I AM angry! Over the past few months I have seen university rugby, hockey and lacrosse teams, with their special goalposts and markers using Meadow Lane public sports playing field, mostly during the wet weather.

They churn up the ground and sometimes have two or three teams practising there. They take up the whole of the playing field.

I saw a little boy come to attempt to kick his football, looked at the mass of university students playing and, realising there was no room for him left to play, he picked up his ball, obviously feeling forlorn, and left. It isn’t fair!

I asked one of the university captains if they really must use a public playing field while the weather was so wet, therefore churning up the field.

The captain told me that they were banned from practising on college sports grounds because they were being “preserved for the forthcoming Varsity matches”. She also apologised for using public facilities.

I wonder what exactly the universities contribute (if anything) to Oxford’s public playing fields.

Residents pay towards the upkeep through their council tax, so that they and their children can have a space to play on.

Surely, with all the money which both universities receive through student fees, and all the ground which they own in Oxford (and surrounding areas) there is no need for their teams to use public playing fields.

On Christmas Day, I saw local children wanting to play football, turned off the Jackdaw Lane University Sports Complex, yet students can use local playing fields, sometimes taking over the whole field. And they do not get turned off.

Surely, this is not fair, nor is it necessary.

The university owns thousands of acres of land all over and around Oxford.

Their students should use that land instead of public playing fields.

PAMELA WEBBER

Bullingdon Road

Oxford