Rage Online Blog

Silver flashing metal

Apologies for the lack of blog updates recently; school holidays plus general crapness were to blame. To make up for it, possibly, here's a continuation of the early years history of Headington FC, from where we left off last time (midway through the club's first competitive season in 1894-95) until the club's first silverware in 1898, less than five years after Headington was formed.

Headington's first season in the Oxford City Junior League proved to be something of a damp squib, almost literally as that winter's poor weather led to such a backlog of fixtures that the league format was abandoned at the end of February, with the table looking like this (reproduced from the Oxford Chronicle):
The remainder of the season was determined in a cup format, with Headington drawn to play at Division B leaders Victoria, with a predictable outcome:
Victoria went on to win the competition.

At the end of the season the club held its third Annual General Meeting (the first, presumably, being the one at which the club was founded). It was reported in the Parish Magazine of St Andrews Church; the most significant item, from our distant point of view, is where it states: "the colours of the Club should be Orange and Dark Blue." The Mrs Wootten-Wootten mentioned was the then resident of Headington House, and her field was to the east of Osler Road (called Sandy Lane at the time) on land that is now covered by Stephen Road.

The following season was another one of struggle for our fledgling club, although they opened the campaign with a draw at their first ever opponents, Cowley Barracks:


This was followed by a 3-1 home defeat to St Paul's:
It wasn't until their fifth game that Headington tasted victory, beating YMCA 2-0 in Headington:
The final published table for the season saw Headington finish third in Division A:

At the club's 4th Annual Meeting that summer there was little to excite the historian, with the exception of the first published balance sheet (courtesy of the St Andrews' Parish magazine). This shows outgoings on such items as rent (£1 10 shillings), two new balls (at 10/6 each), team kit (caps and shirts: total £3 9s 3d), and printing of fixture cards (16s) which would be a wonderful item of memorabilia if any are still extant.
To be continued...

Labels: City Junior League, History