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The Cambridge Student • 19 November 2015
Sport
ife in Spanish football sports journalist: “When I got here the vast majority of football club training sessions were open. That meant you could go and watch and learn, and therefore your questions would be far more informed. In Britain, that’s been broken down because the media weren’t strong enough to fight back and say ‘You mustn’t exclude us, you can’t exclude us.’” Striking is how he ascribes his own success to a series of ‘flukes’, crediting his first break into Spanish football to external factors, including FC Barcelona’s presidential election in 2003. “They wanted it to be very internationally aware, they wanted to open their club marking to international audiences,” he explains. This was followed by a five minute slot on Sky Sports’ highlight show, Revista de la Liga, before David Beckham’s transfer to Real Madrid in 2003 gave British journalists like Hunter increased access to one of world’s biggest clubs.
But bigger was still to come. Euro 2008 came along and the Spanish FA had neglected to appoint a translator to liaise with the foreign media. Hunter found himself asked to step in: “For [the] help I gave the Spanish FA, they gave me a little studio behind the stage and let me interview the players on film every day. So that played out very nicely. So again, by fluke it worked out really nicely for me, and that helped me to get to know the players really well, and my relationship with them blossomed from there.” How does a prospective journalist follow in his footsteps? “What’s really important is to get out from behind the computer, always go or you’ll never know. Go to a game, go to a training session, go to a press conference, go to a sponsorship launch, it doesn’t matter. Go.” For the full interview log onto tcs. cam.ac.uk/sport
J. DE VARGAS
Queens’ Ergs: Rowing, but not as we know it Jack Ranson Deputy Sport Editor
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owing is suffering. It is being able to wake up before the sun rises and to put yourself through physical hell before most of your housemates are out of bed. It is repeating the same action again and again until your technique is perfect and you have the strength to keep on repeating. Every day. And a large part of this physical punishment is exacted using the innocent-looking erg machine. Any rower will tell you that this is by far the most challenging part of their training – not only is it physically exhausting, it is also mind-numbingly boring. The only thing worse than sitting in a boat rowing down the Cam, is sitting in a pretend boat staring at the white walls of the gym while your arms fall off. So making a competition out of this incredibly boring aspect of a rower’s training seems optimistic to say the least.
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ideas. She outlined her hope that it would build on a ‘sense of community and friendliness’ already found at the college. Dame Reynolds went on to directly address the college’s policy on respect and dignity: ‘This is a topic that’s widely discussed in Cambridge at the William Lyon-Tupman
take in the rowing calendar? It doesn’t quite have the same prestige as Bumps but it is the first real taste of competition that novices will have. Josh Watts, former Lower Boats’ Captain of Jesus Boat Club, believes that Queens’ Ergs is crucial for the development of a boat crew: “It’s the first time that you’re really representing your club. You wear face paint, you shout each other on. It’s quite a good bonding experience and a way to introduce yourself to the fierce rivalries between the clubs.” Watts was full of admiration for ‘QErgs’ – an event he took part in two years ago – but was also clear about the hard work that comes after. “The real work comes after, in the buildup to Fairbairns and Bumps. There’s a lot of work that goes into moulding a crew that can compete over a longer distance.” Those words are the ones that would fill me with dread if I were a novice. This is only the beginning.
extremely problematic. In Qatar, freedom of expression and democracy are nonexistent: political parties are forbidden, they have never had a parliamentary election, and forums for debate are banned. Flogging and stoning are legal punishments and the death penalty is still in effect. Taking their money does the opposite of denouncing its system. But can it be classed as an act of support? According to a Guardian investigation, many of the workers involved in the preparations for the Qatar World Cup have been denied food and water, had their identity papers taken from them and have not been paid a penny. Hosting a World Cup will apparently never change their regard for human
rights. It only gives them a positive image behind which to hide their inhumanity. And in terms of PSG, is the money even positive? Yes, it will boost the individual club’s success but in the greater scheme of things, it is very detrimental to League 1. With PSG guaranteed to win, the league seems to lose its excitement as matches are hardly contested and the overall result is a dead cert. Qatari money and its increased presence in world football don’t seem to be doing any good for the world around it, or for Qatar’s own people and politics. PSG may have thought that they hit the jackpot, but they should have thought twice before collecting their winnings.
Paris Saint-Germain and the Qatari gold Sophie Penney
hey’ve won the French Premier League three years in a row and haven’t lost a league game this season; they have the joint most titles of any French team and just beat Toulouse 5-0. Paris Saint-Germain are dominating the French game. But with the secret to their dominance being a big pot of Qatari gold, should the wins be seen as success or a symbol of support for an oppressive regime? In 2011 Paris Saint-Germain was bought by the Qatar Investment Authority for £85 million, which gave the club more money than it has ever moment, not least because there are had previously. some worrying examples around of However, accepting that money poor behaviour and a lack of respect from such a country is ethically for each other’. But there has been scepticism expressed by some. The Cambridge Student spoke exclusively to an anonymous member of a Cambridge college rugby team, who expressed his concern that the workshops wouldn’t target the right people: ‘Either you compel attendance, making you come across as bullying and untrusting, or you don’t compel attendance and only the people who already agree with you turn up’. The ‘Good Lad’ website states that it offers an ‘alternative framework’ of understanding for men, away from what it terms the ‘minimum standards approach’. It remains to be seen whether this will catch on in Cambridge sport.
ew ‘Good Lad’ campaign
But Queens’ Ergs is exactly that. A competitive race, using erg machines. And somehow, they’ve made it quite entertaining. Maybe it’s some sadistic pleasure we get from seeing people pushed to their physical limit. Or maybe it’s the overwhelmingly competitive atmosphere created by having so many rowers in a relatively confined space. Either way, Queen’s Boat Club have created a uniquely interesting event. You only have to look at the results to see what kind of performance such an atmosphere is conducive to – one of the members of Caius’ M1 crew put in a time of 1:26, only 5 seconds off the Lightweight World Record over 500m. And Newnham W1, the fastest women’s crew, averaged a time only ten seconds slower than the Lightweight World Record. Given that the rowers involved in Queens’ Ergs are all novices, these are staggeringly good times. So what place does the competition
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