Oxford Brookes University has launched an investigation into the Oxford Brookes Rugby team after a confession message claimed that rugby players collected and shared explicit pictures of girls before voting on the best ones.

The since-deleted message, which was posted to the Brookes anonymous Instagram confessions page, @brookesconfessions, and has been seen by the Blue, reads:

“During lockdown there was a rugby social where everyone had to try and get as many nudes from brookes girls as possible, then they were shared with everyone and we voted for the best pictures.” 

Since then, there has been an outcry over social media, with many students expressing their indignation over what had allegedly taken place.

The founder of Say it Loud, a sexual violence support group started by the Women’s officer of the Oxford Brookes Student Union, is determined to take action to punish all those that were involved, personally writing on a student Facebook page: 

“Unfortunately, it has come to myself and the Say it Loud team that a sports team here at OBU have been distributing explicit pictures that were sent by female students at Brookes. We wanted to educate and inform that sending explicit pictures without the owner’s consent is now considered an illegal offence.”

The Oxford Brookes University Student Union as a whole has said in a statement published on 16th December 2020:

“We were horrified by the allegations posted to social media last night about a Brookes sports team, as well as some of the subsequent comments that were made on various social media platforms. We are taking this incredibly seriously.”

Oxford Brookes Rugby Union further issued a statement later that same day saying:

“Oxford Brookes University RFC is aware of the allegations brought against members of the club yesterday, the 15th December. OBURFC has for years strived to be judged on our inclusivity, respect and constant ambition to improve our community on and off the pitch and we in no way condone the alleged behaviour of these individuals. We would like to take this opportunity to make it clear that if any members of our club have fallen foul of these expectations that we will take action against them without hesitation. Any person that has undertaken behaviours such as these is not welcome in our club or sport. We are taking these allegations incredibly seriously and we are fully complying with the investigation being undertaken by Oxford Brookes University, Brookes Sport and any enquiries they undertake.”

Although the scope and finer details of this investigation have not been made clear as of yet, a spokesperson for Oxford Brookes told The Oxford Mail:

“The university is aware of allegations circulating on social media. We take such allegations extremely seriously and are investigating them as a matter of urgency.”