Rage Online Blog

Sweet OFA

Following a couple of posts about the history of Headington FC, I thought I'd branch out a bit and look at the history of association football in the county more generally. Note that I specify association football, for in the earliest days (mid 19th Century) most teams followed the rugby rules, with 'soccer' being less well represented. I am also specifically not looking at the university, which was quicker on the uptake with both codes, mainly because they kept to themselves and didn't play against non-Varsity sides, although an inter-college league thrived.

Association teams in the county were established as early as the 1870s, but it wasn't until 26 January 1884 that a meeting was held at Oxford Town Hall to form the Oxfordshire Football Association. An article reporting the fact appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 2 February 1884 (apologies for the green highlighting):


I won't transcribe the whole article, but interesting snippets include:
'Mr W. Wing (Caversham F.C.) ... concluded by proposing "That an association of clubs be formed for the promotion and encouragement of the game of Association football in the county of Oxford, and: that the same be called the Oxfordshire Football Association."' It was resolved 'that the association be affiliated to the Football Association, ... The question of a Challenge Cup was then brought forward, and after some discussion, it was decided ... to start a subscription to purchase a cup for competition next season.
'A draft code of rules was then submitted, ... and some modifications unanimously adopted, the most notable being Rule 2, which reads as follows:- "That all clubs in the county of Oxford playing Association Rules (excepting only such as consist exclusively of members of Oxford University) be eligible for membership subject to the approval of the Association.'

The article concluded with a list of the OFA member clubs, which were: Ark House School, Banbury; Banbury Rovers; Banbury Harriers; Bicester; Bloxham School; Caversham; Chinnor; Culham College; Friar Park, Henley; Oxford County School, Thame; Oxford United College Servants; Thame; and Shenington.

The next little snippet comes from 6 December 1884, when the Oxfordshire Association played their first game against Wiltshire, on 29 November:
The first meeting between these Association clubs came off at Swindon on Saturday, before a numerous assemblage. In the first half the former gained two goals to their adversaries' none, and during the latter part the home team only scored one point, whilst the Oxonians, increasing their total, won by four goals to one.



So City was intended initially to be a club representing different individual clubs from Oxford, but it wasn't long before City became an independent club in its own right, rather than drawing its players from other clubs around the city.

We'll get back to talking about United in the next post (probably).

Labels: History, Oxford City, Oxfordshire FA