This is the last issue of SCAN for the year, and so this will be my last SCAN Sports comment article. It’s been a great year for sport at Lancaster, and there is a lot to reflect on now that every match has been played.
We hope the Sports section has been enjoyable this year. Our main aim was to make the section more entertaining and readable, and to try to increase the relevance of the section beyond simply people who played in the matches we covered.
That is why we introduced a fixed comment section, added the regional football roundup, and tried to add a touch of humour with the satirical Sport Distort column – the highlight perhaps being the great Sport Distort Alternative Personality of the Year spread last term.
“Andy Carroll has rocked the scene this year, scoring for fun in the Premier League, earning an England call up, learning the nicknames of every bartender on Tyneside and successfully robbing a bank vault with nothing but his elbows.” What a man.
Some teams have produced some outstanding performances this year. Honourable mentions must go to both the Men’s and Women’s Rugby Union firsts who performed well this season, with the former earning promotion.
This final issue is based around some season roundups of some of the most successful teams of the year, and as has been the case every fortnight, space and resources limitations mean we simply haven’t been able to cover every sport.
Roses was particularly challenging for us, as we took a team of just seven writers to York. However, we were able to produce nine full pages of sports content, while constantly updating the website with immediate reports of the majority of sports over the course of the weekend. We also innovated with Twitter to provide instant pitch-side score updates for as many sports as we could.
The tournament seemed like it was going to be a very closely fought one, but as we know, the Carter James trophy started to slip away from the grip of the Red Rose on the Saturday. Considering historical away defeats, the margin of defeat was not a particularly large one. There were some absolutely stand-out performances; particularly in American Football, Ultimate Frisbee, and the Women’s Rugby Union’s stunning 48-0 victory.
Some teams felt we did not provide them with appropriate levels of coverage and support, but the limitations I’ve already referred to reduced our scope. Next year will be a home Roses, which brings the certainty of a greater amount of writers and better facilities in order to write content. I do not, however, apologise for commenting accurately on the performances of teams regardless of what colour rose they represent.
If this year was good for sport at Lancaster, it is a given that next year will be better. With a home Roses and the opening of the long-awaited new sports centre, it will be a year that should bring great levels of success here – and I’m sure SCAN Sports will do its very best to cover every minute of it.
