Students from St John’s College, Cambridge were handed more than 130 hours of community service due to their poor conduct during a sports day swap at Balliol College last term. Their behaviour included shouting abuse, urinating indoors, and spilling beer inside the building.
The College Dean, Dr Nick Friedman, assigned these hours collectively to the men’s football and croquet teams from St John’s.
Oxford’s CCTV caught the students causing damage at the Balliol College Recreation Ground near Jowett Walk. They reportedly left broken glass, mud, and urine in the changing rooms and caused a mess in the College bar. Friedman was informed that although St John’s players were asked to clean up rubbish on the pitches, they didn’t follow through.
An Oxford student commented: “College sports swaps aren’t about the sport as much as socialising at the other place,” pointing out that many students take part in games they’ve never really played just for the experience of going on the trip.
Friedman sent an email to both team captains asking them to “attend an urgent meeting with the Dean” this January and mentioned he’d received complaints from Balliol listing these issues.
The email also said “The security staff reported [St John’s] students drinking beer through funnels, and then sliding on beer spilt to the floor.”
After imposing community service, Balliol’s master remarked: “The Balliol/St John’s Sports Day is [an] annual event which all the students involved enjoy. We are grateful to St John’s for resolving an issue from a recent event and relationships with St John’s, our sister College in Cambridge, remain cordial.”
Complaints have also come from Oxford colleges about how some Cambridge students behave after sports day swaps there. One source told Cherwell that in their experience these events often involve heavy drinking and even urinating on statues at Cambridge colleges.
Another Oxford student said he wasn’t surprised by how some Cambridge students acted. “It’s really classic Cambridge, isn’t it.”
