Gravesend and Cleansheet

For the first time since November 25th Oxford won a league game (well non-league but you know what I mean...) keeping our first clean sheet since since the Lewes 'game' back on January 9th. We've had a bizarre run of mostly draws and have just about kept our head above water but Saturday was truely the most important game of the season so far. Had we lost we would have gone below Gravesend and York to 4th and with the mid-week games in hand could have dropped even further to 8th! As it was we put in a solid if unspectacular performance to beat a very good Gravesend side who were the team that had originally put an ends to our 18 match unbeaten run - you like to think this could represent some sort of closure on being shit!! Of course Dagenham went and won away at Burton somewhat disappointingly keeping the gap at 7 points, but week after week they continue to prove that they are a quality side and if they win this league they will more than deserve it. For us however, 3 points are finally in the bag and despite not really playing that well we held on (against 10 men...) to spark of scenes of relief and celebration akin to a last day of the season relegation escape!! Daggers must play their game in hand on Tuesday up at Kiddy and if they can pull of a win there then perhaps it is still all over, but anything else and we are right back in it.

If ever there was a case for Terracing...

The next person that tells me terracing has no place in the modern game needs to get themselves down to Aldershot for a game as quickly as possible. Saturday was incredible, ok the game finished 1-1 again with us conceding an 86th minute equaliser, but this game was always going to be about the atmosphere in the stands rather than the football. There is something about a covered terrace behind the goal that brings out best (some may say worse) in the British football fan, tradtionally it was here that most vociferous fans would gather and shout, scream and generally behave disgracefully. Every club had their own 'Home end', famous old terraces that would be the heartbeat behind the matchday atmosphere for example Man Utd's Stretford end, Chelsea's Shed End, the world famous Kop and of course our own London Road. Unfortunately during the late 70's and 80's boisterous behaviour and the occasional punch up had evolved into regular serious violence. Frequent mass riots, incompetent policing and grounds resembling death traps had basically made English football a place where personal safety could not be garunteed, something had to give. In 1989 at Hillsborough it did and the fallout would change football for ever.
I have no intention of going into the details of the Hillsborough tragedy but its clear that the blame was placed almost exclusively on terracing. It has become obvious in subsequent years that there were many more factors that led to deaths of 96 Liverpool fans such as horrendous over crowding, riot fencing and a general slow reaction to the situation. Whilst a crush like this simply wouldn't happen in a seated stand it does not mean that it was the terrace that caused it. A modern terrace with properly errected crush barriers, no standing areas and a strict cappacity is a safe place to watch football. In the german Bundesliga every weekend thousands of football fans stand on huge terraces up and down the country whilst in England we are forced to sit and watch football like some kind of trip to the cinema. To say the atmosphere suffers as a result is a huge understatement.
At Aldershot it was like meeting up with an old friend. The home fans are magnificent and made much more noise than us which is how it should be (new stadia usually over police home fans letting away fans do as they wish and make all the noise) and for myself and many others it felt like football used to. For the sake of English football I hope the authorities realise that terracing was not the cause of all ill in the 80's and that they see fit to allow standing areas back into league football as soon as possible.

A Tale of Two Cities

It seems that every time us and Cambridge meet the press gets hold of it and attempts to turn it into some sort of derby clash. They see the boat race and assume that not only is everyone from the varsity cities a posh sort but also that they care about the University rivalry. For what it's worth does usually have a bit of extra spice to it, but that is more down to a long standing history of crowd trouble between the fans - not because the light blues boat sank in so-and-so year or because Oxford lost the Rugger at Twicker's what-ho!! When Oxford meet Cambridge there is a bitter derby fought between two cities but it is not the battle the press latch onto; it is instead the old battle of town v gown rather than any varsity rivalry which causes the greatest local unease. As the clubs do their best to attract students the regular fans go to great lengths to distance themselves from any varsity references and go out of their ways to make any potential student spectators as unwelcome as possible.To me it still seems that there is an incredible amount of social snobbery on both sides and it must be said that it is the town side that has the greatest chip on it's shoulder. It should always be remembered that if you took the University out of Oxford with all the wealth it brings to both the City centre and surrounding areas, you would be left with a run down semi industrial mess. Love or loath the University it makes Oxford the vibrant beautiful city it is and you can enjoy all the positives of the city without ever coming into direct contact with the university establishment if you so wish.As for the gown side, it is always argued that they do not seem to want to integrate into local life, that they feel they are somehow above the local residents like some sort of überpopulation living in a sheltered world of there own. Well yes they do, but if you take a wander through Cowley Centre on a Saturday you can't help feeling they might be on to something.
The modern football fan is far more varied than ten years ago, he is just as likely to be a she and can come from any social background. A windy Kassam Stadium on a Tuesday night watching yet another rubbish Conference game is hardly inviting to anyone - let alone an Oxbridge Student that "Doesn’t really follow football…". It seems some old wounds never heal and perhaps it's better to leave each to his own. Trying to force together two opposing factions who simply don't have any intention of mixing yet can co-exist quite happily is essentially a pointless exercise.
What game? Oh yeah 1-1, an equaliser from Eddie Anaclet on the hour(ish) mark saved the day. We were better but clearly there is quite some way to go. We should be burying teams like Cambridge without to much trouble.