Swiss Cottage based Central School of Speech & Drama, well-known for training future stars of stage and screen, appears to be nurturing some considerable football talent as well. Central's football team has just beaten twenty-two other sides to win the University of London Vase Cup.
The final against a team from Royal Holloway was appropriately full of drama. Central went 2-0 down in the first ten minutes. It would have been 3-0 but for the fact that goalkeeper Andrew Glinker Stevenson brilliantly saved a penalty. The winter of Central’s discontent was, however, short-lived. Martin Cowan, who is studying Acting for Screen, gave a fine performance as Wayne Rooney to slot in the drama college’s first goal. That was followed by some neat footwork by Movement and Therapy student Robert Duncan to score Central’s equaliser.
It was still 2-2 at half time and, although Central dominated the second half, they struggled to finish off the chances that they had created. Captain Shaun Chapman, an Applied Theatre and Education student, had been on the subs bench because of injury, but he decided to go once more into the breach to create a breakthrough. This finally came when Leonard Redlich was brought down in the box. Though a student of Acting for Musical Stage, Leonard was not using his theatrical training; it was a blatant foul. The offender was given a red card and Leonard himself kicked the penalty which won the match.
The score line might have been even better if three star Central players had not been unavoidably absent due to other fixtures, with Henry Peters playing Firf in The Cherry Orchard and Jake Waring and Stuart Grahame playing Trigorin and Sorin in The Seagull.
Some are born great. Others achieve greatness. This was Central’s first season in the University of London competition and it is the first time that a new entrant has won the Vase. As well as winning the knock-out tournament, the team is also currently top of Division 4 of the League and is guaranteed promotion for next season.
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