Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Imperial College rugby team suspended after players pose naked in front of Winston Churchill statue

Team-mates film themselves cavorting in Trafalgar Square fountains and exposing themselves near Cenotaph memorial

Tom Embury-Dennis
Friday 08 June 2018 10:08 BST
Comments
An Imperial College student climbs the fountains in Trafalgar Square
An Imperial College student climbs the fountains in Trafalgar Square

A well known London university has suspended its rugby team after players posed naked in front of a statue of Winston Churchill.

The players, all students at Imperial College, also filmed themselves cavorting in the fountains at Trafalgar Square, parading naked near the Cenotaph memorial and exposing their genitals in public.

The west london university said it had launched an investigation into the incident after photos and videos were shared on the Whatsapp messenger service and subsequently obtained by The Sun newspaper.

Seven team members were pictured posing in front of Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square, many of them covering their genitals with sombreros.

The group were reportedly on a Mexican-themed night out.

They later filmed themselves jumping into fountains, with one team-mate offering “bonus points if you get in that saucer and take a dump”.

One player was captured near the Cenotaph coming out of a phone box. He chanted “my maracas are bigger than yours,” before exposing his genitals to the camera.

Student walks out of London phone box naked during night out (screengrab)

Another clip shows one of the students exposing his testicles on a Tube train.

In a joint statement, the Imperial College Union and Imperial College London said: “This alleged behaviour goes against the values and expectations of our student and staff community and is completely unacceptable. Everyone deserves to feel supported and respected. The College and Students’ Union continue to work hard to challenge and remove all inappropriate behaviour at Imperial.

“The Students’ Union has strict policies in place regarding the behaviour of all members of clubs and societies. In response to these allegations the Union has suspended the club pending investigation - further disciplinary action will be taken where necessary. “

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in