Daily Archives: April 11, 2013

The Orange Box

11 Thursday Apr 2013

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Tuesday 9th April 2013 ko 18.00

Banbury & Lord Jersey League Premier Division

HANWELL UNITED 4 (Hughes 57 Trevitt 71 82 86)

DEDDINGTON TOWN 3 (England 19 Thornton 38 Cook 66)

Att 10

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

Hanwell Fields is a fairly mundane new housing development at the northernmost edge of Banbury. Built between 2001 and 2009, it would have meant absolutely nothing had I not bought a house there, finally selling up and moving back to Oxford just under 2 years ago. As part of the planning gain, a sports field and clubhouse was built at the bottom of the hill on Dukes Meadow Drive, and each day I’d pass and wonder why on earth no one was making use of an excellent facility.

That changed for the start of the season when FC Naranja moved in. To be honest when I saw the name on the Full Time website, I imagined they were an Asian team, which shows my appalling linguistic ability. In fact they are a group of university friends who still wanted to play after graduating. They bought a kit, and since it was orange took the Spanish word for the colour as a name! As part of the agreement to play at Hanwell Fields they agreed to change their name, but thankfully the orange kit remains.

Deddington Town will win this year’s title, and for the vast majority of this encounter looked likely to win easily. Hanwell suffered the indignity of losing a player to sprained ankle collected retrieving a ball for a throw in, and Deddington looked sharper, and seemed to have that happy knack of scoring at opportune moments.

All that changed when Hanwell pushed James Trevitt forward by 10 yards. It completely flummoxed the visiting defence and Trevitt took full advantage, notching a 14 minute hat trick, to the delight of the Hanwell faithful. Even this cynic smiled; it won’t change anything, Deddington will win the title, and Hanwell will be happy to finish mid-table in their first season at this level.

I was just pleased to see the ground getting used, and being quite royally entertained into the bargain. Do pay them a visit, they’re well worth the effort.

 

 

 

Doubting Thomas

11 Thursday Apr 2013

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Saturday 6th April 2013 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 0

WYCOMBE WANDERERS 1 (Grant 19)

Att 6,777 (1,132 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (incl Oxford Mail)

In the morning I received an email from the club with renewal details for my season ticket. In truth I couldn’t work out whether it represented an increase or not, so convoluted were the discounts, and special offers. My suspicions were confirmed when I looked up the Oxford Mail website, who’d clearly employed a mathematician, and the increase is around 3%. That’s hardly surprising with the club posting a £1million loss, but the cynical bit is only giving the full discount for renewals before 17th May. At that point the decision would be based on this year’s team, management, and performance.

Many years ago I wasn’t popular with the nuns at catechism classes, as my hero was doubting Thomas. Even as a 13-year-old St Thomas’ refusal to believe Jesus Christ had risen from the dead,

“Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:24-29)

struck me as an entirely sensible attitude, much to Sister Marie-Anne’s consternation.

And that’s how I feel about my renewal, and that’s how a felt about this non-event of a local derby. Two sides with absolutely nothing to play for, save for individual careers, and on the Oxford side many look to be terminating at the Oxford end of the line. One piece of class won it, Joel Grant jinking past 2 challenges to fire home into the bottom corner. After that it was a dull as dishwater encounter that owed far too more to fear than expression.

The other side of that early renewal date is the trust that new, better players will be signed to replace much of the dross that clutters up the back of my programme. I don’t trust manager Chris Wilder to bring in the correct calibre of player, and I don’t believe that any manager chairman Ian Lenagan chooses will have the funds to put together a competitive side with the losses that the club are racking up.

The clarion call will be to speculate to accumulate, and there are enough clubs entering administration to show the folly of that thinking. These are tough times, and tough decisions need to be made.