Behind the fanfare of UCL’s Varsity win, one sports club was barred from taking home the trophy despite defeating their King’s opponents against the odds.
Despite winning by 10-5, UCL’s Futsal Club lost out on taking the victory point in their first-ever Varsity game after it was revealed one of its players did not have a full membership to the club.
The Purple team managed to upset their opponents against the odds despite ranking two divisions lower than the Reds, who had recently won their seasonal championship.
But UCL’s Futsal Club president said their underdog victory was short-lived after a “salty” KCLSU staffer insisted on investigating the match result.
“Turns out we had a team member who did not possess a membership, despite being a UCL student and having played with the team throughout the season.”
The news came as a huge disappointment for UCL players, with the Futsal win being described by the Purples’ captain as “the sweetest victory out of the whole Varsity series”.
Futsal, a fast-paced five-a-side game of football played indoors, featured for the first time at the London Varsity this year, alongside other new categories such as e-sports.
Speaking to The Cheese Grater, KCL’s futsal president said he was also disappointed with the decision, adding King’s players recognised the 10-5 result.
However, the incident was omitted from UCL Union’s online coverage of the London Varsity while its official scoreboard only notes that the futsal team lost by walkout.
Pi Media, which covered the futsal match, also failed to mention the walkout in their video published on YouTube a few days after the game.
UCL ended up winning the London Varsity by a comfortable margin of 24-18 nonetheless, meaning the futsal walkout did little to impact the final result.
UCL’s club president added: “As proud as I am of our win, in the end, I am also at fault for not making sure of memberships as well, we just got unlucky.
“It’s a fair decision by our Union.”
A KCLSU spokesperson said: “As per our established Varsity Regulations between the two Unions, all representatives must be eligible to play BUCS Fixtures by the regulations of their own institution/union and BUCS eligibility requirements, unless agreed by both teams and the series organisers in advance of the fixture.”
Students’ Union UCL declined to comment.
