THE SPORT OF ROWING The Media The mutiny was on, but according to Hugh Matheson, “As Fletcher Christian would say, ‘mutiny’ is a ridiculous word to use about a crew selection spat. No one died.”7566 You would hardly know that from the media attention that followed the crew from then on. Chris Dodd in The Guardian: “Topolski et al. created a murky, polarizing quagmire which divided Britain’s broadsheet newspapers into two camps: the old guard at The Telegraph [Geoffrey Page7567] and The Sunday Times [Richard Burnell7568], whose scribes could read a rate watch but seldom spoke to the oarsmen; and the new school of correspondents at The Guardian [Dodd himself] and The Times [Jim Railton] who’d listen on the off chance anyone did talk. “The tabloids, meanwhile, couldn’t resist the tale of California hunks, Ivy Leaguers and public school toffs messing about in boats at the Establishment’s nursery school.”7569 Peter Gish: “The only really negative aspect was the British media coverage, which was appalling in its lack of ethical standards and honesty, not to mention its complete obsession with reporting a story that had little to do with reality.”7570 Huntington: “I wanted to find a solution. But once it was out in the press, we’d had it. We began trading blows.”7571 In a complicated and well-executed response to the mutiny, Macdonald eventually reasserted his authority as 7566 Matheson, personal correspondence, 2010 7567 See Chapter 14. 7568 See Chapter 77. 7569 Dodd, Unnatural Selection, p. 57 7570 Qtd. by Dodd, Revisited: The 1987 Oxford Mutiny, The Independent, April 1, 2007 7571 Qtd. by Dodd, Unnatural Selection, p. 57 President through a series of meetings and constitutional maneuvers and dropped Clark from the team, purportedly because of his repeated resistance to and interference with Topolski’s coaching decisions. Gavin Stewart: “The Americans joined us, and now one of them was being made a scapegoat for their action.”7572 Ward: “One of the things that was very difficult to accept was that effectively Chris Clark was dropped after that, not because he threw a cup of soup or did a bad ergo but because Richard Hull and Dan Lyons, on behalf of all of us, sat down with Donald and told him we were going ahead without him. “Chris wasn’t a prime mover in that. He hadn’t demanded to be on strokeside or bowside,7573 and I’m not sure that point ever got reported or was consistently understood. “All the prior history that later got dragged up was not the reason he was dropped. He was being punished for things the rest of us were responsible for, and when you look back on how that argument played out, that was lost. It turned into a big debate about who was the best man for the 2- seat.”7574 Eventually the rest of the Americans withdrew en masse while the mutinous Brits reluctantly rejoined a weakened Blue Boat preparing for the Boat Race six weeks hence. Lyons: “After we left, they gradually lured all these people back because if you don’t come back, you’re not going to get your Blue, and if you don’t get your Blue, that has tremendous economic and social consequences down the road. 7572 Qtd. by Gill, p. 126 7573 According to Topolski, Clark agreed to return to bowside after the fateful seat race with Macdonald but then quickly reneged and demanded that he continue on strokeside. 7574 Ward, op. cit. 2100
