On Saturday 16th the club ventured to Clapham Common in London to play some 18-a-side friendly matched with the Wandsworth Demons. The day started a little chilly but turned into a stunner, accompanied by some epic footy. The Oxford women mixed in with some extra Demons to make a full 18, and this team took the win after a tough match on a full sized pitch. The men's match was played between two mixed teams made up of both Oxford and Demons players. Overall a brilliant day out getting some 18-a-side experience on a full sized oval!
The AFL England National University League came to a close with OUARFC men's and women's teams taking the titles. The women ran away with a 77-0 scoreline against Birmingham, but the men's final against Cardiff was a little more hard fought. The blues just took the win by 6 points, being ahead for the first time only in the last minute of the game, coming back from a 5 goal deficit at the start of the half. What a way to top off an incredible season just a week after a double Varsity win. Thank you to Birmingham for hosting us on some great grounds, and we can't wait to keep improving and building on the game in the UK in the 2024 season.
Absolutely enormous day out last weekend at Varsity, with both teams coming away victorious.
The men conceded just 2 points, finishing on a score of 67-2. It was a much closer match for the women, who finished 24-14 after a particularly hard-fought second half. Huge thanks to our committee and Cambridge for their organisation and for two great games, and of course to our incredible supporters who made the journey! Our women's team took home the Gallia cup on the 4th March- conceding only 2 points throughout the group stages and the grand final against the Scagpies (a combo of Nottingham Scorpions & Galway Magpies). A huge thanks to Paris Cocks Footy Club and Antony Blues for a brilliant day out.
What a way to celebrate International Women's Day playing some great footy against some fantastic opposition. We hope to be back to defend the title next year! Huge shout out to Indy, our executive tour guide who couldn't play due to injury, and Tom Ranger, our travelling coach! T-1 week to varsity! Great day out for the club in Cardiff last month at the Fitzpatrick cup. The men took home silver and the women put in a great shift against some very strong Cork sides!
The 102nd Men's Varsity went the way of Oxford in convincing fashion. Played on a near full size ground at Horspath, the Dark Blues run away easy winners over Cambridge. With a 27 point lead after the first quarter, the lead continued to expand throughout the game, with the final margin of 13.11. 89 to Oxford over 2.4.16 for Cambridge.
Highlights included 4 goals each from Max Davie and Tim Haskett and three from Seb Wylie, proving the older blokes still have it in them! It was excellent to finally win one back from Cambridge after 2 loses on the run in the Varsity. The Women's 5th Varsity was the real feature of the day, played second for the first time and in front of a crowd of some 150 people. The game was fierce and close right through. Oxford went into the first change up by 6 points, before managing to increase the lead to 11 points by half-time - still not a comfortable margin. The scores remained unchanged during the 3rd period, with much anxiety building in both teams on the side-lines. Cambridge managed a goal late in the fourth quarter to come back to within a single goal but the siren ended any hopes of a Light Blue come-back, and Oxford finished up victorious 3.0.18 def. 2.2.14. It was one for the ages! Highlights were Hazel Ellender playing truly physical footy in the midfield, Ash Barnes collecting any loose balls all over the ground and a number of beautiful strings of play connecting kicks from the defence all the way to the forward line. Credit must go to coach Justin Clarke for the increase in skills on display in recent times by the OUARFC Women. Thanks go to the AFL England umpires Ian Kafka and Josh Davey for officiating both games, Tom Ranger for keeping time and managing the scores, and the volunteers from OUARFC and CUARFC who served as goal umpires. Thanks to all who came out to support Oxford in both games! CUARFC will host the 2023 Varsity matches. OUARFC Women bring home the AFL Europe Fitzpatrick Cup for the first time ever this year following an undefeated run at the tournament in Cardiff over the first weekend of February 2022.
