Freshers Hit With Sports Price Hike

At the end of the last university year cuts to Union funding were much anticipated, and The Tab can now confirm one of the casualties is SAM (Sports Association Membership), which has gone up from £40 to £45.

The membership is a mandatory annual payment for any student who wishes to be a member of a UEA Sports Club.

Although the price hike doesn’t seem such a drastic shift, if an incoming Fresher wished to purchase a SAM Card, join a sports club such as UEAFC (costs per year approx. £25), and, for the really sporty, also buy a gym membership, the overall costs per year would be around the £300 mark- an infinitely higher sum. Bearing in mind Freshers will be paying the £9000 fees this may not be what they are expecting, and as we all know, these costs add up.

However, after Finance Officer Joe Levell announced cuts would be made and cited sports membership as a possible ‘target’ earlier this year, rumours abounded that the SAM card could go up to as much as £100. Levell spoke to The Tab today ‘The increase in the cost of SAM reflects an increasing demand on the Union’s activities services as well as the desire to continue to provide a high level of support to our students. Costs of facilitating sport, such as providing transport to fixtures and equipment, continue to increase and therefore, we have had to implement a small rise.’

Pic- Union of UEA Students

The Tab hopes that this doesn’t affect sports membership and enthusiasm in a bad way, however UEA sports clubs are some of the top university teams in the country, and Freshers know that joining a  sports club will only act to enrich their university experience. £45 is still a lot of money, especially to pay upfront in Welcome Week when loans haven’t arrived, but the Union already does, and has always, funded sport at UEA very well, especially compared to other universities. And for Freshers just so you know by buying a SAM Card you are covered by the Union’s insurance for members for taking part in activities such as training and competitions (Derby Day anyone!), a MUST for any members of teams.

UEA have an almost endless amount of sports you can get involved with, from the likes of rugby to the lesser known Korfball (worth  a shout- they’re in the Top 3 in their BUCs league), so please don’t let the extra fiver put you off, even if it does stop you buying those extra VKs (but NOTHING will stop you buying those VKs).