Sport in Oxford

Oxford has not got a very good sports complex. It does have the Ferry Sports Centre near to Cherwell School which has a new sports hall with basketball courts, badminton, volleyball, football, full size tennis courts and cricket. The Ferry Centre also has a swimming pool, squash courts, and sun-beds. There are another 3 sports centres in and around Oxford, at Blackbird Leys, Cowley and Witney. These also have snooker and diving boards among other facilities.

But Oxford does not have one giant sports complex which is too bad.

Oxford United

People in Oxford have many different viewpoints, enjoying not only football but many other sports. Football is one of the major sports in Oxford. Oxford United Football Club (OUFC) is situated in Headington and their ground is called The Manor. Their greatest moment of history was when they won the Milk Cup in 1986, they beat Queens Park Rangers 3-0. At the moment OUFC are in the English 2nd division, and in the play-off places in the league, so hopefully they will be going up!

The Oxford United fans are some of the best supporters in the country. The London Road stand is renowned - the fans that stand there are the most supportive. But the Beech Road and Osler Road stands never, ever sing!

Oxford United run a scheme called football in the community where some of the players visit various schools around the county and coach the pupils.

The club is planning on building a new stadium, to hold 15,000 people, all seated. Their present stadium only holds 9,500 and hardly any of it is seated.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this introduction to Oxford United. If you want to know more, visit their home pages, both the official one and the unofficial one!

Racism in sport

Not everyone in Oxford gets the same chance to play the sport they enjoy. Racism is a problem, particularly for British Asian people who want to play football. We interviewed Khalid Sharif, a local footballer, about his experiences.

1) What evidence have you had of racial abuse during football matches?

Whilst playing for a non competitive football team I was being called many different racial names from adults. Later on during the match the children of the adults started to call me names, getting influenced by the adults. This has also happened to many of my friends.

2) How do you cope with the abuse? Do you respond to verbal abuse or do you ignore it?

After the match in question finished I complained to the official. The official replied "something will be done about this", but nothing was done. After a while I had to leave the team because of racial pressure, now I am not sure if I should go back and play football. When I was younger I used to argue with the supporters but I found that this was not sensible. Now I just ignore racial abuse.

3) Have you heard of any incidents to do with racial discrimination?

When I was at school I was a very keen cricket player with many of my friends, six of us played in the county but not in the school team.

4) What should be done about it?

Some sort of educational programme should be brought in to try and influence young children.

5) Does it affect your play?

In past games it has effected my play; I have walked off the pitch twice. Because of the abuse that I got during play I have lost my confidence and I don't know whether I want to play anymore.

Interview by: Andy, Matthew and Graham

Students at Cherwell have had the same problem.....

I have had racial abuse thrown at me when I have played football. I usually ignore it, but not all the time because I lose my temper and go violent. Violence doesn't solve anything at the end of the day. My friends have had the same problem as me, they can't control their temper and then they lose it. I just can't stand racism because I just see people taking the mickey out of coloured people and beating coloured people up.

Racism isn't just a problem on the football field.....

The most racial abuse we had was one time when we were waiting at the bus stop. We waited at the bus stop for a long time, but when the bus came it just went straight by. If there are white people there it stops. This happened not once but so many times that we are fed up with it.

The biggest riot we had was in the bus. The bus driver blamed us for pulling the lever and he told us to get off the bus. We said that we didn't do it, he didn't listen to us. Then we got off and he said one word that he shouldn't of mentioned and that was Packie. He told us to not get on his bus again.

Racism should stop. It is not worth the hassle.

By Dilwar


Do you find that racism stops some people enjoying sport in your community? Or that racism comes out in other ways? What do you do about it?

Write and tell us about your experiences - we'd like to know what is happening in other communities. You can mail us at cherwell@rmplc.co.uk