So the newsfest that is the 2012 Boat Race continues, and now it appears that we know who the rogue swimmer is: a 35-year-old man named Trenton Oldfield (with a name like that he should have been a rocker, not a protester) wishing to complain about elitism. In an extended rant he set out his grievances and explained why he’d picked the Boat Race for his protest:
“The boat race itself, with its pseudo competition, assembled around similar principles of fastest, strongest, selected …etc, is an inconsequential backdrop for these elite educational institutions to demonstrate themselves, reboot their shared culture together in the public realm.”
Now, there’s no denying that at school level, rowing is – with a few very notable exceptions – a sport practised mostly at fee-paying schools. But at club level, rowing simply cannot be accused of elitism. Rowing clubs are spectacularly good value for money – far cheaper than most gyms and health clubs, and offering so much more for your money. Membership is by no means confined to those with plums in their mouths; if it were, the clubs simply wouldn’t be able to keep going.
Rowing is the best leveller I know. You might have a good education, a first class degree and a cut glass accent, but let me assure you that none of these make the boat go faster. None of these will make you win. I should know: I’ve got all of the above and have yet to win a race. Thankfully there are plenty of people in my club who have none of these advantages but are blessed with what really matters in rowing: strength, technique and courage. That’s what wins races.
But elitism aside, what really amused me about Trenton Oldfield’s blog was his description of the Boat Race as a “pseudo competition”. I wonder if, when he saw the boats powering towards him at a terrifying speed and saw at close quarters what went into the race, he still thought that. Whatever you can say about rowing, there’s nothing pseudo about it.
He’s a graduate from LSE and a fellow of the RSA – and because I’m far too well bred and harnessed by society, I shall have to use the words of my teenage son ‘a total dick’:)
there are plenty of them on both sides of the discussion lol
funny i didnt know rowers have rights over swimmers in a river owned by nature.
i guess the fact you presume to have rights to the river proves his point.
Hi Jason. Rowers don’t have rights over swimmers, or even claim to, unless there’s something like a competition going on in which case they ask to have clear passage for reasons of safety apart from anything else (I’ve blogged about this elsewhere). If there were a swimming competition, for example (risk of Weil’s disease notwithstanding!), the rowers would give the swimmers their spot on the river. It’s a shared river and everyone tries – mostly successfully – to operate a system of give and take.
It’s not owned by nature you utter moron, it’s owned and managed by the Port of London Authority. They had the river legally CLOSED for the race.
One of the Olympic cycling events will be going right down my road. The fact that its my road wouldn’t make me any less of an arsehole or any less illegal if I were to get in the way
Irrespective of why owns what his object was to cause maximum disruption to the enjoyment of many people. How can this right?
interesting comments seems as Swanny (@GetInTheVAAN) comes from that rowing side of the discussion, , funny he cant discuss without abusing people. .of course he wouldnt dare to speak to me like that in real life , so we will just laugh at the silly keyboard hero he has presented as.
Sorry people, but in my opinion ,rowing is elitist as is closing off a river to conduct the elitist event. certainly endorse that opinion.
As for presuming to own a river thats is as stupid as what our govt out here does, but it doesn’t make it right.
Govt’s claim many things , except for responsibility usually, however the river will be there long before and long after the said “owner’ has departed existence.
In what way is rowing elitist unless you mean by that that it is meritocratic?
You can argue that the Boat Race is privileged, but that doesn’t make rowing as a whole so. That’s one reason why many rowers (like me) are ambivalent about the Boat Race – it reinforces an entirely false impression about the sport.
Come down to almost any rowing club and you will find people like me coaching juniors (or adults) entirely voluntarily – anyone who chooses to join, in fact.
Incidentally, you have to get a licence to close off the river and the Boat Race is far from the only event where this happens – it happens for several other rowing events which anyone can enter.
Maybe he meant ‘pseudo’ as in not a real competition? I have some sympathy for that view, to be honest. I mean how come it’s always Cambridge and Oxford that are in the final? Fixed or what! 😉
🙂
Obviously he is a vain privately educated dick. As I recall the Royal Holloway women’s crew was so good that Oxford and Cambridge would train against them (usually being defeated ).
The Oxford and Cambridge women’s crews recently participated in the Women’s Head of the River Race (over the Boat Race course) . Out of the universities that competed, they came second and fifth – neither has been the fastest university for some years. Yet for some reason, their private race apparently merits being broadcast from 2015.
