With Christmas drawing ever-nearer, many sporting leagues across the country are in full swing, including that for Medway Mavericks in the Inter-College Football League.
This league is the oldest of the Inter-College format in existence at the University of Kent and is where the Inter-College Cup first started. The league first commenced in the 1970s with the four original colleges of Darwin, Eliot, Keynes and Rutherford. However the league expanded and its popularity grew exponentially as two sides from each of these colleges were then inducted into the competition.
In 2009, Virginia Woolf was introduced into the Inter-College Cup competition for the first time and this season sees the debut of Turing FC and Medway Mavericks FC.
Medway are of significance as they are the first team competing in the league who are not based on the Canterbury campus. We spoke to club captain Tommaso Fiore regarding his thoughts on the league and the introduction of Medway Mavericks into this historic competition.
“It is exciting travelling away to Canterbury” he said.
“It gives us more motivation because we are representing the Medway campus and there is a lot of weight behind that”.
There are currently ten Inter-College football sides represented in the modernised league. Two teams from Eliot, Keynes and Rutherford, and one team from Darwin, Virginia, Virginia Woolf and the newly inducted Medway and Turing. This year also saw the Darwin Towers side disband.
Medway Let’s Play Activator and the woman behind Medway’s unlikely induction into the league, Fran Plom spoke about the league, explaining: “Representing your college can also give students a college identity and feel they are part of something”.
The teams are also purely student run, which as Fiore details, provides a fresh challenge for the players.
“I enjoy it as it gives us more freedom and gives us experience of playing and coaching”.
Students also have the opportunity to play sports outside of football both socially and in a competitive manner through the organisation ‘Let’s Play’ at the well-furnished Medway Park sports centre.
Plom explains: “Sporting opportunities at Kent have grown over the years and now encompass a significant number of different opportunities for students at Kent”.
Finally, Fiore gave us a statement of confidence as he gladly answered “Medway Mavericks” when posed the question of who would champion the football league at the end of the season.
Medway are currently sitting in 2nd place. Having convincingly won three of their first five fixtures. Kent Sport wish them the best of luck in their first season.
Written by Phil Wellbrook, first year Journalism student.