A History of Amateur Football in Oxford Part 2

Our look back at the history of amateur football in Oxford continues. Don't forget to read part 1 if you haven't already.

A History of Amateur Football in Oxford Part 1

It is perhaps unusual that professional football came late to Oxford – with no team playing professionally in the city until 1949 – while geographically and culturally similar towns such as Reading and Swindon had professional teams from the mid-1890s. The lack of a professional outfit in Oxford disguises the fact that football was every bit as important and popular in the city during this time as it was in those neighbouring towns. However, whereas professionalism became an accepted part of football in much of the rest of Britain from the late 19^th century, in Oxford the traditional values of amateurism proved to be far more deep-seated.

Oxford and England

So the Euros are now upon us and the national media hype machine has already gone into overdrive trying to inspire nationalistic fervour. While for many of us the national team are a mere distraction from the more important matter of OUFC, we can at least try and stoke the passions by remembering Oxford's contribution to the cause. We may not be able to boast a whole host of England stars among our midst, but we have nevertheless played our own role down the years, so here is a brief (and by no means exhaustive) list of some Oxford and England connections.

Concern Over London Welsh and the Kassam Stadium

Picture from @bbcoxfordsport

It never gets boring supporting this football club. It seems like there is always something new to worry about, whether it's the latest James Constable transfer saga, uncertainty over the club's continuing progress, or some other impending doom. In fact, the average Oxford fan appears to spend most of his or her life in a perpetual state of alarm.

The latest potential crisis is the intention of London Welsh to use the Kassam Stadium to host Premiership rugby next season. The initial announcement was met with an inevitably mixed reception, but debates over the state of the pitch appear to have taken a back seat to more pressing issues following Welsh's Championship playoff final victory over Cornish Pirates. The issue is muddied by the ongoing tussle between London Welsh and the Rugby Football Union over the club's eligibility to enter next season's Premiership. However, while the national and even local media becomes caught up in the wider debate regarding rugby's Minimum Standards Criteria, Oxford fans have become increasingly alarmed by the potential implications of recent developments, while the football club itself has remained silent on the issue.

The uncertainty over the potential ground-share comes down to the RFU'srules regarding primacy of tenure. In a ground-share situation such as those at London Wasps, Saracens and London Irish – where the rugby club is a tenant of the football club – the rugby club must arrange to have a backup ground within 30 miles of its principal ground. In the case of London Welsh, this is rumoured to be Brentford's Griffin Park (42 miles from the Kassam), clearly in breach of the regulations. And yet London Welsh remain convinced that they have met the RFU's criteria. Their chairman, Bleddyn Phillips, is a notable lawyer, he is not likely to have missed this detail. This, of course, suggests that something else may be afoot. It could well be that London Welsh mean to challenge the RFU's Minimum Standards Criteria in a court of law, though they must have been aware of the rules before agreeing to them at the start of the season. The other possibility, and the one that has been causing unease amongst yellows fans, is that London Welsh have secured primary tenancy over the Kassam Stadium, which would relegate us to the status of secondary tenants and could have a number of implications for the club.

Foremost among these is that such a move would place Oxford in violation of the Football League's own rules regarding primacy of tenure. This would obviously leave us vulnerable to sanctions, and though I'm unsure how serious this might be we would almost certainly have to apply for special dispensation to compete in the League. This is the most serious possible consequence, but there are many others as well. OxVox have worked hard to get their Stadium Heritage Project off the ground, but the arrival of London Welsh will make it much more difficult to get permission for any future signage and it is possible that all traces of the club's identity, which the club and its supporters have had to fight for, could be removed from the stadium and be replaced with signs bearing the London Welsh logo (and anyone who watched their playoff final at the Kassam could see how keen they were to hide any trace of the football club). The club's fixtures would also be affected by such an arrangement, with rugby activities taking precedence over football. This could result in fixtures being moved at late notice, or having to play on Fridays or Sundays, which would considerably inconvenience us all.

Picture from @MilanVranjes

However, until further information is revealed we can only speculate. Much of the 'evidence' to support this scenario comes from remarks in the press that leave much room for interpretation. Mostly we are getting concerned over London Welsh's stated aim to 'turn Oxford into London Welsh' and comments from the club's Managing Director, John Taylor, who appeared to dismiss Oxford by stating that the club is irrelevant to their deal with Kassam. Such comments are contrary to the earlier impression given before the RFU's rejection of London Welsh, when it was suggested that a ground-share might be mutually beneficial.

Oxford United: Treble Winners

Picture from Shekicks

Sounds good, eh?

This isn't a full article, so to speak, but it seems only right to highlight the tremendous achievements of Oxford United Ladies, who, as we've discussed before, have just had a quite incredible season.