I’m sorry, what?
I call bullshit, I’m afraid. No women’s crew; not at club level, not at Olympic gold medallist level can EVER challenge a good men’s crew, let alone a Blue boat, which often beats Leander. I’m sorry but at Men’s head our school third 8 (which came 174th) beat the fastest crew at Women’s head by over 20 seconds. Our top PAIR matches the girl’s 1st VIII that we share our boathouse with.
I’m not sure where you heard that, but I can assure you it’s wrong.
I assumed that he/she meant that Royal Holloway trained/raced against the Oxford and Cambridge women’s crews – and it’s entirely credible that they may have been faster.
But yes, there is no way that a women’s eight will get close to any even half-decent men’s eight.
Unless you meant the Oxford and Cambridge women’s crews, which would make me a total idiot.
I’ll be going now.
Oh but HJ the boat race was broadcast long before the men’s crews were the fastest either. A match race between Molesy and Leander would be just as exciting, but it’s more to do with the fact that everyone, from all over the world, has heard of Oxford and Cambridge and that’s what cements the interest. If nothing else televising the women’s race will get more girls into the sport which can only be a good thing, so we can thank Karl Hudspith
Swanny, I don’t think that televising the women’s boat race will have any effect on getting women into the sport. BBC Boat Race coverage is awful – they feel the need to ‘big it up’ and to do this they completely ignore the fact that other universities also row and they don’t even mention other events. Anyoe would think that only these two universities row and that the average joe has no chance to learn.
The proportion of women in rowing clubs has already increased hugely in recent years. Now aver a third of British Rowing membership is female and in some areas it is already up to 50%. My club has more female juniors than males – and has for many years.
I will grant you that the BBC coverage is appalling. I had my head in my hands when I realised they were showing James May going on a tideway pub crawl instead of the reserve race, and that the extent of their discussion on boats was that ‘Cambridge’s is slightly more unstable’ made me want to cry.
But re your other point, watching premiership football is undoubtedly a huge factor in getting thousands of young kids to take up football, even though to watch Sky Sports you wouldn’t know lower level clubs existed. I can only speak from personal experience, but I think watching the boat race and olympic rowing with my dad when I was young was by no means the deciding factor, but it certainly contributed to my decision to take up rowing when I was 13.
Just like premiership football, the aim of the boat race isn’t recruitment, but it DOES foster an interest in the sport, which allows British Rowing to take it from there.
No – the Boat Race never had any effect on increasing the numbers rowing when it was the only rowing event on TV.
It is since the GB squad had international success (especially at the Olympics) that numbers have risen. The other factor is the various BR (ARA) programmes such as project oarsome and various funding souces which have helped clubs to expand and take on more members (juniors, in particular)
I deplore what this guy did. My 13 year old son is a rower and he and his friends were also outraged as they know how hard the athletes have to train. However they struggle as their rowing club is based in an inner city Oxford state school and they don’t even have a boat of their own. Even though their coach believes several of them have potential to represent their country, they face a constant battle to get basic equipment and certainly have no chance of racing the boats that kids their age at Eton, Radley etc have access to. Rowing can’t be a great leveller if just getting on the water in a decent boat is such a battle for kids not at public school. We need £15k to run the club next year and have had no successful funding applications. The public schools have budgets 20x 30x times this, but we’re still going to try and compete against them, and are doing so with some success. Some of our rowers are on free school meals, and if we just had a fraction of the rich parent/alumni funding or corporate sponsorship these teams have we could compete on a far more equal basis. (all offers of sponsorship or donations from rich benefactors welcome!).
Thanks for drawing attention to this – glad to be able to air these issues. Good luck to them and hope they can get some funding.
P.S. If you want to email me with more info, this could make an interesting blog post in itself (all my details are on the contact page).
Good Luck with your funding hunt. I think you could possibily approach some of the Oxford colleges for some help with sharing equipment. My college boat house I am sure has some extra equipement and we are one of the poorest college boat clubs. Oxford as a whole has to become more accessible and they are always looking at ways to do this. They share some of their other facilities with schools/local clubs so maybe they could share some with you or could you approach a local club Oxford city rowing club or Falcon?. My local club in Yorkshire has links with local schools ( i think something to do with project oarsman or something) . I know it is not a perfect solution and I am sure you have already thought of all these ideas. Rowing is such a great sport to get into and I wish I had been able to start rowing before I went to university. I hope you get the funding you require.
