Town v Gown

However, it comes as some surprise in this day and age to find the annual Town-Gown men’s ice hockey match suspended because the 2004 fixture was too violent. The two sides have diametrically opposed views of the blame, but the bottom line, says the OUIHC’s archivist Michael Talbot, ‘is that we can’t afford serious injuries like broken arms or wrists, both of which have occurred in this fixture, just before the Varsity Match’. One would have thought such injuries unacceptable at any time. It’s an irony that the city’s ice rink was ceremonially opened with a Town-Gown game in 1984, and that the match has traditionally been played for charity. Fortunately, the women’s match has been fairly contested for several years and relations are much more cordial; Oxford graduates have gone on to play for the Town team.

There are in fact 60 trophies for Town-Gown competitions between men and women in some 40 different sports. In 1981, Jim Weston started an overall Town-Gown competition with six-a-side cricket, squash and rowing, and by 1985 there were 15 sports played. Town has always had the slight edge, Gown winning overall only once (in 1984), but competition is close in most sports.

The peak year for fixtures was as long ago as 1996, when there were 35. Only now, after some lean years we are trying to push the numbers up again, in collaboration with the student Sports Federation. It’s a great way of bringing young people together and it should be a friendly rivalry, which might go some way to offsetting a historic resentment in some parts of Town against Gown. The Oxford University Sports Federation sees numerous benefits, not least the opportunity to escape the ‘Oxford bubble’ for a while. Most student sides now play in the British Universities (BUCS) Leagues, so a fixture against the town club can present a different challenge.  A university Town V Gown player commented "Certainly in my sport, hockey, the Town side is more aggressive and experienced than our student opponents. Playing local clubs toughens us up relative to other university sides".

Oxford University sides used to hold themselves aloof from BUCS, constructing fixture lists made up of friendlies. Thus the footballers have played against the semi-professionals of Oxford City FC since at least 1970, and surprisingly the University has won its fair share, including the 2005 match. The team schedules the match for February/March, as a high-quality warm-up for the Varsity Match. One benefit to the Town has been that good University footballers have occasionally crossed over to try their skills in the club league structure with City.

While the Town has come out on top numerically in all but two years, there are some oddities. The University’s boxers have an outstanding record against the Town and the OU sailors permanently rule the waves. And of course, there can be gaps between the standards on each side which make creating a fixture very difficult – in rugby or rowing, for example. But both sides are increasingly clear that Town vs Gown is worth pushing hard. It is the natural complement to the outreach work which many student clubs now undertake . It can surely be only to the good if links grow that allow the University’s abundant facilities, underused half the year, to be used to promote sport in the community as a whole. Oxford University highlight that, ‘it is a requirement for Blues recognition that the club “fosters and develops its sport throughout the university and beyond”. We’ve always interpreted the Town vs Gown match as a way to fulfil that requirement.”