News comes after their entries were declared “late” despite the club submitting before the deadline.
SCAN spoke with club captain, Ben Hussey, who claimed that the Boat Club had been told they would be unable to compete in the BUCS Regatta this year due to problems with the BUCS Play System.
However, Hussey was unconvinced that this explanation wasn’t a “cover story.”
He based this on the grounds that, allegedly, the Sports Opportunities Coordinator within the SU insinuated that the late entries were the club’s fault. This came after he told the club that it was due to problems with the BUCS Play System. Hussey was appalled by this alleged accusation against the Boat Club.
We’ve been told that the Students’ Union are claiming it’s our fault when clearly it’s not as we definitely had all our entries in on time. And for arguments sake, let’s say we didn’t have them all in, none of them were confirmed by the Students’ Union whatsoever.
BEN HUSSEY, CLUB CAPTAIN
The Students’ Union has since claimed: “We have not suggested it was the rower’s [sic] fault, but we despair at the BUCS system. We categorically acknowledge that this fault does not lie with the Boat Club.”
The Students’ Union added: “The problem here was with entries on the BUCS Play System and a number of entries that were submitted but not confirmed. This was followed through with BUCS as soon as the issue was discovered in an attempt to allow the rowers to compete at the BUCS Regatta.”
This is an issue that has happened before and we have flagged this with BUCS. BUCS refused to take the ‘late’ entries – as they saw them – so our club could not complete in the BUCS Regatta this year.
LUSU SPOKESPERSON
The Students’ Union has extended the offer of allowing any monies that were allocated to the BUCS Regatta to be used at other events this year. Luckily, the Boat Club still has 4 regattas left – Peterborough Regatta, Met Regatta, Durham Regatta, and Henley Royal Regatta – so the funds will be dedicated to these races.
However, Hussey highlighted that the club are still waiting on reimbursement for BUCS Head held in late February so wasn’t confident that they would be reimbursed in good time. Hussley claimed that if the club aren’t reimbursed promptly, they will likely be declared bankrupt.
An SU Spokesperson has responded: “We do appreciate the situation that the Rowing Club find themselves in, which is no fault of theirs, or the Students’ Union. We are looking at the issue of reimbursement as a matter of urgency.”
