A strange north-south divide: how Oxford City face marathon football season
Reappearance in National League North brings challenges for players and fans that are shared by some sixth-tier rivals
Oxford sits about 60 miles west of London and 75 miles south of Birmingham. Its closest major towns include Northampton and Reading. So it seems strange that its second-biggest club, despite competing in a regional league, will start their season on Saturday in Lancashire and clock up eight round trips of more than 350 miles in the next nine months.
That fate has befallen relegated Oxford City – and they have faced similar before. On winning promotion to the sixth tier of English football for the first time in 2012, City transferred from the Southern League Premier to the Conference North. That stint lasted for three years before their entry into the National League South and after eight seasons there and one in the national division above, they are back where they started. This season they will cover just over 6,600 miles getting to and from league games – an average round trip of almost 300 miles and a 2,575-mile increase on their most recent campaign in National League South and 1,339 miles up on last season.
