BUCS Roundup – 23/11/16
Manchester Metropolitan University sports teams showed their incredible togetherness this week as they got behind another important campaign.
The strong relationship between members of the Activities Union was visible all over social media as clubs tweeted photos in support of the It’s OK campaign.
It’s OK is an initiative led by the Union that is aimed at tackling the stigma surrounding talking about any students mental health difficulties. The campaign hopes that any student facing any mental health troubles knows of the support services in place at Manchester Metropolitan University and that it is completely OK to talk about any issues you are facing.
More information of this campaign can be found at https://www.theunionmmu.org/your-voice/campaigns/its-ok/.
There were a number of impressive victories this week for MMU sports teams. Starting the roundup this week is the important first win of the season for Rugby League. They faced a strong Newcastle side who had recently beat them in the away fixture as MMU entertained the Geordies at Platt Lane.
In what was a tight affair MMU should their resilience and just how good they are as a last minute drop goal from Josh Dean secured their first win of the season in Premier North. The game ended 19-18 and they now look ahead to playing Hull next week.
Josh Dean, secretary of Rugby League, said: “It feels unbelievable, we’ve come up short in the last few weeks and to win in the last minute in that fashion is like something from a film.
“We’re going to use this victory and keep building week upon week.”
Men’s Football were another club to have an impressive week. Both the 1s and 2s played old foes University of Manchester at Platt Lane on Wednesday.
The 1s clashed with Manchester 3s in Northern 3A and ran them ragged to record a 6-1 win over their neighbours.
“Really proud of the lads and how we played,” captain and scholar Marcus Burgess said.
“We had a game plan and we executed it perfectly and as the captain I couldn’t ask for anything more than a 6-1 victory.
“This result will send a shockwave out to the rest of the league and now we are on top it’s ours to lose.
“It’s even better that we did this against our local rivals and it will give us a psychological boost if there’s a varsity fixture year.”
Luke Sands and Men's Football 2s faced a Manchester 2s side two leagues above them in the third round of the Northern Conference Cup. In a game that MMU controlled to perfection, they ran out 2-0 winners and advance into the Quarter Finals of the cup.
Netball 1s made a long journey north this week as they travelled to play Strathclyde in the first round of the BUCS Netball Trophy. The journey was made worthwhile as an MMU domination sees Netball safely into the next round as the game finished 78-37.
Good news for Lacrosse as both their Men’s and Women’s teams were victorious this week.
Women’s Lacrosse beat York 2s 9-2 at Platt Lane in the second round of the Northern Conference Cup. Lacrosse Chair Mimi Skeet said: “The match started well with an easy two goals in the first five minutes.
“We were dominating possession of the ball throughout the match and with some great tactics between Colleen and Georgie our straight attack led us to a 9-2 win.
“A massive shout out to a lot of our players who only began playing this year and threw themselves into the match that has now led us to a spot in the Quarter Finals.”
There was similar luck for Men’s Lacrosse who continued their unbeaten season with a win in the opening round of their Northern Conference Cup campaign. They battled against a Manchester 2s side who were no match for MMU. The game finished with MMU 25-4 winners.
Men’s Rugby Union 1s were involved in a cross-campus clash with MMU Cheshire in the second round of their Northern Conference Cup. With both teams playing well this season it was a hotly anticipated match. Men’s Rugby Union 1s came out on top though as a number of players were handed first team debuts. The match ended with the 1s 55-3 winners over MMU Cheshire.
Another club who recorded cup victories this week were MMU Golf. The 1s overcame local rivals Manchester 4-2 and the 2s beat a strong Newcastle side 3.5-2.5, in what was dubbed on Twitter as the #MiracleAtNewcastle.
In Volleyball, Women’s 1s travelled to face Leeds in their cup tie. Women’s Volleyball came back to Manchester the happier of the two teams after their 3-1 victory.
From our Cheshire campus, Women’s Hockey 1s continued with their winning wins with a 2-0 win over Keele in the second round of the cup. Netball 2s won after a close game in the cross campus clash with Netball 3s, the match ended 39-34 in in favour of the girls from Cheshire.
From one of MMU Sport’s spotlight teams, Men’s Water Polo 1s added a seventh consecutive league win in Premier North. They beat Northumbria 1s 12-6 and remain one of a handful of MMU sports team to stay unbeaten this season.