Get ready to roar on #TeamDMU at Varsity 2016!

Sports and society stars right across De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) came together with a rousing battle cry to launch their assault on Varsity 2016.

Footballers and rugby players joined climbers and gamers to form one mighty #TeamDMU, fired-up and ready to take on the University of Leicester (UoL) in this year’s series of hard-fought matches.

The annual Varsity tournament, organised by De Montfort Students' Union, pits Leicester’s two universities head-to-head in a multitude of sports and society disciplines, with points available for the winners of each grudge match.

The series kicks off on Sunday, with more than 40 fixtures taking place right through to March 16: the university with the highest overall points tally when the dust has settled is crowned Varsity winner.

In front of hundreds of team players and students dressed in DMU colours, Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard promised to throw “the biggest party DMU had ever seen” if #TeamDMU was crowned victors this year – something the university is yet to achieve since the competition began.

He told the crowd, gathered for the Varsity 2016 launch event at DMU’s Campus Centre: “Wouldn’t it be amazing to win Varsity? It’s such an anomaly that it has always been won by University of Leicester. But I really believe we can do it this year.

“There is a spirit and belief I haven’t seen before now at DMU, with teams having a really strong year so far. But it is crucial that everyone else lends their support; we need to flood their campus with our supporters.

“In 10 years’ time I want you to be able to meet up again and talk about 2016, the year you won Varsity.”

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Each Varsity year is held on different turf, with UoL hosting most of this year’s events. The first of the Varsity 2016 games will be American football, with DMU’s Falcons taking on UoL’s Leicester Longhorns at Babington Community College, on Sunday, at 12pm.

The Falcons go into this crucial opening fixture as favourites, having already beaten the Longhorns 6-0 earlier in the season.

Falcons’ offensive tackler Phil Cherry said he was excited about getting stuck in to the game.

The 21-year-old Computer Games Programming BSc student said: “As a team we have definitely improved, there was a really good turn-out at Freshers’ Week because the sport is getting a lot more exposure.

“I’d never played the sport before coming to DMU and I’ve just loved it. A supportive crowd makes a big difference so the more people we get watching, the better. Seriously, having cheering fans pushes you, pushes the whole team on.

“It really feels like we can do it this year.”  

Captain of the Girls Netball and Drama Studies BA student, Lily Shaw Morris, was equally positive.

She said: “We’re super-pumped! We’re actually going to win! The support really helps. We love knowing people are rooting for us.”

All fixtures, times and details can be found on DSU’s dedicated Varsity 2016 home page, and along with the contests taking place on the pitch, there is another battleground: social media.

The hashtag to use when sending Tweets cheering on the teams is #TeamDMU – if you can’t get there in person, show your support online.