This week sees the start of one of Oxford’s greatest sporting traditions: college football. Week in, week out, teams of the good, the bad and the just plain awful slog it out in sodden pitches all over the city. For some, an opportunity for sporting immortality, for others just another way to procrastinate, college football will always retain its central role in University life.
Up in the rarefied air of the JCR Premier Division, traditional powerhouses Worcester and Catz vie once again for the title. The league promises to be as competitive as ever, as newcomers Hugh’s and Lincoln attempt to draw on the momentum of a successful qualifying campaign to establish themselves amongst the elite of men’s college football.
Though Wadham’s survival in the league went down to the wire last season, and was due to a fantastic run of form in the final set of games, new captain Ben Williams is “optimistic” about continuing the 20-year tradition of Wadham being part of the Premier Division despite the loss of key personnel. The influx of freshers, with many eager to sign up, has “unearthed a few gems,” whilst a strong performance in a preseason friendly with Pembroke “gives us a strong platform to build on.” The squad, according to Williams, is “fit, ready and fresh” to face Keble 1sts in the opening game of the season.
The struggle to replace old icons and replace new talent is the toughest thing for Michaelmas football. In Division 1, Exeter captain George Bustin rallies against those “naysayers” who would suggest they are a “team in decline,” though he admits that of the eleven that started the 2014 Cuppers final, only two remain. After finishing last season with one win out of nine, Bustin is looking forward to using the new season to inject some energy into a revamped squad and targets this year as a “break-through season”, with the continued talents of Harry Morgan in midfield.
Division newcomers Pembroke also have a good feeling for this year, with captain Laurence Wroe spurred on by last year’s Cuppers final defeat to aim for a rare double. Promising international talent in Australian Jason Ghaly and Spaniard Karl Frey should go some way to filling the void of the departing Blues winger/full-back Richard Lloyd and the aggressive defensive talents of Jesse Schwimmer. Indeed, Wroe admits that an abundance of University talent, including Blues captain Alex Tsaptsinos and Centaurs captain Joe Fowles, can sometimes be a drawback as ‘burnout’ and a busy schedule increase injuries and fatigue.
Division 2 promises to be just as competitive. Merton/Mansfield and Brasenose are still smarting from last year’s relegation, and with hopefully a newly solidified defence (they shipped 42 goals last season) Brasenose could rapidly be back in Division 1.
Freshly promoted Hilda’s and Peter’s, neck-and-neck throughout last season, look to continue their rivalry and solidify their place.
Traditional Division 2 stalwarts Jesus are looking to “challenge for promotion this year,” according to captain Omar Mohsen, with a team composed of promising freshers and seasoned players. They are expecting a “strong fight for the title” by fellow team in the ascendancy Magdalen, who raised a few eyebrows and not a few yellow cards with their physicality last season. Nick Cooke looks to be an early tip for player of the season, moving in to a more traditional central striker role, having been team top scorer last season marauding opposition defences from the wing.
Though the quality of the football may decrease, the enthusiasm for the game certainly does not. Down in the depths of Division 3, many teams’ best-laid plans and careful tactics disintegrate quickly into an exercise in damage limitation. No one understands this better than Hertford captain Sam Broadey. Though admitting he was “nervous” this year after losing four of his top scorers to graduation and the real world, “We were optimistic after thirty freshers signed up, with eight interested in University trials.”
Such enthusiasm translated itself into a particularly enthusiastic first bop the night before a friendly with Peter’s, which in turn resulted in Broadey giving his second half team talk at 3-1 down over the sound of vomiting players. However, inspired by the freshers rising to the occasion and an opportunistic goal apiece to make it 4-2, Hertford enjoyed a remarkable turnaround. With spectators on the edge of the pitch cheering, by the end of regulation time goals by Broadey and ‘Scottish powerhouse’ Matt Edwards had levelled the scores. With one minute remaining, a scintillating run by centre back Joe Day saw him sweep the ball into the box, where Ossian O’Sullivan slotted him from the penalty spot. Hertford’s remarkable turnaround “couldn’t have been done” without the new players, says captain Broadey, as he heaps praise on the freshers Witt, Esosa, Rabinowitz, Ahmad and Joshi.
Inter-collegiate football is the beating heart of University sporting life. It may not be pretty, it may not be skilful, but there is something very real and vital about freshers, grad students and everybody in between playing together.
