Oxfordshire – the unlikely HQ for FA Cup First Round

Three teams from Oxfordshire reached the First Round of the FA Cup and remarkably all three were rewarded with home ties, including the Puritans of Banbury United who last qualified for the first round in 1973.

Oxfordshire is a historical county with a surprisingly long football tradition.

The county was heavily fought over during the English Civil War in the 17th century. Oxford’s Christchurch Cathedral was the temporary capital of the royalist Cavaliers, whereas Banbury was a puritan town on the side of the parliamentarian Roundheads.

Nowadays the main football power are ‘the Yellows’ of Oxford United, who are currently struggling in League One after losing the League One Play-Off Final to Wycombe Wanderers last season.

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United have drawn fellow League One side Peterborough United.

Oxfordshire-born Mark Gunther (55), a life-long Oxford United fan and editor of the former club fanzine Raging Bull, is despondent about the Yellows’ chances given their poor start to the league. They currently sit bottom following a 2-0 loss to Fleetwood.

Peterborough are top and it was just two weeks ago they defeated United 2-0 in the league.

Gunther points to some bright spots this season including the currently injured central defender Rob Atkinson, signed from Eastleigh, and Belfast-born Mark Sykes, an exciting midfielder, who recently switched allegiance from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland.

Oxford United’s programme editor, Martin Brodetsky, is more upbeat about the Yellows’ chances in the FA Cup and in particular welcomes a home tie.

Oxford Mail reports on home draws for the Oxfordshire Trio

Brodetsky is a life-long fan who recognises his privileged position of still being able to see games whilst his friends cannot. His one to watch is local lad and defender Sam Long, who has played in every position along the back four.

Oxford United’s greatest success was lifting the League Cup in 1986, whilst a Division One (tier one) team.

They were funded by the publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, with his daughter Ghislaine Maxwell a board member.

After his sudden death it became apparent that the club had been funded by the pension funds in the Maxwell companies and not by Maxwell himself. The attempts by the pensioners to recover their pensions had a disastrous effect on the club with precious local talents such as Chrissy Allen and Joey Beauchamp being sold to Nottingham Forest and West Ham United respectively.

Following a series of owners, the club vacated their cramped Manor Ground in Headington, a hilly suburb in the east of the city, and moved to the unloved, three-sided Kassam Stadium in an out-of-town retail park, under new owner Firoz Kassam.

He later sold the club but not the 12,000 capacity stadium. This has left the club in a difficult arrangement with Kassam the landlord who owns and operates the stadium and an ambitious board headed by Thai businessman Sumrith ‘Tiger’ Thanakarnjanasuth.

Oxford City play in the National League South in Tier Six.

City have settled into a stable and successful period after a few years of turbulence that saw their previous director, Thomas Guerriero, jailed for 12 years in Miami for a $6.6m investment fraud in 2015.

Since then the club have grown from strength to strength and are run like a true community club, putting out boys, girls, mens and womens teams at all levels.

Their FA Cup run is excellent and this is the fourth year in a row that that they have reached the first round. They have beaten Royal Wootton Bassett, Tamworth and Weymouth in the 2020/21 preliminary rounds.

In the 2017/18 FA Cup, City won away at League Two Colchester United in the first round before losing to an injury time goal by Notts County. City were initially promoted into National League North in 2011/12 and switched to National League South in 2015/16 (being on the border of the North and South in footballing terms means that City – and Banbury if promoted – can be shifted North or South).

This year, City are facing a Monday night battle at home to Northampton Town who are six places above Oxford United in League One. The match will be live on the BBC. City’s all-weather pitch at Marsh Lane in the northeast of the city may compensate for the lack of atmosphere in a ground, with no supporters allowed due to COVID restrictions.

It is a tight and tidy ground which would have created a special atmosphere for such a game, had supporters been allowed.

In the far north of the county is the former puritan town of Banbury. Proud of this tradition Banbury United are nicknamed the Puritans.

