SPORT

Alfie Davies, HUS Sports Officer

Following a successful 21/22 season on the pitch for all of our teams and many Homerton students making their mark in the University football setup, over the summer the decision was made to centralise football at Homerton into a club structure and thus HCAFC was born, enveloping all three mens’ teams and the women and nonbinary squad. There were some bittersweet farewells over the summer as we waved goodbye to the long serving 1s Captain and Vice Joe Lockhart and Fred Sayer and Homerton’s star players in the University teams Louie Roberts and Tatiana Kasujja, Vice-Captains of the Uni Men’s and Women’s teams respectively moved on to pastures new. With the club structure now firmly in place and our newly opened sports pitches the envy of all other colleges, Homerton has everything it needs to stake its place as the college for footballers in Cambridge. May the Griffins keep on soaring.

Following an injury-riddled and subsequently underwhelming 2021/22 campaign, which due to a Lent term resurgence saw us eventually finish third in the Premier Division, the Griffins have started our 2022/23 campaign eager to prove themselves as up there with the very best footballing colleges. Under the new Captain centre back Ben Grischeff, ably deputised by goalscoring sensation Cyprian Kucaj, the Homerton men’s football first team has seen a Michaelmas of both promise and heartbreak in equal abundance. In the Premier Division, the boys find themselves second place with a game in hand, only needing a win by a goal margin of three to see them rise to the summit of the college football pyramid. Boasting an average goal difference of +5 per game, the trajectory of their league campaign is an exciting one, as they fight towards being the first Homerton team ever to be crowned champions. However, in their Cuppers fixture, played at home in front of a crowd of hundreds and described by many a spectator and player from both sides to have been the highest quality college football game seen for a long time, Homerton fell short to 7-time consecutive winners Fitzwilliam following an unfavourable first round draw. Despite Homerton taking the lead in this largely even affair, Fitz‘s experience ultimately saw them prevail, as they took full advantage of the few chances they had to run out 3–1 winners. Their aspiration for the rest of the season is to win every last fixture they play in, and Michaelmas provided no indication that this isn’t achievable.

The Homerton men’s second team have grown in confidence over the past year, reaching the Shield final in 2022. They were edged 3–2 by Fitzwilliam IIs but it affirmed the Griffins’ intention to fight to become the best second team in Cambridge. The run included a 4–1 success over St Catharine’s, a 7–2 demolition job of Clare II, and a professional 1–0 victory at the high-flying Pembroke II. They also went into the 2021/22 season aiming to stand their ground after being promoted into Division 3 – a league with a significant number of college first teams. The II team secured a seventh-place finish, meaning that only two Colleges – Fitzwilliam and St John’s – had second’s teams higher placed in the Cambridge footballing pyramid. They have taken this successful season in their stride and look to overtake Fitz and John’s this season under the captaincy of goalkeeper Alfie Davis. They re-established their form with an impressive 4–3 win over CCCC, a team who dispatched Homerton 4–1 last year, and only Emmanuel currently have a seconds team above Homerton. A roaring start has also been made to the Shield as they look to win the trophy, following an emphatic 3–0 win over last season’s semi-finalists Jesus IIs. This display of attacking quality, with last season’s star Gregor Fowler combining with new players Tawab Abdul and Andreas Velimachitis to grab the goals, was balanced with defensive resilience in the second half, where Marco Dupuis Rodriguez, Lewis Kelsall, George Akerman, and Jack Deasley maintained the clean sheet.

The Men’s 3rd team (affectionately called the IVs) went into 2022 battling for promotion out of Division 6 – the lowest division in the Cambridge footballing pyramid – for the first time in recent memory. Following a shaky start to the 21/22 season, with a first round Vase exit at the hands of Caius III a particular disappointment, a 5–1 win against Abbey College at the end of November 2021 set the precedent for a winning streak that lasted for an entire calendar year as the IVs won every remaining game of the season to be

Left: Men’s Homerton IIs

Below: Men’s Homerton IVs Promotion from Division 6 to Division 5 promoted out of Division 6 as champions. Now in their second season under Sasha Grantham on the sidelines and Julian Shirnia leading on the pitch, the IVs started their Division 5 campaign with three wins from three, taking to the new league like ducks to water, with fresh talent seamlessly integrated into the squad alongside more experienced heads like the cataclysmic Ben Grassby in midfield, the enigmatic Max Birley at No. 10 and the positively palaeolithic Joe Saxby between the sticks. Unfortunately, the year long winning streak came to an end at the end of Michaelmas as the IVs were finally defeated by Fitzwillilam IIIs. Over the course of the year, the 4s have developed a reputation as Homerton’s equivalent to Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, with many players such as the Roberto Carlos-esque Lewis Kelsall working their way up to play for the IIs and 1s after honing their craft in the lower divisions. Looking forward, the IVs are aiming for back-to-back promotions, a strong showing in the Vase, and finding the budget to buy Vice-Captain Julian Shirnia a new pair of boots as his current set are missing soles.

Women’s

Having competed for the last few seasons as ‘Hemmaton’ – a combined team with Emmanuel College, the decision was made at the beginning of the season to go it alone, and Homerton entered its own Women’s and NB team into Division 2 of the Women’s Premier League. Under the captaincy of star centre-back Molly Carswell, the team got off to a strong start, winning their first ever fixture against an established team and playing only their second match ever against a joint team from the Postgraduate colleges in front of a boisterous home crowd as the undercard to the men’s Homerton-Fitz Cuppers game. Unfortunately, due to player injuries, the women had to concede their own Cuppers game against the same postgraduate opponents. Undeterred by this disappointment, the women move forward into 2023 with talent all over the pitch, with the Blues’ first team keeper Emilia Keavney between the sticks and Kata Csiba and Zuri Lee providing real quality out wide. As one of the only College’s to field their own team – the sky seems to be the limit for what this group of players can achieve.

Badminton

This term we have seen a high level of participation from returning students and freshers within the club.

For our teams we have had a strong performance from our first and second open teams with both teams being promoted to the next division. Although there has been a lot of effort from the womens team captain to encourage female participation within the league matches they’ve struggled to achieve enough players to compete in matches this term and are currently trying to merge with another College.

The men competed in several competitions this Michaelmas term.

First was the Uni IVs, a 2km knockout competition. M1 IV beat Pembroke M1 in the first round by 2 seconds but then unfortunately lost to Kings in the Quarterfinal.

Secondly was Fairbairns where the M1 VIII placed 28th due to an unlucky situation where the boat behind caught them up which cost them time as they were obliged to move to the side. The M1 IV (comprised of rowers from the VIII who had already raced once that day) placed 8th which was very impressive.

In terms of the Novices it’s been a promising start to the year. NM1 came 3rd in their Queens Ergs division after a really hard fought battle clinching the place by .3 of a second. Unfortunately they were not quite as successful on the water losing both their Emma Sprints races. However they put in an excellent display in Fairbairns, holding off a catching boat the whole way and despite ultimately placing 33rd it was an excellent way to conclude the term.

Both the seniors and the novice rowers have had a successful Michaelmas.

The term started strongly as the novice women (in a mixed team with Hughes Hall) won their division in the rowing machine competition Queens’ Ergs and competed in the finals. They then went on to win two of the four races they competed in in Emma Sprints.

The last event of the term for the women’s crews was the longer-distance race Fairbairns. Both the seniors and the novices competed, with the seniors placing 48th and the novices 26th.

With an almost entirely new first boat and an impressive novice squad, Homerton women’s rowing has had an exciting term n