Barton Pavilion
Barton Fields Road
Oxford
Oxfordshire
OX3 0FR
Ground Number: 1340
Sunday 1st September 2024
Barton United 0-2 Camden & Islington
Womens FA Cuo 1st Qualifying Round
Womens FA Cuo 1st Qualifying Round
BARTON UNITED FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
Barton United FC was established in 1981 and started out as a boys football club. Primarily a kids' team, they established a girls team around a decade ago. They also possibly had a short-lived Mens Saturday team although I can find no official record. They also have a Sunday League side that plays in Berinsfield. Barton United Ladies play in the Thames Valley Counties Women's Football League Division 1 which sits at the 7th tier of the women's football pyramid. They joined the league in 2013, starting in Division 1 and enjoying two 3rd place finishes in 2017 & 2018. They sat out the 2019/20 season and re-emerged in Division 3 West in 2020. They were champions by 2022 and then Division 2 champions last season.
Barton is a suburb of Oxford, 3 miles east of the city centre, just outside the Oxford Ring Road. It is near to Headington, Risinghurst and Marston. Oxford City Council built Barton because of a housing shortage in the 1930s. 35.4% of the existing houses in Barton and 354 of 865 homes being built west of Barton are socially rented. The population is around 7,000. The course of a Roman road between Dorchester-on-Thames and Alchester passes through Barton. There was a Roman villa northwest of Barton in the 3rd and 4th centuries. In the 1940s, sixteen Roman coins were found near Barton and in 1953 three Romano-British pots were recovered from Bayswater Brook.
MY VISIT
This game was decided upon a few weeks ago when the Women's FA Cup draw came out. I'm not a huge fan of the early starts at work on a Sunday but one benefit is that I can get out at 1PM and see a limited choice of games. For the GFA Cup, this boiled down to a few options that were close to work. Ashridge Park and Caversham United were in the Reading and Wokingham areas but the grounds looked very basic. A better option was up in Oxfordshire at the former home of Headington Amateurs FC, the Barton Pavillion. This looked like a decent venue with a railed pitch and the club was pretty communicative on Social Media. I was glad to see confirmation of the game a few days before on Facebook which gave me confidence that I wouldn't have a wasted journey.
From my trip up to Northwich, I headed back towards home. Public transport was woeful once more and so we needed an Uner to get back to Hartford station as buses were few and far between. LNWR trains were still in chaos with pretty much everything cancelled. Thankfully, they had ticket acceptance with Avanti West Coast and this was far superior to the service I paid for. We got to Crewe fine and only had six minutes wait for the 18:22 to Euston. There was only a stop at Nuneaton before we got to Milton Keynes at 19:28. Luckily, the train we needed was not cancelled and we had a 20-minute wait at Milton Keynes. In contrast, there were four successive cancellations following our train which would have meant a two-hour wait in Milton Keynes. We saw a couple of people we knew - a Wycombe fan who had been to Blackpool and Hertfordshire Hopper who had been up to St Helens. We were back in Hemel by 8.10 and after dropping Colin off, I was back by 9. It had been a pricey but enjoyable day, the priciest of the season. But you can't take the money with you and hopefully, I can claw some back via Delay Repay as a lot of the Uber costs were down to getting there late. It was a couple of drinks and the football highlights before bed for me as well as trying to do research for this blog.
It was the standard 4 am alarm for me. A typical Sunday for me with the first half very pleasant in an empty store. The second half was the usual crowded and unpleasant place full of people's irritating offspring. Soon enough it was 12.30 and I had my break, getting a wrap meal from McDonald's. I checked the weather and was pleased that the thunderstorms scheduled last night to occur during the game, had shifted forward to 6pm. I was looking forward to the game and hoping it was a decent contest. I'd seen a pretty poor quality match in the North East at this level and to be honest, the standard of play was akin to a primary school kickabout in the playground. By contrast, the Celtic v Rangers women's game that weekend was excellent. I met Colin at 1 and we were on our way. We had to exit the M40 early due to congestion and the back route was clogged up too. Even so, we were there five minutes before kick-off.
Both sides played at step 7 of the Women's football pyramid. Barton United were freshly promoted from the Thames Valley Counties Women's Football League Division 2 last season. Camden & Islington United played in the Thames Valley Counties Women's Football League Division Premier Division and were also new members, having transferred from the London & South East Regional Women's League in the close season. The game kicked off five minutes late in the end. It started badly for Barton United who conceded in the opening minute following a well-worked move. It looked as if it might be a long afternoon for them when Camden & Islington United went 2-0 up after four minutes, a great strike from the edge of the area. With the warm weather, the pace slowed and plenty of drink breaks were taken. The hosts improved greatly and they hit the post twice in the few minutes before halftime. The second half started at 3:15 and Barton continued to press for a goal but Camden & Islington soaked up the pressure well and had a couple of chances themselves.
I found out during the game that I'd inadvertently completed the Hellenic D2 Central although it's just a team of development sides as well as Headington Amateurs and Woodstock Town. There was a decent crowd there today, probably around 70 in all. It had been a decent standard too and well worth the visit. It was a very warm afternoon though and I wish I'd taken my shorts with me. We left around 4.10 and listened to the Manchester United v Liverpool game on Five Live. There were more delays on the M40 on the way home but after dropping Colin off, I was back at 5.20. It was a busy evening, typing my blog and getting tickets for my upcoming trip to Poland as well as sorting a hotel. I was glad that it was going to be a quiet midweek with revisits to Amersham Town v Athletic Newham for an FA Cup replay on Tuesday and Holmer Green Development v Woodstock Town for a Marsh Cup game.
THE GROUND
BARTON PAVILLION is an excellent setup for step 7. The pitch is fully railed and has hard standing along one side. Seating is available from the bar and there is a picnic bench behind one goal. Talking of the bar, it has a good range of drinks and hot food. Car parking is plentiful and several buses pass by. Overall, it is well worth a visit and the people are friendly.
No comments:
Post a Comment