Hopes that the University will keep Wednesdays free for sport and provide better sports facilities have been dashed.

In a week when the row over sports provision has intensified, RiverOnline has learnt that the University is unlikely to accept two key demands from Support Our Sports campaigners.

When the SOS protest took to the streets two weeks ago, the University said they were “unable to introduce a blanket ban” on Wednesday afternoon teaching, because of the “ongoing high demand for University teaching space” and because the current building works around the campuses “may, in the short term, necessitate some timetabling of classes” in that slot.

Expectations for a blanket ban in the future however have been dealt a serious blow, as a University spokesman conceded: “The current building work is only one phase of the campus development programme and more work is planned for the future.”

“Kingston University signed this agreement in 2006 and still lectures are scheduled preventing students from participating.” Rhiannon Hiscocks, VP Activities for Kingston's Student Union

Many sports matches and competitions take place on Wednesday afternoons, and SOS campaigners are protesting that lectures are "still" preventing sportsmen participating.

Organisers claim this is in spite of an agreement by the University Executive not to schedule undergraduate lectures on Wednesday afternoons.  

A spokesman for the University said: “We recognise that sports provision is important ... but we have to balance this with a number of other priorities such as teaching and learning and campus development improvements.”

Dozens of sportsmen campaigned outside the John Galsworthy Building on Wednesday ahead of the Vice Chancellor's lunchtime meeting. Protestors claim that that the building's slabs cost £2,000 each, and have criticised the University for not investing such money in building its own sports facilities.

At the ASM on Tuesday Vice Chancellor, Sir Peter Scott, would not be drawn on promising an indoor sports hall.

He said: “It’s not that we can’t afford it, but where would we put it."

Debate over the University's sports provision has further intensified through a public exchange of emails between the SU and a former KU swimmer, whose criticisms of the campaign were forwarded on by the University.

Joann Randals, who represented the University in national competitions, said: "I support the university sports department, and feel the university Student Union have approached the matter very narrow mindedly."

Neither the National Union of Students nor the British University College Sport have formally endorsed the SOS campaign over reservations that it is too heavy handed.