“I purposely never really talk much about it, only because it’s painful. I don’t mean in the sense of ‘we stormed Normandy and all your mates were shot and you survived,’ but it was so odd and like it or not, I was the central figure in it.”
When asked about the most contentious moments in our sport, rower’s minds immediately flit to the supposedly scandalous actions of Chris Clark and his band of Oxford ‘mutineers’. The events of the 1987 Boat Race and the implosion of relations in the Oxford University Boat Club camp have been well documented in the likes of Dan Topolski’s book ‘True Blue: The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny‘ and the follow up motion picture. Clark is now head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers men’s rowing programme and for the first time, told his side of the story about the infamous events of the 1987 Dark Blue campaign exclusively to Junior Rowing News.
Speaking from the Porter boathouse on the banks of Lake Mendota, Clark reflected on the ’87 campaign and the aftermath of the so-called ‘mutiny’: “I would rather have seen them race and I absolutely didn’t want them to do that (mutiny) and I told them at the time, don’t. This is your opportunity; you’ve got to do this. I can’t believe they did it and I’m sure some of them regret it. I regret that they did it because those guys were straight up people.”
At the heart of the turbulent times in camp Dark Blue was President Donald Macdonald. At 31, the Scots’ age did not equate to the leadership that the group needed, according to Clark. The American said: “The number one thing was that there was a vacuum of leadership. I can’t even describe it how different it is probably compared to today. There certainly was not any from Donald but I wouldn’t expect it to be from him, just because he was one of our peers.”
According to Clark, even the legendary Topolski did not meet expectation.
“Dan was your classic promoter. He reminded me of Colonel Tom Parker in the Elvis film. Yes, he was self-absorbed and self-centred but he also loved the Boat Race and was a very friendly guy. The biggest thing was that there was no professional coaching staff – literally none. Dan didn’t coach; he just knitted it together and every two weeks we would have a different coach.
Clark continued: “A guy named Mark Lees, who I really liked, (he) was excellent. Steve Royle, who became a fixture. Then you had Mike Spracklen and others. There was one guy named Geoff who everybody called the duck hunter because he looked like one and drove around in a little inflatable boat. There was all sorts of guest coaches and that in and of itself wasn’t a big problem but it was odd. There was no central authority and I certainly didn’t understand how much power the President had”.
In 1986, all of Oxford was wounded. Cambridge were victorious and this ended a streak of ten consecutive victories for Topolski and the Dark Blues (it later transpired that this would be Cambridge’s only win until 1992).
“That was a one off for Cambridge, they had that,” Clark laughed. “We all went to the Savoy in ’86 in parallel with Cambridge at the same hotel! There was a party and ball afterwards with them and I mention it to people now and they’re like ‘what?!“.
Clark remembers what happened next with some trepidation. “I should have just apologised to the alumni and to my crew and insisted we’d do better next year. Instead, it was, ‘I’m going to get my buddies, we’re going to come over,’ something ridiculous. That was just chest thumping hubris. I can’t even imagine doing that 20 years ago let alone now so I’m sure that didn’t go down well”.
Throughout the ’87 season, frustrations arose from the Americans who had come over to win the Boat Race for Oxford. As is so often typical, tensions reached fever pitch during a seat-racing session. “I remember after Christmas we were doing some races and I got put in Isis and I was pissed. Whatever I said to the Isis guys, we managed to beat the top boat“.
That seat-racing situation proved to be a decisive moment in the season.
“I was sick and Donald could not avoid racing me,” recalled Clark. “He put me against Gavin Stewart. He is an unbelievable guy and rowed for Great Britain at the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games. He was the kind of guy you’d drool over now in rowing because he had so much length and fierce competitive fire. You want a team of those people if you can get them – killers on the water, easy going fellas off it”.
Clark managed to beat Gavin by a nose. “I remember thinking, ‘you little…,’ about Donald. How come he doesn’t have to race Gavin?, Gavin would have crushed Donald, crushed him. Anyway, switch over to starboard and I think I lost to Cadoux-Hudson, but I also raced against Donald and I remember it was getting dark and Chris Penny was stroking my boat. The piece was supposed to be a particular length and they were positive I was ripe for the picking because I wasn’t feeling well. The whole plan was to try and beat me and he couldn’t do it and I beat him and Chris Penny went off.
