The decision to postpone fixtures on March 3rd made the news with both the OXFORD MAIL and BBC RADIO OXFORD covering the story.

FOOTBALL: Oxford United's derby leads to call-offs

11:00am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Headlines By Nick Farrant

Oxford City FA have called off their fixtures on Saturday, March 3, to allow players to attend the Oxford United v Swindon Town derby game at the Kassam Stadium.

Tickets for the npower League Two clash were snapped up quickly by fans and a sell-out crowd is expected for the game which has a midday kick-off.

The decision to postpone matches was taken after the league secretary Mark Wilkins canvassed opinion among the clubs before putting it to the committee.

“It’s a very local league to Oxford – a lot of our teams come from Blackbird Leys and Rose Hill – and we felt that if the programme went ahead some of the teams would be left short of players,” said committee member Alan Thomas.


“We have done it for several England games, when they have been playing in the World Cup or other important international matches, but I think it’s the first time we have done it for a local match like this.

“Because the weather has been decent this year, apart from last weekend, it means no matches have been called off so there is not a backlog of fixtures.

“If the match had been on last season when we had all that bad weather, then it may have been more difficult to call matches off.”