Drunk students land in trouble (From Oxford Mail)

Drunk students land in trouble

6:48pm Monday 10th November 2008 in

By George Hamilton »

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Student rugby players last night apologised for “inappropriate and offensive” behaviour which led to police ejecting more than 30 of them from an Oxford pub.

Ronnie Gunson, the president of Oxford Brookes University Rugby Club, said team-mates had taken part in “foolish pranks” at the Hobgoblin pub, in Cowley Road, and admitted a social event had got out of hand.

University vice chancellor Prof Janet Beer has launched an investigation into the incident, which happened in garden of the pub on Thursday.

In a statement, the university said it was taking the matter “extremely seriously”.

Members of the rugby club, who were wearing sports jackets and brightly-coloured trousers, had been drinking heavily and shouting through a megaphone as part of the social event.

They were also surrounded by parts of an animal carcass when police arrived.

Officers were called at about 4pm, after Alex Mann, 29, of Cowley, complained that her Honda Civic was showered with beer as she drove past the pub’s garden in Bullingdon Road.

Ms Mann, who was with her two-year-old daughter Lily, said: “One guy who was dressed up like he had been hunting stood in front of my car really aggressively.

“While he stood in front of me, the rest of them stood up on the beer tables and threw three or four pints of beer at my car.

“My car was soaked and it stinks inside. I felt really intimidated and scared.

“They were really horrifically drunk.

“I have seen a lot of drunk students, and drunk students are fine, but that was really disgusting.

“I was so intimidated but they just laughed at me.”

One student handed Ms Mann £20 to pay for her car to be cleaned after the police arrived.

Mr Gunson said everyone involved in the incident had since come forward to take responsibility for their actions.

He said: “During the social, members became in-toxicated and behaved in an inappropriate and offensive manner.

“As club president, I would like to apologise to the community and to the university. The club would particularly like to offer apologies to the member of the community who felt intimidated by the actions of some of our members.

“I can offer no excuses for the behaviour of our members – other than to say these were foolish pranks that were not intended to offend but got completely out of hand.”

Robyn Carter, the manager of the nearby Joe Austin Florists, said he had seen a student with a pot plant attached to his head and another wearing a sex toy earlier in the day.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said between 30 and 40 people had been told to leave the pub.

Prof Beer said: “I am very concerned to hear of these reports about our students behaving in an offensive and antisocial manner.

“The university is taking this matter extremely seriously.”

She said all of the students in the pub at the time would be interviewed and had been banned from matches representing the university until an investigation was completed.

Rick Windell, manager of the Hobgoblin, declined to comment.

Comments(50)

bifocal bill says...
7:23pm Mon 10 Nov 08

obviously there not feeling the credit crunch yet give them higher fees