Playing 4 games for the day against Cambridge and Birmingham, Oxford were able to hold off strong challenges from both teams to remain undefeated. Best on for the team according to the umpires was Clara VC, with Alli Devlin, Ash Barnes and Hazel Ellender also having excellent games. The OUARFC Men had an excellent day out too, with wins over all teams except the Queens University Belfast outfit. Oxford comfortably defeated Cambridge, Birmingham and Cardiff to advance to the grand-final but went down to Belfast's excellent goal kicking and powerful attack of the footy. The Gaelic boys certainly brought a strong game and it was an excellent final. Co-captains Tim Haskett and Dexter Chiew were awarded best on according to the umpires, with Nick Young also having an excellent day out. Thanks to AFL Europe for hosting the day. Following the bye for Oxford in NUL Round 2 in Cambridge, we hosted the NUL in Oxford on the 29th of January 2022. Playing 9/side we played on the Uni Parks rugby field in beautiful central Oxford.
Unfortunately Cardiff men were late withdrawals from the round, meaning only Birmingham men and women would be travelling to Oxford to play. Birmingham men put up a good fight against our men but unrelenting pressure from mid-fielder Max Davies saw Oxford lead by 13 at the half-time break. The final margin was 5.4. 34 def Birmingham 3.2. 20. This win cements Oxford as the men's favourite in the NUL for 2022. The women put on a dominate performance against the Birmingham outfit, overcoming the to a flurry of goals to win 4.5. 29 def Birmingham 1.1. 7. Clara VC, Sophie Bennet, Audrey Davies and Freya Willis were goal scorers. Thanks to Birmingham for coming down to play! The next NUL round will be in Birmingham on the 18th of February, followed by the NUL finals in Cambridge on the 19th of March. OUARFC travelled to Manchester for the 2021 Movember Cup on Saturday 20th November 2021. The Movember Cup is a well established 9/side AFL tournament that the Manchester Mosquitos have organised for many years, but this was the first year that OUARFC had fielded teams. 13 men's teams and 7 women's teams were in attendance in the chilly conditions.
Excitingly, Oxford Men faced 3 teams in the round stage who we had never played before: Sussex Swans, Wandsworth Demons and a combined team of the Huddersfield Rams/Galway Magpies. Facing two very strong outfits in the Swans and Demons our men put up a very strong showing to remain within a goal in both games but falling just short by the final siren. Some lost goal opportunities hurt our chances with both opponents kicking very straight. The men overcame the Rams/Magpies with ease in a fun game but with 2 defeats were unable to make the final, which was played by the North London Lions and Sussex Swans, with the Lions coming out on top. The Oxford Women put on 3 excellent games in the round stage to defeat Birmingham A, the Wandsworth Demons and Birmingham B. With so many new players this was a very good day of footy. The women faced off against Sussex Swans in the final, a re-match of the 2021 WWE9s grand final which had seen Oxford emerge victorious. This time the Swans were too good, with some very hard tackles and straight kicking that saw them run away with the Cup. Best on for the men was Max Davie, and for the Women was Izzy Grutzner, both new players for 2021 who had previously played AFL back in Melbourne. Oxford had an excellent first round in the National University League for 2021/22 - the first post-COVID - with 2 wins for the Men and 2 wins for the Women - an unusual clean sweep for an NUL Round. The Women faced Cambridge for the first time since our 2020 Varsity defeat and managed a commanding victory. Grace Henry scored most of the goals and Freya Willis put on an impressive performance in the ruck in her first ever game. Oxford Men were up next against Cambridge and they emulated the women to ran away untroubled for a dominant victory. This was the first game for many Oxford men, with Max Davies and Tom Harrison running hot in the midfield. Due to Cardiff Women withdrawing from the round the women went on to play a friendly with mixed teams of Oxford and Cambridge. Oxford lent Cambridge 4 players and still managed victory. Stand outs were Ashleigh Barnes in the midfield and Romy Minko in defence. The Oxford men finished the day against a fiery Cardiff. Cardiff had been defeated by Cambridge earlier on, but put up a very impressive resistance to Oxford throughout most of the game. Oxford ended several goals up at the final siren. Tim Haskett had an excellent game, kicking most of our goals. A total of 17 players were in Dark Blue for the first time and 11 were playing their first ever game of AFL! Oxford have the bye for NUL Round 2 in Cambridge, but will be back for round 3 at home in Oxford in late January. |