Rage Online Blog

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.

Labels: City Junior League, History, St Mary Magdalene

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

Back to the beginning

After a brief hiatus, we're back to the history lessons boys and girls. We've already seen how, during Headington FC's first few months of existence, they played their first recorded game against Cowley Barracks, losing 2-1, before drawing at home to Victoria 3-3 and then losing 6-0 away to the same opponents. Headington's next reported match was away to City Junior League members Clarendon Press on 10 February 1894, which was covered by Jackson's Oxford Journal a fortnight later:


If your images are disabled, the report reads thus:
CLARENDON PRESS v. HEADINGTON UNITED.- This match was played on Saturday, the 10th inst., on the ground of the former. The home team from various causes were without half their best men, and consequently requisitioned the services of five of their reserves. The visitors won the toss and played with the wind (which was blowing very strongly), and held their opponents for a time, but could not score. Eventually the Press broke away, and from a pass by W. Bowen, Elderfield notched the first point for them, and they led at half-time by one goal to nil. On the change of ends the tables were completely turned, and the home team penned the visitors, who rarely got beyond the half-way flag. A goal by Thomas was ruled off side, but the printers ran out easy winners by five goals to nil, W. Bowen, E. J. Sawyer, Elderfield, and Weller doing the needful in the second half.

(Note that the club is still referred to as Headington United, even though the club didn't change their name to this until the summer of 1911.) The following week Headington again played Clarendon Press, presumably in a return fixture, although the venue wasn't specified, and this time our boys went down 1-0. So five games into their existence, and the side had drawn one and lost four. The only other game reported from Headington's first season was against Cherwell Rovers, about whom I know nothing. The game took place on 10 March, and resulted in Headington's first victory, the lads from over the hill notching up a 2-0 win. Unfortunately there is no record of either the venue or the scorers, but who cares!

After a long relaxing summer playing cricket (in those days the football season was strictly October-March and the cricket season was April-September) the Jackson's Oxford Journal reported on 6 October 1894 the composition of the City Junior League for the forthcoming season. Headington were shortly to play their first competitive fixture:

Headington were one of four new teams to join the league, and were allocated to A Division, along with their friendly opponents from the previous February, Clarendon Press. Other teams in the A Division (the divisions were lettered rather than numbered to emphasise that there was no difference in status between them) were St. Barnabas, Cowley St. John, College Servants 2nd., Wanderers 2nd., and St. Peter-le-Bailey. Although the article states that the 'competition commences on October 20th...', Headington didn't actually play their first league game until 17 November.

Labels: City Junior League, Clarendon Press, Headington, History