Wednesday, September 22, 2010

 

Silver flashing metal (cont.)

In yesterday's post I said that I would take us up to when Headington won their first silverware, but unfortunately I neglected to do so. Today's post will therefore take us up to that point from where we left off at the end of the 1895-96 season.

The following season was a fairly uneventful one for the club, which finished in a relatively lowly position in Division B of the City Junior League:


Note that College Servants 2nd scratched all their games for the second time in three seasons.

The report on the season's AGM didn't appear in the St Andrew's Parish Magazine until November, which allowed for an update on the first couple of months of the historic 1897-98 season. This included a report on a friendly against Cygnets A which Headington won 11-0, an appeal to supporters to attend the away game at Clarendon Press in the first round of the County Shield, and a note that goal nets were used for the first time.
The successful start was maintained, with the club eventually winning their section undefeated, to set up a final against Division A winners, St Mary Magdalene:
On their way to the title, Headington beat Oxford Institute 10-0 both home and away. The match against St Mary Magdalene, who represented the famous 1000-year-old church on Magdalen Street, was played at Grandpont on the City Club Ground, almost certainly at the White House Road ground that was home to Oxford City from roughly 1898 until their eviction by Brasenose College in 1988. The clubs drew the game 1-1, with G Fletcher scoring Headington's equaliser shortly before half-time. The full report from the Oxford Chronicle appears below (apologies for both its length and its poor readability - click on the images to enlarge them):
The replay took place at the same venue a fortnight later. In the second game our boys were able to make their dominance count as they beat the church side 1-0 with a goal from the captain, HRE Knowles, 15 minutes from the end.
In our next history update we'll look at how Headington retained the cup the following season, leading to a rule change for the City Junior League, and how that season ended in controversy for the villagers after they reached the final of Oxfordshire Shield, where they met Chipping Norton.

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Comments:
Thanks for doing this love reading the old reports of the birth of our club!

the minutes at the meetings remind me of the ones i do at Mortimer F.C a small club at step 7!
 
Thanks, it's nice to be appreciated. Sometimes with this blog I never know if I'm just pissing into the wind, so positive feedback will ensure I keep it going. Will have another history post in the next few days.
 
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