A committee member of the Newcastle Women’s Rugby Football Club steps down, due to the heavy levels of drinking involved.
In October of this year, a Newcastle University student, who was actively on the Women’s Rugby committee, decided to take a step back from their role within the team.
This decision is said to have been made due to the “heaviness of the drinking”, according to another member of the team.
They are taking this time out to focus on themselves.
Issy Harkins, a member of Newcastle University Women’s Rugby Club, discussed the toxicity around alcohol and how prevalent it is within her experience and other team members, as a student, in a university sports society.
She stated, “We do have a lot of sober socials, but they’re not as frequent”.
“You’re only hanging out with these people when you’re drinking or actually playing sport”, she says.
“People know what the craziest sport is, and not really what the most successful sport is”.
Issy Harkins, Women’s University Rugby team member
Additionally, she discussed how she believes it has negatively affected her daily productivity. She emphasises that after the heavy drinking that continues every Wednesday on sports night, her university work is most impacted, especially on Thursdays.
“There is a such a massive expectation to drink and have loads of fun at sports social events that I feel like I would be missing out, or even be seen as boring if I couldn’t make it to one,” said Katie LeRougetel, member of the Newcastle University Athletics team.
Katie further commented, “The prices of drinks has increased and that often makes me feel even worse after drinking”. She also said “It sometimes feels like a waste of money”.
The culture of drinking that surrounds university sports societies has a distinctly negative reputation. Issy continued to express the concern that “There’s not much the university can do”, but they have made it clear that they do have a strong stance on safe drinking habits.
There is a clear, negative impact present on university students in Newcastle when it comes to their relationship with alcohol.
Peer pressure is a significant reason behind the lengths that students go to in order to feel like they fit in. More than 50% of students reported that they have felt pressured into to drinking alcohol, whilst being a student in Newcastle.
According to statistics on the nation’s drinking by Drink Aware in 2023, “Concern is most likely to be for a friend’s drinking” with “36% of those with a concern indicate it relates to a friend, rising to 44% amongst males“.
Furthermore, they also reported, “One in five people who are concerned about someone else’s drinking have not said anything or taken any action“.
Unfortunately, these pressures often include a large amount of alcohol consumption and this can have a damaging effect on other aspects of student life, particularly if more awareness is not raised.
If you are in need of support or want to find out more about the affects of excessive drinking or regarding alcohol in general, please click the following links:
Welfare and support from the Student Union
Drink Aware – advice and support
