Do those degrading ritualistic initiations take place at all universities, particularly with sports teams?
If so, heaven help David who this week passed his football trials at Hull – the university, not to be confused with the top premier league club. David has brushed off any concerns I might have about this.
I know he was desperate to play for his college, and they are lucky to have him as he was won three football trophies from his club last season, he swept the board. I’m hoping his uni will play against Cambridge so I can go and watch.
Have you been forced to eat cat’s food or vomit or drink yourself stupid to be accepted into a university club? Is it just a normal part of student life?
Most early university experiences seem to involve quite a bit of alcohol. When I was at University it was only the rugby club who were big on that kind of baloney.
I agree with Colin. It seems to be the rugby fraternity which is into this sort of thing. I remember a whole load of us ending up naked in a pub singing Sunshine Mountain at full voice.
All a bit homo-erotic I suppose *sighs*
I can’t remember ever being forced to eat my own vomit – it’s just something one does out of a innate sense of propriety.
Oh – I had better add to that that I’m talking about my POLICE service and not student life.
dont worry david will be fine
Hi David, Good luck, we both miss you. xxx
I thought this only went on in the US. It should be stamped out.
Alas, yes.
Based on recent photos in the press I’d say Ed Balls understands all this.
Sounds very American
lol Elle,
one does wonder sometimes whether it is worth joining a society or fraternity that requires one to be degraded or submitted to some ritualistic abuse.
I guess the extreme comes with street gangs where one has to stab someone to join the brotherhood or blood.
But one can one say, would I want to join a club bad enough to have to do something I do not find funny, amusing or even acceptable …
sure drink beer till I’m ‘blind’ drunk – been there and done it
go and steal a bobbies helmet – nope, never had the bottle
bunji jump from the top floor of a tower block with nothing but a string of sheets to hold me from certain injury or death – nope. Come on I wasn’t born yesterday
wear a plastic bag over my head – nope. Do I look stupid? Well I certainly would with a plasric bag over my head.
smash a glass in someone’s face? – nope, not my idea of fun. I get my kicks from kicking the head of the twerp who suggests I do something dangerous or violent to someone else.
But hey, that’s just me.
And I gave up group sex a long time ago – the odds are just too high of catching some exotic disease, and the risks of life threatening diseases just too high in today’s environment.
But I guess everyone has to choose whether they want to drive at top speed on the wrong side of the road, or the wrong way up a one way street – or – play chicken with oncoming traffic on the motorway.
Drinking yourself stupid during university initiations is nowhere near as bad as some of the stuff I heard about my university rugby club, who took depravity to a whole new (low) level.
http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com
One of the key questions must be when does “a bit of fun” turn into humiliation, and can someone who doesn’t want to drink to excess opt out?
St Andrews, where I took my degree, has a ritual called “Raisin Weekend” which started as an opportunity for “bejants” to bond with their acadmic parents (older students who had taken them under their wing) by having a tea party and giving gifts.
What happens now is that the pound of raisins is given in the form of large quanities of wine, the tea party is an excuse to test the alcohol tolerance of first years, and come the Monday morning, if you’re really unlucky you’ll find yourself freezing to death (Raisin Weekend takes place in October) in a skimpy costume* in Sally’s Quad having shaving foam and less-hygienic substances thrown over you. This was all a good few years ago and it might have been toned down for the health and safety of all concerned these days!
* black plastic bin bag with spots on, roped to 11 other first years. We were a set of dominoes….
My own adacemic children went as the Four Pedestrians of the Apocalypse…
Q9, fortunately, David hasn’t hasn’t had to make any decisions on what you describe. He just loves football, so why make him suffer humiliation because of this?
Sheila, what an awesome initiation – and you survived to achieve great things! Obviously a character building experience for you.
No, I can’t say I was hazed. I was a summer border at a fraternity house for Engineering students and the cool thing was that they were really into their stereo equipment. It sounds like David has a good head on his shoulders!
sheer adness and cruelty if you ask me
[…] over in Hull, David has passed his initiation ceremony to join the university’s highly regarded football team. They had to wear fancy dress. David […]
I’m a member of a rowing club…i was blindfolded during my initiation…but to be honest it was possibly the most fun i had in a LONG time…now i’m organising this year’s initiation, and i don’t plan to change much. Fresher’s have the option of taking part or not. There is no force. You choose.
[…] who want to join a university sports team and find themselves virtually forced to participate in humiliating initiation rituals. I also hope those Facebook pics of what these inebriated teams do on their uni sports trips abroad […]