The Cathedral Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of a football match between Lincoln’s two university sides. The ‘final’ is played on Sincil Bank once a season, and 2017 was the third meeting between the two. Honours were even, one win to the University of Lincoln and then in 2016 Bishop Grosseteste evened things up. With over 1,100 fans turning out for the 2017 final, I thought I ought to go along in order to do a small piece for the magazine (which I will, despite this)
The game has rather unique atmosphere, a cross between a football match and an American sporting event. I suppose it comes from the rivalry between two institutions as opposed to being a location based thing. The support was loud often bordering on aggressive but I felt there was something slightly tongue-in-cheek about it all. Both teams brought mascots and, as per America, they had a little scuffle during the game. For some of those in attendance I think the mascot fight held more interest than the football.
Some critics of the competition have questioned its authenticity, suggesting it is a contrived trophy. Of course, it is, it was created in 2015 with the exact purpose of being a new cup for the two universities to compete for. I think it is proud of what it is, not ashamed because it doesn’t have its roots in the last century. It is easy to be a critic from the comfort of your armchair, is it not?
Whilst the support often felt ironic and manufactured, it was still very much evident by the time the two teams came out. It had the air of a pantomime, routinely booing the opposition at every touch from both sides of the ground. The University of Lincoln had the Stacey West, BG had the Selenity Stand, the separation adding to the atmosphere. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think violence was ever on the cards, but it did at least feel like a football match, even if it was more MLS than EPL.
One aspect that was far from contrived was the action on the field. If the stands were full of students looking forward to the night out afterwards more than the game, the pitch had some very good footballers on it, and this game matters to them. I’d seen it billed as a friendly somewhere, but an early altercation following a late tackle dispelled any fears of it being sub-standard. These players wanted to win and they served up a decent, competitive game of football.
Both sides were nervous for the first half-hour and there were no clear-cut chances. The University of Lincoln looked to have better individual players, but Bishop Grosseteste looked more organised as a unit. In truth it looked like a typical City game this season, structured at the back but unable to find the killer instinct in front of goal. Then Oliver Lawrence nodded in a Lewis Weaver corner at the back post to put UoL (University of Lincoln) ahead. It wasn’t a pretty goal, but they all count. UoL celebrated wildly (pictured top) after breaking the deadlock, but their opponents weren’t going to roll over and submit. Yet.
Within minutes BG (Bishop Grosseteste) were level, a smart finish from Luke Hornsey sending the fans around me wild. The drum struck up and chants of ‘BG’ rang out across Sincil Bank. In fairness both sets of fans made significantly more noise than Cambridge did last weekend, whether it was contrived or not.
At half time both sides went off and three sets of dancing girls came onto the pitch. As I was twenty years older than 95% of the crowd I averted my eyes for most of their displays for fear of feeling like a dirty old man. I even put the camera away, just in case.
I thought BG edged the first half after a shaky start. UoL had some great individual players, Tom Oldfield at the back looked incredibly solid, Louis Sae-be had a lovely touch in the centre of the park and up-front Lewis Weaver showed great movement. For BG it was more of a team effort, although Ryan Atwell and Dan Woolley were two that didn’t look out of place on the hallowed turf of Sincil Bank.
If the first half had been a tactical game of chess, cautious and steady, the second half was the moment where someone comes in and throws the board on the floor, trampling on all the BG pieces as they did it. UoL took full control.
Two goals in a minute killed the game off as a contest, firstly a disputed free kick was drilled in from the right-hand side and into the net. It shouldn’t have got through the crowd of players and Richard Greenway in the BG net will doubtless have nightmares about it beating him. Before BG could compose themselves, it was 3-1.
Lewis Weaver caused the issues again, winding past defenders in the BG box. Just before he could pull the trigger they pulled him to the floor and referee Gary Sutton had no choice but to point to the spot. Baxter Smith made no mistake in front of the UoL support. Cries who ‘who are ya’ rang out across the Bank, not for the first time this season.
BG had a golden opportunity to get back into the game shortly after. Warren McCreeth couldn’t hold a drive at goal and Nat D’Rosario found himself free in front of goal with just the keeper to beat. He couldn’t compose himself though and skewed an effort well off target. That was their last chance at salvaging something from the game.
UoL began to press forward finding gaps in the tiring BG defence and Lewis Weaver grabbed his second and UoL’s fourth with a powerful drive, arguably the pick of the goals. Weaver had caused problems all evening for BG’s defence and as the minute wore on they had no answer to his pace.
Any notion of this being a friendly went shortly before full time after an ugly incident right in front of the dugouts. Sean James appeared to stamp on Matt Reynolds after an innocuous initial challenge. Tempers boiled over as players piled into each other, Sutton didn’t hesitate to pull out his red card and send James off in disgrace. There was still time for Weaver to add a fifth, by now the result was academic but he still enjoyed his hat trick goal, cueing jubilant celebrations in front of their fans.
The final whistle saw both sets of supporters hang around for the presentation, something that reminded me I wasn’t watching a competitive game. If my team had just lost 5-1 in a cup final I’d be halfway down the street when the whistle went, intent on drowning my sorrows in a local drinking establishment. I’m sure many of them would have been out on the town until early morning celebrating or commiserating together, something else you wouldn’t get in a so-called ‘proper’ cup final. The fans all applauded the winners despite the apparent dislike during the game, underlying the fact this was an exhibition match to promote the two universities and forge stronger links. I think it is worthy of noting that in an action packed second half, I had momentarily forgotten that there was only civic pride at place. The two sides had kicked each other enough for me to believe I was watching a Sunday League cup-final taking place after a long hard season of battling.
Jordan Maguire-Drew and Sean Raggett presented the trophy to Tom Oldfield, the winning captain, and UoL took it back to their campus for another year. I left my first Cathedral Cup game satisfied, impressed and saddened all at the same time. I was satisfied I’d seen a good game of football, impressed by the noise of the support and the numbers they’d turned out in, but saddened that many them probably didn’t appreciate the quality of sporting spectacle that had just been served up. That isn’t detrimental to them, the Cathedral Cup is a matter of pride between students and universities rather than a sporting event in many of the spectator’s eyes.
I suppose nobody told the two teams that though, to their credit.
