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Chancellor laces his boots for new 'War of the Roses'

Posted on 28 April 2005

Greg Dyke, University of York Chancellor, turns out for a staff and alumni five-a-side football team when 2,000 students take part in the annual 'Roses' weekend of sporting battles between York and Lancaster Universities.

Three days of sporting endeavour gets under way on Friday 6 May, 2005, when a traditional relay team race - one of the first fixtures when the contest started in 1965 - is revived. Apart from showing off his ball skills, Mr Dyke will start a 4k run and will be on the banks of the River Ouse on Sunday to start races between rowers from the two universities between Blue Bridge and the Millennium Bridge.

The weekend features a glittering student ball, and local VIPs will attend a reception hosted by the Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian Cantor, in the University's Elizabethan Heslington Hall.

Organised by the University Athletic Union with sponsorship from the University Alumni (graduate) Fund and IT firm Detica, the event will feature 35 sports ranging from football to tenpin bowling and 'Ultimate Frisbee'. Mixed volleyball and ballroom dancing are also featured along with korfball, an exotic cross between netball and basketball.

Community activities include York schools playing rounders on the campus and a fete on Saturday afternoon, featuring a parachute display, human table football, and a giant version of the building block game Jenga. Proceeds from the fete go to the British Heart Foundation, this year's Athletic Union charity.

Mr Dyke said: 'It's more than thirty years since I last played football in the Roses tournament. This time I've asked for oxygen cylinders to be readily available and the St John's Ambulance service to be warned in advance that they may be needed. I am excited to be playing football again and especially in a Roses tournament. Obviously I shall be supporting the White Rose but look forward to meeting everyone from Lancaster University as well.'

On Sunday afternoon, Professor Cantor and his Lancaster counterpart, Professor Paul Wellings, are pitted against each other in a game of croquet, pairing up with their respective AU Presidents Stuart Leslie and Rob Walker.

Mr Dyke and the two Vice-Chancellors will round off the weekend by presenting winners' trophies for all 35 sports. The overall winners will receive the Carter-James Trophy, and be crowned Roses Champions for 2005.

Professor Cantor added: 'Roses is probably the largest University sporting competition in the UK, enthusiastically supported by our students and widely remembered by our alumni. It is an important part of the sports culture in York.'