Talks are currently taking place with Sheffield United about hosting next year’s Varsity final, following a review of the trouble which marred April’s finals day.
Speaking in her final interview as Sports Officer, White said the organising committee are likely to make major changes to next year’s programme, with United’s Bramall Lane stadium likely to replace Abbeydale Sports Ground as the venue for the showpiece finals day.
The number of multi-sport hub days are also likely to be increased, while the traditional men’s rugby finale will be replaced by the men’s first team football fixture as the final event of the Varsity competition.
She said: “We’ve had a meeting and said that the event has got so big that it needs to be taken to another level.
“My recommendation is going to be that Abbeydale isn’t used for the finals day next year.
“We’ve already been involved in talks with Sheffield United about staging the event there, which would be a fantastic way of making the competition even bigger. By moving to Bramall Lane there’s the added benefit that they have their own security who are used to dealing with crowds much bigger than we could attract.”
The move to Bramall Lane is prompted by crowd trouble at last month’s Varsity final, which left a number of spectators requiring medical treatment and lead to some supporters being arrested by police.
In another proposed change to the format, the Varsity scoring system will be altered to avoid a third consecutive tie.
The new system will see one point awarded for a victory in each fixture, replacing the current one point per sport format. This will mean that sports where more than one squad compete will be worth more Varsity points.
White said: “A lot of people were very disappointed with another draw. The new scoring system will make it virtually impossible to have a draw, which is a definite improvement for the competition.”
White, who hands over her role as Sports Officer to Kate Rickard at the end of the academic year, said her “heart sank” as she saw fighting break out in the stand during the men’s rugby final last month.
She said: “I felt like those people who caused the trouble had taken the day away from sport. I remember just watching it start to happen in the stands and my heart just sank because it was a few people who wrecked it for everyone.
“Sport should have been on the back page that day but 10 people made sure it wasn’t.”
The finals day trouble marked a low point for White, in what was a fantastic year for sport at the University of Sheffield.
She said: “I’ve had a fantastic year in charge with drawing Varsity and the success at the BUCS Championships.
“As a university that doesn’t focus on sport, going to these events and doing so well it’s just brilliant.
“The men’s lacrosse team did brilliantly to be undefeated in their first season playing as a team and I was really pleased with all the other teams that won medals at the BUCS Championships.
“I think the fact that the competition was held in Sheffield made it more special for those competitors who worked so hard to qualify and I hope we can get more medals next year.”
With only weeks of her reign remaining, the sports officer says that she is still committed to campaiging for increased investment in sport, and believes that the University of Sheffield invests less in sport than any other Russell Group university.
“My main objective going into this year was to get more funding for sports clubs, and I think that was highly ambitious.
“Although it has been harder than expected, I have managed to get the Usport board to agree to a benchmarking comparison to other universities and from that I hope we can encourage them to invest further and support our sports clubs more.
“The comparative study we’ve been working on shows that we are definitely the most underfunded university in the Russell Group in terms of sport.
“Sports clubs provide such a great university experience and I think it is something which the university should prioritise more and give more money to.”
Related posts: