Oxford University Women’s Association Football Club is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club representing the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. The club consists of two squads, the Blues (1st XI) and the Furies (2nd XI). Both teams compete in the BUCS League against other British universities. The Blues won BUCS Midlands Division 2A in the 2013/2014 season, gaining them promotion into Midlands Division 1A. The Blues have retained their place in this league for the 2016/17 season. The Furies won the Midlands 3A league in 2015/16, gaining promotion to the 2A division.

History

The club was founded in the 1980s and merged with Oxford University A.F.C., the respective men's club, in 1998.

BUCS

The Blues and Furies compete in BUCS Midlands Division 1A and 2A respectively. The fixtures run from October through March.

Varsity match

The climax of the season for both teams is the

varsity match A varsity match in Britain and Ireland is a fixture, especially of a sporting event or team, between university teams, usually the highest-level team, or varsity team, in that sport. The University Match in cricket between Oxford University an ...

against Cambridge University. Those women selected to compete in the Blues varsity match receive an Oxford Half-Blue in recognition of their footballing success, with the Full Blue status being achieved if Oxford win the match, or the squad have a "successful" season in BUCS with regards to the Blues status conditions. In 2016, Oxford won the 31st varsity match 1-0. The first women's varsity match was played in 1986, in which Oxford clinched the victory, beating the Light Blue side 4-3. As of 2016, out of the 29 Blues varsity matches to date, only 2 ended in draws, with the Dark Blues winning just 8 of the games. However, considering just the last 10 years up to 2016, the dark blues have won on 4 accounts.

Blues status

The women who compete in the Blues varsity match are awarded with an

Oxford Blue A blue is an award of sporting colours earned by athletes at some universities and schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of blues began at University of Oxford, Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge universities in Eng ...

under the following criteria: Half Blue: 14 awards maximum to all those who play in the varsity match; subs must have played for at least 5 minutes. Full Blue: 14 awards maximum. Awarded to women who play in the varsity match AND fulfil any of the following criteria: Win the varsity match OR The team reaches the semi-final of the Midlands Conference Cup (any player reaching this must have been selected for at least 50% of the cup matches) OR The team gets promoted that season

Current squads

''As of 7 February 2016, the Blues varsity squad is as follows:'' The alumni squad playing the Blues in the hotly anticipated annual Alumni match, was as follows for the 19/20 season: The match, played on 22 February 2020 at the Oxford City football stadium, ended in a 6-0 win for the alumni squad.

College football

24 women's college teams are registered to the Women’s College League, of which there are four divisions. Eight of these are joint teams made up of two or three colleges. The college teams also compete in the Cuppers competition, which was won by

Worcester College Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

in the season 2013/2014, with a 1-0 victory over

Keble Keble is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Bernard Keble Sandwell (1876–1940), Canadian newspaper editor * Edward Keble Chatterton (1878–1944), English writer * Henry Keble (?–1517), Lord Mayor of Lond ...

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a Ford (crossing), ford on ...

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include

Ananya Birla Ananya Birla ( born 17 July 1994) is an Indian billionaire businesswoman and artist. Early life Ananya Birla is the eldest daughter of Kumar Mangalam Birla and Neerja Birla. She is a sixth-generation scion of the Birla family, whose place of ...

(singer and entrepreneur),

Rachel Riley Rachel Annabelle Riley (born 11 January 1986) is an English television presenter. She co-presents the Channel 4 daytime puzzle show '' Countdown'' and its comedy spin-off ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown''. She is a mathematics graduate. He ...

(TV presenter) and Jen O'Neill (editor of ''

She Kicks ''She Kicks'' is a women's football magazine and website published by Baltic Publications. Produced bi-monthly, costing £4.25, and at 64–72 pages long, it published FIFA Women's World Cup special editions in 2011 and 2015 and a 20th anniversa ...

'' women's football magazine).

References

External links

* {{University of Oxford, state=collapsed Association football clubs established in 1986

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Women's football clubs in England University and college football clubs in England 1986 establishments in England