Extreme weather conditions laid waste to University sport last week, with matches cancelled due to a mix of frozen pitches and travel issues for visiting universities.
All of York’s BUCS fixtures except the badminton men’s 2nds game against York St. John University were called off as a result of last week’s massive snowfall, which has left University teams facing another winter of postponed fixtures and extended playing seasons.
This has left some sports clubs feeling the sting of tight rescheduling and possible clashes with exams.
The Basketball Club commented: “For the men’s team the real impact will be felt in the New Year, when we’ll have to play two or more extra games next term and have to schedule enough practises in. There are rumours of matches being scheduled for week 1 next term, which will be a real inconvenience as it will clash with exams and such, especially as a lot of our team live abroad. It is also irritating that we will have to re-organise referees and officials.”
Meanwhile Tennis Club president Chris McDonald said: “The test of how well the university can deal with the situation is when the roads are clear and it is the condition of facilities that depends on weather fixtures take place.”
However York Sport President Sam Asfahani remains staunchly optimistic that the University has the resources to cope with the onset of another harsh winter.
“Fixtures are being arranged with the method that they always are, through communication with our teams and opposition institutions,” he said. “We handled far worse conditions last year due to weather, and are on track to rearrange all the fixtures for dates either later this term or in January.”