“Free Pussy” Oxford college rugby club banned from competing

Pembroke College's rugby captain steps down as club is banned and relegated for controversial drink-spiking email

A historic image of Pembroke College's rugby player's in action, from Rugby Football Club's homepage (Pembroke college)

The Oxford rugby club which provoked outrage with an email to its members suggesting they spike the drinks of young female students has been relegated and temporarily banned from playing.

Pembroke College Rugby Football Club scandalised Oxford after Woo Kim, its social secretary, invited players to bring two bottles of wine to a social event, one of which would “include a substance of your choice”, to be given to unsuspecting women, in an email entitled “Free Pussy”.

In a meeting with Pembroke’s JCR last night, Harry Horner, the team’s captain, revealed that OURFC, the body that administrates all of Oxford’s rugby, had banned the them from playing in the first round of the season, and relegated them to the third division of the competiton.

Horner also said he was stepping down from his position, and apologised “whole-heartedly and sincerely”.

Read more: Is Oxford a training ground for misogyny?

“This is an utter mess,” he said. “I am personally sorry for not having better judgement; I reacted too slowly in condemning the email and did not act as a proper leader.”

Kim, the former social secretary also apologised, saying, “I cannot be more sincere about my apology”.

“ I want to clarify that the club had no intentions of sexual harassment,” he added. “We were not planning on spiking drinks.”

In addition to the temporary ban and relegation, OURFC also recommended that “for the remainder of the academic year, the social side of PCRFC [should be] disbanded”.

Pembroke College’s JCR President Becky Howe said that the past few weeks had been “pretty horrible”.

“We can now make some really positive changes: we can be the college that stood up and said that there is a problem with lad culture. Hopefully other colleges and universities will follow suit.”