UNIVERSITY NEWS
Macquarie moments
Mascot stealing is all part of university games, but for Macquarie’s high profile hockey team, coming out in front in the game of mascot theft, became almost as important as winning competition matches.
“Mascot stealing is part of hockey culture,” explains Ahad Malik (B Arts / B Comm 2014). “At the university games every team has a mascot: the University of New South Wales has a totem pole, Sydney university has a garden gnome, and we had the ‘Magut’.
Ahad says that Macquarie’s hockey team is known as the Maguts, a tradition that dates back to the formation of the club only a year or so after the University’s foundation.
“Because Macquarie didn’t have enough players to field a team, we had to borrow from the Gordon Hockey Club to compete in what were then known as Hockey Carnivals. The team was known as the Macquarie and Gordon United Touring Squad (MAGUTS), and the name stuck.
The chosen mascot was a seven-foot-long stuffed worm, and became a highly sought-after trophy because of Macquarie’s stellar hockey reputation, he says.
“Team members have a great emotional attachment to the mascot and guard it around the clock to fend off any attempts at theft or disfigurement by rival teams during the annual week-long University Games.
Of course, in between standing guard Macquarie’s hockey team staged raiding parties of their own.
“We captured the UNSW totem pole a couple of times. It was paraded around publicly until a deal could be struck for its return, but we couldn’t let it go back unchanged by its experience: once, we sent it back in Macquarie colours. “
Another time there was a bit of an accident during the modification process, and the totem pole unfortunately broke in half.
They weren’t happy, he says, and teamed up with UTS to exact revenge, with matters coming to a head mid-game.
“Emotions were running pretty high, and a raiding party invaded the pitch during a game. Macquarie players flung aside their hockey sticks as they raced to defend the mascot, with the ensuing tug of war meaning the magut was ripped in half.
“Meanwhile the other team used the distraction to score a goal. It was a pretty contentious move.”
Ahad says that after the magut’s bean bag filling innards spilt all over the field the team was forced to reassess some of the mascot’s design features.
“We decided that stuffing it with old clothes would make it more robust, but it also made it weigh about 30 kilos.
“I don’t think it’s been stolen since.”
Macquarie University Blues Awards
Celebrate the extraordinary level of sporting brilliance at Macquarie University 6:30pm-10:00pm Thursday 3 November 2016 Macquarie University Sport & Aquatic Centre Gymnasium Road, North Ryde. For tickets and for more information, contact blues@mq.edu.au