Move Made to Introduce Boat Race Fan Segregation

Supporters of Oxford and Cambridge encouraged to watch event separately

The ‘Fenland Crew’ unveils its tifo showing Hugh Laurie and James Cracknell*

April 1, 2026

This year’s Oxford and Cambridge Boat Races could be the first to see crowd segregation with supporters of each university being encouraged to congregate at different sections of the river.

Boat Race crowds peaked in 2009 with an estimated 270,000 attending but has drifted lower since then with 200,000 people expected to watch this Saturday (4 April) with the 80th Women’s Boat Race starting at 2.21pm and the 171st Men’s Boat Race an hour later,

It is contended that this decline is partly due to a lack of engagement with the result with most people not that bothered who wins. The intention of introducing some ‘light touch’ separation of supporters is to inject more partisanship for the The CHANEL J12 Boat Race 2026. The river has been divided up with the Surrey bank from Putney up to Hammersmith Bridge being allocated to Cambridge fans and the Middlesex bank on the opposite side given over to Oxford. This is switched on the other side of the bridge with Cambridge supporters encouraged to watch from Barnes and Mortlake, and Oxford occupying the remainder of the race route up to Chiswick.

Participation in the scheme, which has not yet been endorsed by the organisers, is voluntary for local pubs, but they may choose to exclude people trying to enter wearing light blue in an Oxford zone and dark blue in a Cambridge pub. You are advised to check ahead by contacting the pub to ensure you will be given admittance on the day.

For those without any affiliation or groups with supporters from both camps, there will be a number of neutral fan zones up and down the river. These include the areas in front of the large screens organised by the council at Bishop’s Park in Fulham and Furnivall Gardens in Hammersmith as well as the area around Chiswick Pier, a prime spot to see the denouement of the race. Local rowing clubs will also willingly host visitors from both sides, but visible crew colours are generally discouraged.

The proposers are keen to stress that this move is not necessarily to reduce violence at the event which has been all but non-existent in previous years. Rather, the idea is to improve the intensity of the atmosphere at the event by encouraging the rival groups to aim humorous chants at each other across the rivers such as ‘You’re not rowing any more’ and ‘Are you Tottenham in disguise?’. The consultancy behind the move has highlighted increased concern from the race organisers that people are increasingly seeing the event as an occasion to eat and drink by the river with little attention paid to the race itself.

However, concern has been raised about the growing presence of Oxford and Cambridge ‘ultras’, highly organised groups of hard-core fans. It is understood that 'The Fenland Crew' is planning to unveil a tifo (a large banner), off one of the bridges that the race will pass under featuring Cambridge rowing legends Hugh Laurie and James Cracknell.

This year rival fans will be placed on opposite banks*

Segregation could prevent potential clashes with the Oxford ultras, the Dark Blue Battalion, which has a fearful reputation at regattas across the country.

The Metropolitan Police did not comment officially but a local police source told us, “The only crimes we are concerned about from this lot are crimes against fashion. Unfortunately, we can’t arrest people for wearing red or yellow cords with Barbour jackets at the moment but hopefully the government will see sense and change the law.”

Avril Amadan, who is in charge of boat race reimagining at Shoreditch-based A Jolly Forks Pie, the experiential events company which is behind the proposal, says that within the next five years it is predicted that university rowing related messages between rival fans will be just as prevalent as those relating to their favourite football teams.

She says, “There is a bottomless well of potential jocularity in the sport starting with teasing the other side about their tiny cox. We are launching a series of videos on TikToks to give fans of both Oxford and Cambridge the most amazing ideas for banter to wind up their ‘bitter enemies’. Just like with football this is all done in good fun with no edge whatsoever. If you have any ideas how to ‘own’ the opposition use hashtag #boatracebantz and share on X, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or Truth Social.”

*Not a real photo!