Best Wishes,
Thanks Sophie – that’s a great idea. The Cheney Falcon’s on water sessions are based at Falcon RCC who have been fabulous and supportive, but are facing financial challenges themselves as their site rental has just quadrupled. I was just feeling a bit despondent on the day of the Boat Race as another funding rejection popped through my door, but we’re not giving up yet, the children love rowing far too much for us to accept defeat lightly.
Hi Bankrider, Our local school – Monmouth Comprehensive – have a thriving rowing club and have some lads who have rowed in the national squad, they must have the same kind of funding isues as you – maybe you could contact the master of rowing there and discuss. Dont give up and good luck:)
That’s a lot for the rent to go up at Falcon. My other suggestion to talking to some of the Independent schools in Oxford who row. Independent schools must be seen as helping the community/state schools in the area if they are going to keep their charity status. Approaching some of these school and asking if they are willing to help share equipment/ facilities may be a possibility.
Interesting piece in the Guardian’s Comment is Free section on this subject by former Olympian Martin Cross; he puts it rather better than I did! http://bit.ly/IjoRXr
I do not believe that rowing has ever been elitist. My daughters row at Ross Rowing Club in Herefordshire, a club with a thriving and very successful junior academy, 80% of whom come from local state schools. My husband was a very successful junior rower (proudly boasting that he was beaten on a number of occasions by Sir Steve Redgrave, himself from a state Grammar school) who was a product of Molesey Rowing Club, who were mainly state school. Most Universities, if they are near a river, have a rowing club, not just the “red brick”. Maidenhead Rowing Club is largely state school athletes. Perhaps If Mr Oldfield put the same effort and dedication into something other that the athletes do into preparing for their races, he would have a slightly more productive life than he seems to right now.
Most comments here have misrepresented Mr Oldfields objections. Not to rowing, but to 2 Universities who are clearly elitist. Rowing itself is not elitist, televising an event that is not a final reached through by merit, but by history, is like showing a school sports day every year. The fact various networks choose to show Oxford v Cambridge in ANY sport is the problem. Its a pseudo competition because these 2 universities may or may not be the best 2 teams in the country, they get to compete every year. If they qualified for it every year then its a competition, this is just a throwback to days gone by. Sky to show the jolly old boys egg and spoon race next year. Hurrah.
Your comments are confused. First you say that you object to the two universities involved as being ‘elitist’ and then you go on to about the TV coverage rather than the event.
It is a traditional private match and I defend their right to hold it. I also defend their right to sell the TV rights if broadcasters wish to pay them.
However, I do agree that the BBC coverage is questionable. ITV dropped it because they found it wasn’t commercially viable (and they have every right to show it if it were commerciallly viable), so for the BBC to spend compulsory licence payers money on a commercially non-viable event needs to be justified. When they don’t make any attempt to show any other domestic rowing events (most of which which are more meritocratic, such as Henley and the Eights Head) it’s hard to justify paying to broadcast the Boat Race, especially as their coverage hypes the Boat Race to be a pinnacle of the sport when every rower knows that it isn’t. The crews involved probably are the best university crews at the time of the race, but that is because already elite rowers are attracted to compete in it (often, but not always, on distinctly dodgy courses), because of the high profile reinforced by TV. On any other measure, neither Oxford nor Cambrdige are the top rowing universities despite their superior funding due to Boat Race TV and sponsorship (sponsorship which is only there due to TV coverage) income.
What is more, the BBC hyped the inclusion of the Women’s Boat Race form 2015 and showed a film of the current Women’s Race at Henley where it was claimed that “the women are just as good as the men” – a demonstrably untrue claim which wasn’t even questioned. We know that the women’s crews aren’t that good because a couple of week before (as in most years) they competed in the Women’s Head of the River Race (over the Boat Race course) and were well beaten by a number of crews. Even amongst University crews, they placed only 2nd and 5th – so my question to the BBC would be ” What have they done to deserve a slice of licence payers money and the sponsorship this attracts?” when they are far from deserving it on the basis of performance.
How blind all you people are. Shooting the message and not the messenger is clearly an axiom you don’t live by. The world we live in is becoming more and more fascist, manipulated and oppressive for more and more people. And all you can do is point the finger and laugh. Typical sheeple who do not see reality unfolding before your eyes. You have been trained since birth to ignore and denounce analytical and critical thought of any kind. Shame on you.