Banbury is a medium-sized town of 50,000, built around a large Kraft foods factory. It looks and smells more like a midlands industrial town, rather than the distinctly southern and historical Oxford. In more fragrant times it became the setting for the children’s song ‘Ride a Cock-Horse’.

Banbury has a statue to the cock horse immortalised in nursey rhyme
Photo: wikipedia

The Puritans play at Tier Seven of the English football pyramid in the Southern League – Premier Central, one tier below Oxford City and four tiers below Oxford United.

For the Puritans, the FA Cup First Round is a cause for celebration for a club that has been fan-owned since 2015. For fan Henry Moon (19) and his friends, the match is a major cause of excitement, even though no crowds will be allowed to attend due to COVID19 restrictions.

The previous round victory at home to Bury Town had a restricted attendance of 600, which sold out days before the match. Moon suggests that the player to watch is former England U16 and U17 midfielder, Giorgio Rasulo. He’s also delighted that Banbury will finally be on BBC’s Match of the Day and is looking forward to watching his team in HD for the first time.

Mark Allitt (45) the Puritans’ Commercial Director is proud of the teams’ accomplishments since becoming fan-owned. Following a promotion, and have had a few bites at the Play-Offs into the National League North, reaching the FA Cup for the first time in 47 years is wonderful for Allitt, who is also a lifelong fan.

He does recognise the role of luck, as well as great management and players, in overcoming a tough set of fixtures in the qualifying rounds, including a 7-6 penalty shoot-out win away to Peterborough Sports.

Their opponents, Canvey Island, are a tough team and the Puritans will be showing them the utmost respect. Allitt’s one to watch is Henry Landers, who has scored three goals in three games. They currently rent the Banbury Plant Hire Community Stadium, (formerly the Spencer Stadium) and are looking to own a ground.

Whilst acknowledging that there are supporters of the big clubs in the town of Banbury such as Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea as well as regional powers such as Oxford United and Aston Villa, he is confident that all in the town will rally round the Puritans for big matches such as the FA Cup.

The three Oxfordshire teams have healthy and respectful relationships. A lot of players have moved between the teams, and former Oxford United legends Andy Whing and James Constable are the manager and assistant manager at Banbury, as well as David Oldfield the manager at Oxford City.

Both City and the Puritans have had players on loan from the Yellows. City’s frontline includes the former Oxford United star, James Roberts.  Allitt does say that Brackley Town in the National League North are the Puritans’ keenest rivals, rather than either of the Oxford clubs.

It is the ambition of the club to join Brackley in that league, as well as find a stadium that they own. Brackley incidentally also got a home draw, with Bishops Stortford the opponents. Oxford City claim to have been historically the bigger team in Oxford, going back to the days when Oxford United were ‘up the hill’ and known as Headington United.

Following deft moves by an ambitious board the Yellows went fully professional in 1949, changed their name to Oxford United in 1960 and secured a place in the football league in 1962, when the original Accrington Stanley resigned their place.

At that time City played in the White Horse Ground, near the historic centre, and were seen by their supporters as the bigger team in the city. According to Brodetsky, after 58 years the resentment has mostly faded and most City and United supporters have respect for each other and the exchange of managers and players has helped this warmth.

The FA Cup provides a contrast of expectations and opportunities for the three clubs. With the Yellows in despair at their current league form and City having little room for optimism against a team three leagues above them, maybe the humble Puritans of Banbury United have the best chance to be the only Oxfordshire victor in this very civil war.

FA Cup First Round Fixtures:

Banbury United vs Canvey Island, Banbury Community Plant Hire Stadium, Banbury 1500 GMT  Saturday 7th November

Oxford United vs Peterborough United, Kassam Stadium, Oxford 1500 GMT Saturday 7th November

Oxford City vs Northampton Town, Marsh Lane, Oxford  1945 GMT Monday 9th November

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