OCC Oarsman Embroiled in Row at Oxford

Oxford University’s first-string crew for this year’s annual showdown against Cambridge University will be dismissed Monday unless mutinous oarsmen end a rebellion over the exclusion of Christopher Clark--a former Orange Coast College rower--from the elite squad, the crew coach said Thursday.

“The crew has three days left,” Dan Topolski, Oxford’s head coach, told the Associated Press. “If they don’t come back into the boat by midnight Sunday, the story is over.”

The 158-year-old rivalry, which is one of Britain’s most venerable sporting institutions, has been embroiled in controversy since Clark, 27, a Newport Beach resident, was excluded from the team a week ago in what his supporters say was a purely political move by crew officials.

The nine-member crew was given an ultimatum Jan. 22--either row without Clark or the junior varsity squad would take over for the big race. Although the situation was defused temporarily, Clark said, the crew decided last Sunday to boycott the race unless Clark could row.

Oxford officials say Clark was taken off the roster when he refused to switch positions for this year’s race, which is scheduled for March 28.

The rowers counter that Clark was deliberately used as a scapegoat for last year’s defeat by Cambridge, the first in 11 years, and contend that he is a faster rower than his replacement, Donald MacDonald, Oxford University Boat Club president.

Clark contends that “the whole system is stacked against me.” Tradition mandates that crew selection for the annual showdown against Cambridge is left to club presidents and the coaches they hire.

The other contender for Clark’s spot on the squad was MacDonald. Although Clark beat MacDonald in several qualifying trials, he said, MacDonald was still chosen. Clark’s exclusion sparked the boycott by the squad, which is composed of four British oarsmen and five Americans.

“The bottom line is still that we want a fair selection process,” Jonathan Fish, an oarsman from New York, told the Associated Press. “There is no doubt that this was rigged so that Clark was not in the boat.”

Clark, who is pursuing a postgraduate degree in politics and social studies at Oxford, received an associate of arts degree from Orange Coast College in 1979 and a bachelor of arts degree in political science from the University of California in 1982. As a member of the U.S. national crew, he won a silver medal at the Pan American Games at Caracas, Venezuela, in 1984.

“It surprises me a little bit that it (the mutiny) has occurred,” said David A. Grant, director of marine programs at Orange Coast. Grant has coached Clark and three other Americans involved in the controversy and said “they’re all real good people, not goofy guys, showoffs, ones to do irresponsible things.”

“They’re a very responsible lot,” he said. “That whole group there is a very fine group of people. There must be more to it to have things go awry like that.”

To Clark, the controversy has sullied everything the Oxford/Cambridge boat race stands for.

“You dream of Oxford, think of it as a Mt. Olympus of higher learning and integrity,” Clark said in a telephone interview late Thursday night. “The academic part is great; the sports situation is a farce. . . . An Oxford Blue (the blazer given to varsity sportsmen) is set up to be this incredible badge of honor that means courage, integrity, sportsmanship. The choice the oarsmen--especially the British--have now is to compromise the things an Oxford Blue stands for to get it.”

Topolski, Oxford’s coach for the past 13 years, rejected allegations that the selection methods were suspect and said the whole saga has left him “depressed, bitter and upset.”

No matter what damage has been wrought in previous weeks, the controversy is not over. At midnight Sunday, those who have not contacted Topolski will be cut.

Clark said he could not guess the outcome of Topolski’s ultimatum.

“One of the ideas is to throw an ultimatum party, invite the press and treat it like New Year’s Eve,” he said. “Who knows what will happen on ultimatum night, but it might be fun to have a good time.”