Initiations and hazing are, as with many other UK universities, a persistent issue here at Cardiff University.
Last academic year, the issue of initiations forced its way into the open when the Cardiff University Men’s Cricket Club was suspended by the Students’ Union amid allegations of degrading rituals.
Witness accounts described recruits being subjected to verbal abuse and holding wet socks in their mouths; a witness referred to the incident as a “form of human torture”.
In the same year, Gair Rhydd reported separate allegations of an unnamed society coercing prospective members into, among other things, eating dog food. While most of the big instances of initiations and rituals we have heard rumours about come from the Athletics Union, these instances show that the problem reaches into societies, too.
Tackling dangerous initiations has again become a ‘priority’ for university officials across the country, as the challenges facing Cardiff are not unique but part of a national problem.
As for a recent harrowing example, the University of Bath launched an investigation into allegations that members of a sport club had engaged in an initiation event involving the spiking of drinks, specifically targeting girls’ drinks.
While Gair Rhydd is unaware of any comparable behaviours taking place at Cardiff University, Bath’s example should demonstrate, plainly and clearly, the importance of tackling the cultures and behaviours behind initiations before they escalate to worrying, dangerous, and criminal levels.
To prevent anyone from thinking Cardiff has very little of this problem, let us remind readers that, across many years, there have been several high-profile incidents regarding the conduct of sport teams at Cardiff.
In March 2020, for example, all five men’s football teams were suspended for initiations that the Union stated were “degrading” and “humiliating”.
In October 2023, for another, members of the rugby committee resigned, and blue shirts and chinos were banned in YOLO for months after a 10-to-15-person scrum took place in the queue outside the Students' Union.
In January 2026, the men’s cricket club were suspended for initiation rituals that constituted “bullying and excessive drinking”, which included allegations of heads being flushed down toilets, people being forced to eat raw onions, and verbal abuse. Many of the students involved in each of these incidents have now graduated, but the recurring pattern of repeated initiations persists.
Despite clear guidelines, this poses serious questions about the culture within some sport societies on campus, and the Students’ Union’s effectiveness in tackling the problem.
Confronting this question of culture will be an important challenge facing the Cardiff Students’ Union heading into this academic year. Formal initiations continue to be explicitly banned by the Union, and the issue was prominent during the Union’s elections.
Part of the new VP Sports manifesto focused on improving ‘Report and Support’ and “breaking the taboo of students feeling scared to report abuse in sports clubs”.
Margherita Puccinelli, VP Sports and Athletic Union President, expressed to Gair Rhydd that a major challenge has been initiations going under different names.
On the issue, she said that: “You can call it a welcome night, a relaxed mixer or anything you like. What matters isn’t the name on the event, it’s the behaviour taking place. If those behaviours constitute an initiation, that’s how we’ll address them”.
In their aim to tackle the problem, the Union has outlined clear red lines: non-voluntary activity and pushing students to the point of vomiting with dangerous drinking initiations are immediate violations, for example.
Puccinelli also made clear that coercive practices will not be tolerated, saying that: “To an extent, just because the option was given doesn’t always mean that behaviour is okay either”, Puccinelli explained.
“There should be no humiliation, no coercion, no pressure. If any behaviour is over the line in terms of someone might say, ‘Oh yeah, I'll do that’, because they want to fit in, that’s still a no.”
On the subject of initiations where freshers are forced to drink until they vomit, Puccinelli added: “There’s a clear line when drinking stops being social and becomes about pressure, humiliation or pushing someone beyond what they’re comfortable with. If someone is being encouraged or expected to drink to excess, particularly as part of proving themselves or fitting in, that isn’t acceptable.”
The Union has started this year by giving pre-term ‘Safer Societies’ workshops and active bystander training.
It has also introduced a traffic-light system to show committees which minor issues they can handle internally and which serious misconduct, such as initiations and sexual violence, must be referred to the university’s Report and Support or Student Advice services.
On committee responsibilities, the VP Sports added: “Committee members don’t need to be experts, but they do have a responsibility to help set the tone in their groups.
That means modelling the right behaviour, challenging things that aren’t appropriate, and speaking up when others aren’t responding. They’re not expected to deal with everything themselves, but they are expected to lead”.
The VP Sports argues that the focus is on trying to fight behaviours: “We don’t want to ban sports; we’re trying to ban the behaviours, if that makes sense.”
Puccinelli also emphasised that it was important to preserve the positive impact of sport clubs: “I came to university as an estranged student, didn’t have a community outside of university, and sort of struggled when I arrived. For me, I wouldn't have got through my degree without having a sports club, so I really want students to understand just how positive our sports clubs are.”
However, this preventative policy does come with its challenges. The biggest reason why these initiations persist is because of their visibility — rarely things you know the details of unless you were involved (the organiser or the victim, that is).
In that way, it’s no surprise that the Union emphasise preventative measures as their focus, because punitive measures are simply not easily executed for a problem largely invisible to the Union.
The Union can deploy security, welfare workers, and paramedics to monitor the YOLO queue on Wednesday nights, but it can’t stop activities that take place outside their view from happening.
If the Union wants to do something about the problem, which it says it does, it must go beyond just training. Initiations have been explicitly banned here and across the UK for many years, and committees are aware of that, but initiations still happen.
Reaffirming that initiations are still banned is right and part of the correct course of action but not enough to make an impact in curbing the problem. The Union can’t ensure committees listen to its training, but they can bring the hammer down when the rules are broken.
Another challenge is that reports to the Union require verifiable evidence. Puccinelli said: “It’s very difficult because some students might not feel comfortable reporting with their name, but we do encourage students as much as possible not to report anonymously, because then we can’t solve the issue”.
As a result, trapped in a limbo land, it is hard to see how the Union can make any progress outside of their push on prevention and understanding.
Despite these hurdles, Puccinelli remains optimistic about the question of the cultures within sport teams, saying: “I think cultures are hopefully hugely improving compared to what might have been happening at the university ten years ago, and these behaviours really are changing. That doesn’t mean they are perfect; there is still a long way to go”.
This is partly reflected in a new push for improvement to the Union’s society-tiering system, which Puccinelli explained is “really about creating a positive society that goes above and beyond: raising money, hosting positive community events, sober socials, and collaborating with other clubs”, but the enactment of these new tiers is yet to be seen.
With Freshers’ behind us, the Union’s new training and guidelines will be put to the test. It has been nearly a year since the incidents that led to the cricket team being suspended took place, and previous years show us that many of the behaviours the Union seeks to prevent or disincentivise are likely to have gone on as sport clubs and societies sought new members.
It is yet to be seen whether the new preventative policies will affect the conduct of these groups and, if they occur, whether students will feel confident in reporting initiations.
In the past, there has been a culture of silence and social ostracisation around this issue; the impact of this is invisible and needs to be overcome if the Union wants to have a realistic chance of making a dent in the initiation problem.