presents a challenge to the student-athlete, and athletic provision by these institutions has never been a priority. We don’t have amazing facilities or scholarships. Lacrosse, though, is going from strength to strength, in Oxford, Cambridge, and the rest of the country. The fastest growing university sport over the past decade nationally, growth is driven almost exclusively by the players themselves. Most universities make do without a coach, many players are self-taught and self-funded, and the burden of organizing a team of your peers at university is not without its demands. I arrived at university in the rare position (notwithstanding a couple of Americans) of having played lacrosse before, and I have been consistently blown away by the enthusiasm and sacrifice of players learning the game as beginners. Varsity is part of this, a consistent feature of the English lacrosse calendar, and here in England we’re fortunate that as long as players at other universities are as dedicated as they are Oxford and Cambridge, lacrosse will continue to grow. Long live amateur sports.
