The message is loud and clear: Cardiff University students want better sports facilities. They’ve been wearing stickers and t-shirts and signing an online petition. On February 17 they’ll also be running around Bute Park to show how dedicated they are to sport and fitness. The Invest in Sport campaign has taken off in a big way, despite being only a week old.
But the surge of support is not surprising: compared to the other Russell Group institutions Cardiff offers a poor sporting service to students and we have the right to be annoyed. A gym which fits around 40 people in it and a sports centre designed for a university population of 8,000: this is just not good enough for us. If Bath and Bristol and Birmingham can have decent facilities, why can’t we?
On the surface it seems like it’s in the University’s interest to invest in sport: the facilities would help attract potential students and improve our place in the BUSA league. The business plan offered by the AU shows that they’d even make money out of such investments. It seems like a win-win situation for all.
Unfortunately this doesn’t mean that they’ll go for the idea: sport hasn’t been on the University’s investment radar for over a decade and the last time such a proposal was put forward it failed. Twice. Twice the power brokers in the University were given the opportunity to bring our sporting facilities in line with the rest of the Russell Group and twice they failed to do so.
However, this time there is a glimmer of hope: the Vice-Chancellor is reportedly behind the idea and is likely to give it his backing if adequate funding can be found. Plus, over a thousand students are making their voices heard and making Dr David Grant listen.
Let’s hope that the University take this on board.
