A gair rhydd investigation into sports club initiations at Cardiff University has revealed that students are sometimes pressurised into binge drinking by their peers.
In addition, the investigation showed that students were encouraged to engage in bizarre and occasionally humiliating behaviour.
One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, attended the Windsurfing club initiation last week.
He said: “I was definitely pressurised into drinking. We were pushed into a house that only had UV lighting and there was a massive trough full of pink liquid.”
He continued: “I don’t know what was in it, but we were forced to drink loads of it.”
Another anonymous source, who plays BUCS (British Universities and College Sports) football, explained that his initiation last year consisted of an assault course with an unpleasant task waiting to be completed at each station.
He said: “We had to eat pet food at the first one. At the next one we had to drink gin, absinthe and vodka through a straw. And at the next one we had to drink a pint through a pig’s head.
“They put a hosepipe coming out of its mouth and a funnel out of the back of its head.
He continued: “We then drank a dirty pint which contained everything and anything you can imagine: chilli powder, tuna fish, vodka. Then it was back on to the coach where we had to drink a bottle of wine and eight cans on our journey back.”
Despite having his clothes taken from him and having to wear women’s underwear during the initiation, however, the footballer said: “It was probably one of my best nights at Uni.
He was keen to stress that “There is peer pressure to drink, but it’s in the form of banter.
“The chairman is always there keeping an eye so it doesn’t get out of hand,” he added.
Another Cardiff University student, who is part of the CARBS IMG rugby team, described a similar experience.
He and his team mates “were strapped together with zip ties and had to run around Cathays doing ‘missions’ in various houses.
“In house once we had to dunk our heads in a mysterious liquid which was basically urine,” he said.
However, some Cardiff University sports team members were keen to stress that not all ceremonies are the same.
At the hockey initiations, one student explained, nobody is forced to drink anything.
He said: “The people in the hockey club binge drink as much as any student does on a night out. You can’t pretend that binge drinking is confined to sports clubs – everyone does it.”
A member of the University’s rowing team said that at her initiation, drinking games were optional.
“Nobody’s that naïve that they don’t know what happens at initiation. You know that there’s going to be drinking, there’s going to be general tomfoolery, and there’s going to be team building games,” she added.
Despite this, the National Union of Students (NUS) are in favour of a total ban on initiation ceremonies.
NUS President Wes Streeting said: “We are totally opposed to student initiations.
“They put students at serious risk and exclude students who don’t want to take part in binge-drinking culture.”
Andy Button-Stephens, President of Cardiff University Student’s Union, said: “Cardiff Students’ Union takes these allegations regarding ‘initiation’ ceremonies very seriously. We are currently investigating these claims and are also working on effectively communicating our initiations policy with our members.”
