Oxford’s Foul Horseplay at Varsity Riding

Cambridge were victims of Oxford horsing around when The Other Place CHANGED THE RULES of Varsity Riding after losing last Thursday.

An unsportsmanlike row saw Oxford try to concede on “a technicality,” but Cambridge were finally judged to have won fair and square.

The Light Blues took an unlikely victory from Oxford, winning by a huge margin under their opponents’ rules.

By convention Oxford, the home team, decide how heavily the dressage and jumping rounds are weighted – Cambridge’s jumping skill led to a thrashing.

But moments after medals were presented and Cambridge celebrated, Oxford’s grapes turned sour.

According to one of the Cambridge riders who wished to remain anonymous, “the Oxford team were checking the results confused as to why they hadn’t won.”

“A parent of one of the [Oxford] team members came up to me and said ‘If I were you I wouldn’t be celebrating just yet'”.

One of the judges was overheard saying “I don’t know how this happened”.

The celebration came too quickly.

On returning home, the Cambridge team was greeted by emails from Oxford declaring their 1 point victory after changing the scoring.

The Dark Blues rejigged the weightings to play to their strengths and snatch away the Cambridge win.

The anonymous Cambridge rider said that “It’s outrageously poor sportsmanship. The odds were stacked against us but we still managed to pull it out the bag.”

Naturally, the Cambridge team stepped up to fight the changed result.

Oxford condescended to file their case as conceding to Cambridge on a technicality. Not happy, Cambridge sued for an outright win.

Following an intervention from the Oxford Sports Federation, it was ruled that this year’s Varsity Riding was won by Cambridge at last.

Cambridge Captain Charlie Flammiger told The Tab “We played by their rules, and won by their rules. Like any other sport they can’t be changed after the event”.

“It’s all been resolved now but it’s a shame that the competition was soured by the confusion”.

Kate Walters, who was also competing for Cambridge last week said that she was glad it was over. “To be honest, the trouble was just a big load of horseshit“.