Adding insult to injury, the Faculty of Physical Education and Health has elected, yet again, to reward our losing football team. This season, the Varsity Blues have not won a single game in the eight they’ve played, and have been losing by an average of about 37 points each time.
A football review committee is currently looking into ways of revamping the embarrassing program. With 43 of our 44 intercollegiate teams doing well within their respective leagues, the faculty decides to pour more money into the one failure instead of rewarding the deserving teams who have proven themselves year after year, raising much of their own budgets and recruiting independently.
Homecoming, at the beginning of this month, was a perfect example of the inordinate amount of attention our football team is awarded. In addition to many university-organized events, colleges and faculties also got to showcase their successes. Painfully, the faculty of Physical Education and Health felt it was appropriate to continue highlighting its program with the annual “Homecoming Football Game.” U of T has numerous spectator-friendly teams capable of playing at this time of year—the soccer, rugby, field hockey and water polo teams are all excellent (and winning) examples. But alas, it seems homecoming will always be about football.
Perhaps the explanation is tradition. There is certainly something to be said for maintaining tradition—even if it means playing a homecoming game with negligible attendance. There is an old saying that goes “funding is a right, not a privilege.” In the world of sports, you earn this right by winning games. Competition is about survival of the fittest, and anyone who attends this fine institution knows this. So why do we continue lavishing attention on the worst team we have to offer?
Currently there are six financial awards available to all varsity athletes, and five teams offer scholarships directed towards their team members: swimming, track and field, football, basketball, and gymnastics. While the funds for many of these awards are raised by the teams themselves, if the faculty has money to spend, why not reward deserving teams or athletes with scholarships or grants? Or help teams that don’t have enough money to send all their athletes to competitions, or teams that charge membership fees in order to pay for equipment.
All of these potential recipients have proven themselves deserving through achievement and success. Until our football team does that, I simply cannot understand why this university should commit any more energy to a floundering organization.
