York won the VC Table Tennis

What started as a friendly zero-point table tennis match turned into a fast-paced five-game semi-final between Lancaster and York.

The warm-ups did not fill the confidence, the ball was thrown into the crowd quite a bit. But plenty of laughs were shared between both parties. Activities Officer Rohan opened the game by officiating between the York and Lancaster fans (who had managed to fill all the space around the table tennis table) which was easily won by the York fans. This is his first home Roses and it was clear how much he enjoys the event and the atmosphere.

York Vice-Chancellor Charlie Jeffery took the first match against Lancaster Vice-Chancellor Andy Schofield and displayed some real table tennis prowess, lifting York to an early victory after six minutes of the match.

Franki Riley and Meg Homburg joined the Vice Chancellor for another match. Franki gave it her all, but Meg has clearly trained and helped Lancaster to a quick second match. Franki stated that table tennis was chosen because it’s a sport that everyone can do quite easily, hopefully people will see us doing it and think I can do it

This was definitely the case with the crowd who didn’t know all the rules of the game (there was a lot of googling in the crowd), but everyone loved it!

The third match started and ended quickly with another York victory as Charlie Jeffery once again carried the York Team (I can see a career change here). In the fourth match, York dominated and flew to another easy victory.

At this point, it was York who dominated in three out of four matches, so this final match was all about pride. And you could tell. This was the closest match and Lancaster gave it his all. It was neck and neck and Lancaster kept scoring equalisers. But in the end York took another win, just a shame it didn’t get the points!

At the end of the match Franki explained why they had played a friendly this is the whole point of the Roses it’s not just for sporty people it’s absolutely for everyone and we wanted to show that Rohan echoed this saying that these matches show the point of the Roses

A laughing Franki also said that this match shows that VCs are better than athletic people. Charlie Jeffrey said the whole match was a tight contest and you could feel the competitive energy in the room.

Charlie Jeffrey beamed with pride and added, “I’m so glad this is happening at the university and it’s one of the best things about this university.”

It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter if the Roses are red or white, it’s participation and fun that counts.