Counter Culture in Rowing

As the new season has just began, clubs are preparing for the coming onslaught of new rowers craving stash. Some will aim to keep these rowers appeased with an influx of new garish kit, the standard of which is usually reserved for the club blazer. Alone this may seem like a strange thing to write about, however with the resurgence of the mullet, bucket hats becoming standard wear, EDM being the go-to ergo playlist, and the attachment many feel to their gaudy eyewear, this could point to a form of rebellion against the roots of the sport. Rowing is often seen as a traditional sport with a history of strong discipline and stronger athletes, but there have always been people pushing at the fringes, it is not a surprise that there is another form of counter culture emerging.

Perhaps the discipline, commitment, and rigour of the training necessary to succeed in the sport leads to the athletes taking charge of the only thing they can in such a calculated environment – their appearance. When you take into account the strict traditional dress code and behaviour policy at many of the UK’s top rowing schools and also Henley Royal Regatta, this fashion statement becomes more of a statement of individuality and identity. Many younger rowers have bought into the idea, this seems to be breaking down the barriers to rowing and combating the inherent elitism associated with the sport. However the lambasting of bucket hats by James Cracknell in the Olympics indicates that many are still firmly attached to the traditionalism of the sport. 

This movement, unsurprisingly, appears to have started in the schools and universities. Newcastle University Rowing Club bucket hats appear to be prominent now at all events and many have followed blue star in designing their own. All Scotch College crews that came across to Henley Royal Regatta in 2019 sported mullets, and at BUCS regatta you can now see an array of ‘funky leggings’ aiming to take top spot at a competition ran by BUCS themselves on Twitter. 

When recruiting at university, many captains highlight the work hard, play hard approach that all clubs appear to take. However, the self imposition of a ban on nights out and early training sessions lead to a severe lack of opportunity to play hard. This adds a sense of irony to the counter-culture, there is not even a rebellion in the traditional sense of drinking and partying, yet if you were to place a rower next to a raver it would be a task to separate them. The brightly coloured tight clothing, bucket hats, mullets, the taste for EDM, and being the only ones awake and out and about at 5am are all common factors across both. 

Music also plays a key part in the rebellion from the traditional view of rowing, the motivational rock and guitar solos of the past have been replaced with a wide range of dance music with a strong beat that many argue helps with rhythm on the ergo. Often athletes choose their own playlist that even the youngest of coaches would struggle to name more than 2 artists on, taking control of what they can. This may become more prominent in schools and junior clubs where explicit songs are not allowed for juniors, so the best the athletes can choose are songs with no lyrics but a carefully timed piece where the drop is at a key time of their workout. 

Even the wording that the athletes use to describe their fashion and culture seem to cut away at the traditional beliefs of rowing. Rowers of old highlight how tough the sport is and the commitment needed to do well, that every millisecond in a race is hard earned over months of training. Calling a new pair of Oakleys or Pit Vipers ‘free speed’ or announcing that a bucket hat takes 5 seconds off your 2k split goes against this philosophy, but it pokes light-hearted fun at these attitudes and gives athletes more freedom of expression, which only encourages them to continue and work harder.

It could be argued that brightly coloured clothing has always been a staple of rowing, as shown at Henley Royal Regatta every year by the plethora of blazers. One of the most traditional events in the calendar is a rainbow of colour, it is hard to explain the difference between the conformity of a bright blazer but the rebellion of bright leggings. Perhaps the design of stripes and trim is more appealing to the traditional than the print and patterns on leggings, the formal occasion that warrants a boat club blazer is far from when a rubber ducky print such as the University of Bath RC leggings are appropriate. 

Youth and rebellion have always gone hand in hand, yet this time it appears to be taking a stronger hold, the Olympics saw bucket hats and bright Oakleys make their way to the highest level of competition. The key to the garish rebellion must be appropriateness and what the different factions deem so, the notion that regattas are places for prim and proper athletes to perform and present themselves in an ‘acceptable’ way is no longer the case for many. But perhaps we should be encouraging this modernisation? At the end of the day you have to enjoy rowing, or you wouldn’t come back to those 5am starts. The athletes are proud to represent their club, but also to represent themselves, in an VIII where each person has a matching lycra, you look for the hair, the hat, the sunglasses to set you apart from your crew. It is a way of expressing individuality, whilst also being part of a unit.

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Harry Perry

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