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The War of the Roses began in 1455 between the houses of York, represented by the white rose, and Lancaster, the red rose. In 1485 the war finally came to an end and the house of Lancaster reigned supreme.
But six centuries later the competitive relationship between the two cities has continued and is repeated every year in the esteemed Roses sports competition between the universities.
The original Roses competition began in 1965 with a boat race between the Lancaster and York crews organised by the universities' two Vice-Chancellors. York were victorious and over the last 47 years the competition has developed into a nationally famous sports competition, involving over 30 sports played in over 100 matches with more than 1500 competitors taking part.
This year, in the 47th year of the competition, Roses returns to York and students are hoping that not having the competition in the middle of the exam period will enable them to bring the trophy back. Last year didn’t quite go to plan for a lot of York teams and Lancaster took a very secure victory of 157.5 points to just 105.5 for York.
So which teams should you be watching for some strong performances from York to help us bring back the Carter-James Trophy? Based on analysis of a combination of this season’s BUCS results and last year’s Roses results, there are some teams The Yorker thinks could be the making of York’s performance this year.
The Advanced Ballroom and Latin dance teams both excelled last year and are definitely ones to watch this time around. York were unstoppable in the Judo last year so keep an eye out for the Men’s under 81kg team and Women’s over 51kg team, who will hopefully have another good weekend.
The mixed and Women’s skiing teams performed superbly last year amongst some controversial officiating so they are definitely a team to watch. The Men’s Rugby Union 7’s teams and Rugby Union Men’s 2nds team had some first class scores and will definitely be ones to watch again this year.
Some teams were expected to do well last year and unfortunately couldn’t quite manage it. After a fantastic league performance from the Men’s 1sts fencing team this season they will be pulling everything out of the bag to make up for the poor performance last year. Earlier in the season York met Lancaster in the Northern League losing narrowly away but winning by a large margin in York. The Women’s fencing team will be hoping that having a more complete team this year will enable them to make up for a disappointing Premier League season and reinstate them as the team to watch.
Remember that The Yorker will be following all the action over the Roses weekend (13th-15th May) with a live blog, which will keep you updated with regular reports from all corners of campus. So come out and support your White Rose team and lets bring back the Carter-James Trophy to where it belongs.
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