Sports news

Mansfield College Boat Club

Charlotte Withyman (Materials Science, 2018), MCBC President

We have just finished our first full year of rowing since the 2018/19 season at Mansfield College Boat Club – and there have been many highlights. We began the year by getting nearly all the new Mansfield students down to the boathouse for a trial outing. From this, we had very good recruitment and retention all year, with four boats qualifying for Summer Eights. Due to very generous donations from Antonio Bonchristiano (PPE, 1984), we were able to add another boat to our fleet. In honour of all the contributions from the Mahony-Greatorex family, we named it Carol Mahony. A lovely visit from the family gave us a chance to celebrate our donors’ generosity. A beautiful memory from Torpids was the W1’s speedy bump on St John’s. I think most of our

Sports roundup

Ittihad Hasib (Mathematics, 2020), JCR Sports Rep

After more than a year of Covid restrictions, team sports in Mansfield have been completely revitalised. Besides those I report on below, we’ve had many more teams representing our College in sports such as badminton, hockey, netball, croquet and even horse-riding. I’m looking forward to further success next year. With special thanks to Antonio Bonchristiano (PPE, 1984) for his generous donations to sport at Mansfield.

Cricket

After a relegation from the College league due to a lack of availability, the Mansfield-Merton cricket team turned their season around by reaching the Cuppers final. In the process they played some brilliant matches and knocked out several strong teams. They faced tournament favourites Magdalen in the final, ending just five runs short of Magdalen’s 135. The team are proud of their achievement and are ready to compete again next year.

Football

This year marked the return of competitive 11-a-side college football, with both the men’s and women’s Mansfield-Merton teams competing in favourite moments from Summer Eights came from our O2, our boat inclusive to all genders, which had the best result in quite a few years. We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating with many alumni at our Summer Eights dinner. We even went on tour, with a pre-season training camp at Wallingford. This inspired several of our members to join the University Boat Club’s development squads – keep an eye on them next year! For bringing our team together and making every single member of MCBC feel so welcome, I must thank our captains, Eva Hassan, Ruth Gregg, Rowan Burford and Oliver Elliot-Williams, along with the rest of the committee.

the league and Cuppers. The women came second in the league and the men fourth, proving the Ms’ strength in football yet again. There’s hope of even more improvement in 2022/23 with rising new players in both teams.

Rugby

The 2021/22 season was not the easiest for the Mansfield-Merton men’s team. Limited numbers and injuries meant that the team had to play some matches at a man disadvantage. Despite strong efforts, this disadvantage proved too much for the Ms in the quarter-finals of the Bowl and they were knocked out. It hasn’t all been bad news though; in the annual Peterhouse match, the team won 7-14. In addition, a game against the Old Boys (which the Old Boys won) was a highly enjoyable event for all involved, giving some respite after a very difficult season.

Frisbee

The Affiliated Ultimate Frisbee team, of which Mansfield is one of the colleges, took part in both a league and Cuppers competition in 2021/22. Highlight of the year was exceeding expectations to come fifth in Cuppers, beating Wolfson College on the final point in a dramatic and well-fought last game.