The team regrouped in the small quiet of the Leander boathouse, where Clark recalls that they decided almost unanimously that he would not be required to row bow-side.
“We would be better with me on stroke-side but the other guys on the team were so uptight,” said Clark. “I said I just want to row. That was a manageable situation but it ended up out of all proportion. Suddenly, I wasn’t going to be in the boat and then all the top guys just said it was unacceptable and they were not rowing until this works out“.
The ‘mutineers’ went up to row in Marlow in the boat that never was. “I just remember thinking, ‘boy, this is sure fun, I better enjoy it while I can because this ain’t going to happen,’. I didn’t know where Donald was at that point. Probably plotting with the powers that be. That was it for me and I never rowed after that.”
“They fired Mike Spracklen, because he said of course Chris should be in the boat instead of Macdonald, they’re not even close, but they didn’t want to hear that so Spracklen got fired on my behalf. I don’t think he ever coached there again” reminisced Clark.
Oxford would go on to win the 1987 Boat Race, with images of Macdonald’s standing celebration captured for generations to look back on as one of rowing’s greatest stories. Reflecting on the victory of his club-mates, Clark believes that the crew spent too long looking outside of their boat. “We believed the hype of how good Cambridge were,” he said. “That’s why I was surprised at the result when it happened and then I realised that they were terrible. So much was hyped about Cambridge in ‘87 but for whatever reason they were slow.”
“I’ve looked at Dan’s book a little bit and it made me sick to my stomach. That entire book from Dan was a tantrum; he was hurt, there’s no question.” Clark added.
Despite the feelings of frustration and guilt, Clark never resented Topoloski, explaining: “I have no grudge whatsoever. If you’re going to throw a giant rock in a pool you’ve got to expect the wake that is going to follow. I understand Dan was personally hurt by it and I wish that wouldn’t have happened but he was and that’s how he responded”,
“These things only happen in a vacuum. It’s part of the reason I became a coach; I thought I can do better than that and the guys deserve more.”
Spracklen was the coach that had the most lasting impact on Clark, and the Badgers’ head coach still applies some of the practices instilled on him whilst training in Oxford and Marlow. “I learned a lot of lessons, one of which was that man management is critical. It was so bungled at Oxford that even I could not handle a person like me,” said Clark. “I remember once at practice we were on the Isis and I just went off hot-headed to Mike and he just looks at me and goes, ‘well Chris I understand your frustration, you are not getting the performances that you are accustomed to. I think you’re tired and maybe a little sick so let’s just relax a little bit and we’ll talk about it later,’. I thought, that’s exactly the way you handle it”.
“The guys deserve strong leadership, there’s no question. That doesn’t make me an expert but I’ve been through a lot and I’ve had guys blow up occasionally and I take the Spracklen approach“.
Fast forward through the years to 1995 and Clark met up with his girlfriend (and eventual wife) who was travelling through Europe. Clark chuckled as he recalls the anecdote. “I met them in London and I remember saying that people will still know me. She thought that was ridiculous. We stayed for a few days out in Cornwall and there was a little town and it had a pub and a few other things on the beach. We went to the pub and I got up to go the bathroom and I came back and my wife had wide eyes. She said ‘OK I l believe you. After you got up and the boy talked to his parents and pointed exclaiming, ‘Mummy, Daddy that’s Chris Clark the rebel!”.
You will never forget your days rowing for school, club, university or country. They are memories that will remain with you for life. As Wisconsin practice draws ever closer, Clark has some closing thoughts about his relationship with Topolski and in particular, Macdonald. “I will say this; I don’t think that Donald is any part of most of the lives of the crew,” he said. “That is interesting because usually in rowing, whatever personal differences you may have are often bridged by experiences. I am sure you are going to dramatically write it up that he played William Wallace. Difference is, I was the one that got executed, not him”.
Clark concluded by saying: “That’s what you learn when you get older, compromise. The entire thing was unnecessary.”
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