Perfect storm of circumstance affects 2012 Uni Games entri

Perfect storm of circumstance affects 2012 Uni Games entries

Auckland University successfully defended its 2011 Uni Games title at last week’s annual tournament in Wellington. Nine teams entered the multi-sport event competing in badminton, basketball, bowls, cricket, football, netball, touch, ultimate and volleyball.

Among this year’s entrants were Invercargill’s Southland Institute of Technology (the games are open to all tertiary institutions) as well as two other unis from Auckland – AUT, and Massey Albany - which retained its Best Small Campus award from last year. The team spirit award went to Otago University, a Uni Games stalwart and winner of the University Shield 35 times since 1923. Otago with Canterbury, Victoria and Auckland competed in the very first games held in 1902.

Peter McDonald, acting executive director of the event’s controlling body, University Sport New Zealand, said he was pleased with the level and spirit of competition, even though the number of entries and teams were down on expectation.

“It’s the first year under voluntary student membership (VSM), and that’s probably the biggest contributor to the lower numbers this year. Most universities have opted to fund their student associations, but some service agreements haven’t been finalised yet. “

Next time, these financial arrangements should be sorted, although the other major attendance issue was the high registration fees for students from non-member institutions. Only seven North Island tertiary campuses belong to the national university sporting body, with Lincoln the sole South Island member.

“The fee was set high for non-members to encourage them to become members. In hindsight it should have been lower, but this too is all part of the new VSM environment,” Mr McDonald explained.

Timing of the games, traditionally held around Easter, created a further issue with the holiday falling early this year.

“It’s only been six weeks after the start of the university year, and that has made things difficult,” Mr McDonald admitted.

Easter 2013, however falls a whole week earlier again, so student sport development officers will really have to be on the ball with asking for and sending in entries next year.

Any thoughts of moving the event creates a different set of difficulties. Many competing students are involved in national age-group tournaments, and the Uni Games has to fit into a national sporting calendar. Part of University Sport New Zealand’s role is liaison with that wider national sporting community so tertiary sporting events don’t conflict with that national calendar.

“We’re going to be conducting a full review of the games over the next couple of weeks,” Mr McDonald said. ”Our goal is for the Uni Games to be a national university championships, and recognised as such by national associations, with full-length games and nationally accredited umpires and referees – but without losing any of its social aspects.”

The acting director, who stepped into the role in September 2011 after the unexpected resignation of his predecessor for personal reasons, also wants a higher level of recognition to extend to the universities themselves and to the student body, as well as to the national media and the public.

“We’ll be back next year, bigger and better,” Mr McDonald asserted. “Numbers were lacking this year, but the games were really good. This is a traditional part of university sport, and it will continue.”

An announcement about where Uni Games 2013 will be held won’t be made until sometime in May, but it will probably be in the South Island, with a number of this year’s participants picking Dunedin as the most likely host city.
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