Glasgow students fail to turn out for badminton contest

A lack of communication, short notice and more pressing priorities have been pinpointed as the principal factors behind the under-representation of Glasgow-based students in a nationwide badminton tournament.

Only ten students from universities and colleges across the city participated in last weekend's inaugural BADMINTONscotland competition.

The non-BUCS tournament, launched in partnership with Stirling University, attracted 75 students from across Scotland, including 26 from two Edinburgh higher education institutions alone.

The tournament was designed to offer students more opportunities to play competitive games in a fun and friendly environment, while trying to raise participation in the sport at universities and colleges across the country.

Speaking to The Journal, Glasgow University Badminton Club captain, Andrew Grant, defended the poor showing - three attended from Glasgow and Strathclyde combined - at a time when student leaders were trying to get on track ahead of the new semester.

“The deadline date on the form was 26 September – our first club session was 20 September," he said.

"And at this time of the year there are more crucial things to be organised such as membership forms, buying new equipment and finding sponsorship.”

Grant’s reaction was mirrored by City of Glasgow College’s Head of Sport, George McVerry, who remained focused on arranging trials and practice sessions for sports his students are already interested competing in. Cardonald College, meanwhile, failed to register a single student for the governing body's first showcase against a backdrop of recent success in the sport.

Bob Clark, a sport and fitness lecturer at the further education institution, which runs free badminton sessions for students over three lunchtimes a week, told The Journal: “We have lost all our players from last season to universities, other colleges, and, or, work.

"We have just started our lunchtime programme... and hope to have some entries next time. Sorry, but it’s a poor show.”

Despite a drop in numbers of students from the west of Scotland, organisers BADMINTONscotland insisted the number of entrants at the first attempt was satisfactory, providing a good platform to build upon.

Speaking to The Journal, tournament director Peter Dean said: “Ideally, I was hoping for more than 75. But I’m still quite happy with the entry.

“As it’s the first of these tournaments we have run, we weren’t sure what the take-up would be. But we have an excellent entry in men’s singles and doubles and the number of people entered means we can run a decent event in women’s singles and doubles too.”

Dean has ambitions to increase the number of tournaments to two or three per academic year and hasn’t ruled out another tournament later this season, which should attract more interest from the established badminton clubs unable to get organised in time for the opening event.

He added: “I hope that these tournaments will prove to be popular enough for us to run two or three each season in order to give more students more opportunities to play some competitive badminton in a fun and friendly environment and hopefully to increase participation numbers in student badminton.”

Tournament entry numbers by competition:

• men’s singles 45

• women’s singles 19

• men’s doubles 19

• women’s doubles 10

By college or university:

• Stirling University 16 • Edinburgh University 14

• Napier University, St Andrews University 12

• Forth Valley College 10

• Glasgow University, Strathclyde University 3

• University of the West of Scotland 2

• Clydebank College, Kilmarnock College, North Glasgow College 1