UEL Men’s badminton will not participate in the BUCS league this year – because of a lack of players.
The Blues were forced to concede their game away at Queen Mary last Wednesday due to the shortfall of numbers.
A team requires six players to play a game of Badminton in the BUCS league but UEL were left with only two on Wednesday.
Skippers Sorrow
Captain Sean Wilson told Rising East “It’s a shame we won’t be playing in BUCS this year but we simply haven’t got enough players to be able to field a team every week”.
Wilson has taken the captaincy following Ali Chin’s departure from UEL and the glory days under Chin seem a distant memory.
UEL comfortably avoided relegation and went on their best-ever cup run under Chin last year so it is tragic for the club that the progress hasn’t continued.
Trouble Ahead
With Wilson now in his third year and graduating this summer, the future is looking bleak for Men’s Badminton at UEL as there could be no one to help recruit for the 2019-20 season.
There is a chance that UEL will compete in the cup fixtures and varsity as these games are more of a one off rather than a commitment which is necessary for a consistent league team.
Missed Opportunity
UEL may never have had a better chance to build a Badminton legacy at Sports Dock with Jamaican international Sean Wilson becoming the first Badminton sports scholar at the university.
Wilson hasn’t lost a league game in his two years in East London but his influence could have been taken wider than just the court.
It’s claimed the skipper wasn’t encouraged to go and help with coaching nor was his name and profile used enough to get more people on the court.
Badminton in the UK took a huge hit two years ago when funding was completely cut by Sport England and instances like this could be the long-term knock on effect of that decision.
