The Vice President for Sports position was husted by two potential candidates. Tan Farrell opened with Sue Wynes following on.
Tan Farrell, a 3rd year History student from County, firstly highlighted his experience in working through sports in the University and with the AU. He brought his numorous positions in the American Football AU Club Exec, his position as Sports Rep in County College and his former position as AU Non-Sabb.
He stated that he has been “fighting for the AU” during his previous roles and played a vital part in organising Roses and other tornaments.
When speaking about what he plans to bring to the role, he had many ideas. He commented that he wouldn’t change Roses, “only the result”, but he would change the media coverage of the event starting promoting of the event “this Friday” if he got elected.
One of the central themes of his hust was the training and development of Sports Reps and AU club exec members. Even training potential “future exec members” to set foundations for the future. Lastly he stated his wish for Graduate college to play a more prominent role in clubs and sport in the future.
Sue Wynes was the second and final candidate to hust for Vice President for Sports. She started by telling the audience that her main reason for standing for the position was because of her “complete and utter passion for sport.”
She also brought up her previous experience working with sport and the AU. Ms Wynes is the current AU Non-Sabb at the University working with the current AU president. She also holds prominent roles in the execs of both her darts team and football team, and in the past has been a sports rep for her college, Fylde.
She feels that college and university sport are equally important and should go side by side. Sue Wynes then went on to discuss her policies. She expresses her view that AU clubs and all sports throughout the University need better advertising, need to let students know “what they can get involved in.”
As Tan did before her she also mentioned her plans that Graduate College take part in more college and University sports. At the moment Sue stated that she feels that the University puts sport far too low on its agenda and that needs to change. She was also quite prominent in making clear the fact that she would continue the push for a new sports center.
In individual questions, again Tan Farrell went first. He was asked about his views on “the lack of support from the Director of Sport”. He replied that he didn’t feel that University had a ‘Director of Sport’ at the moment, as the position was filled by the management of the Sports Center. He said that after looking at other Directors of Sport in other universities he felt that the Uni seriously needed one and that it was “disgusting” that they didn’t have one already.
He also got asked on how he would increase the number of students in AU clubs. He responded by saying that the clubs need to communicate with the AU and think about setting up more B-active leagues in prominent sports. He also felt the need for more widely advertised big events throughout the year.
Next questions were directed towards Sue Wynes. She got asked on the subject of current sporting facilities within the University. She expressed her concern about the current facilities saying that; “the University are not willing to spend money on sport”. She conveyed her willingness to work with the Uni in this area. However Sue then praised the current AU, saying that students have “done so well” to achieve what they have with the facilities on offer.
Lastly questions were fielded for both candidates to answer. The subject of conflicting interests between different AU clubs in relation to distribution of resources. Sue replied first stating that it is “impossible to please everyone” but that she would aim to include everyone and try to share out what she can give. Tan replied by saying that the issue of budgeting in the AU was like “opening a can of worms” and that he would have to use his “wealth of experience” to deal with conflicting interests.
They then both got asked what the most important thing they wanted to get done, during their term, was. According to Tan the key thing was to implement ideas and procedures that would still be able to be used in years to come and “something to be proud of”. Then Sue replied, saying that she wanted to push the AU forward, making sport “much bigger”. She also felt that the better representation for Graduate was one of the foremost issues for action.
When asked about their own roles in college sport, both candidates agreed that they enjoyed playing for their colleges in the Carter Shield and that it was important to take part. Both also held the same view on allocation of money for external coaches, saying that the fairest way to allocate is a combination of a first come, first serve strategy and on how beneficial the coach in question would be.
Lastly the candidates were questioned on the Carter Shield. The Shield has changed a lot in the past and the question focussed around where the candidates would take the competition in the future. Tan Farrell got to answer first saying that he liked the way it was structured at the moment. He felt that the old format was too much and prefered the simpler method, where the AU can “chop and change” the sports competed according to demand. Sue Wynes also preferred the current format. However she felt that the media coverage of the event needed improving, involving SCAN, LUTube and Bailrigg in both advertising and in regular updates on progress.
