Another English Derby: Brackley Town vs Banbury United

Words: Tom Reed

Images: Pete Hitchman

Supporting images: Tom Reed

The history of England is well written and wrapped up in decades, centuries and millennia of major events.

The social history however, comes down to moments and to understand this country, you need to comprehend its local grudges which link and divide cities, towns and villages on all corners of the map.

No-one seems to be able to explain the needle between Brackley Town and Banbury United, bar the 10 miles which separate the two.

“Someone got off with someone’s cousin, someone spilled somebody’s drink, you know how it goes…”

Some call it an Oxfordshire derby but only Banbury is in Oxon, with Brackley lying in the extremities of Northamptonshire.

©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. Brackley Town FC.

But here we are on New Year’s Day with nearly 1500 people assembled for a National League North match, not unusual for non-League, which shows the strength of the football pyramid.

The other, other St James Park at Brackley is surrounded by houses, not the drab two-up two-downs of Luton but a rather quaint 70’s suburbia that has the local Hyacinth Bouquets twitching their curtains at the fans churning up the verges with the parking manoeuvres.

Americans have this idea of English winter being all snow and smoking chimneys but the truth is, January is mainly covered in a viscous grey, only matched by our thick blood topped up by alcohol and pastry.

“It’s 11.30 am do you fancy a pint?”

“Yeah best get one down, it kicks-off at 1”.

©Pete Hitchman/Terrace Edition Brackley Town FC.

There’s a cricket pitch next-door but the wicket’s been set aside for winter and an outfield shortcut is guaranteed to get the kind of filth into the foam of Christmas present trainers that you will never get out.

The police spotter has come down from Northampton and the searches are more brisk, with a feeling of a derby growing, even in the residential surroundings. Today’s game is segregated for a change and the Banbury fans are ushered into the away end behind fences that will later be breached.

Brackley have a good set-up with a nice clubhouse and a feeling of punching above their weight for the size of the place.

A banner on the retractable players’ tunnel reads “FA Trophy Winners 2018” and it’s clear that the club are proud of their track record in the Non-League game.

Banbury have plenty to be proud of too, a fan-owned outfit with a tight little ground that’s liable to flood, making those dark clouds loom ominously after a month of rain.

Inside the ground, the stadium announcer Andy Bannard is up for a chat, speaking highly of the community feel of Brackley and how everyone pitches in.

We’re chinwagging for so long, he almost misses his cue and soon enough the players take to the pitch.

Brackley are known as “the Saints” and Banbury “the Puritans” but there is nothing godly about some of the language in the chanting from both ends.

Morgan Roberts, the diminutive Brackley winger gets pelters from the away contingent from the off, as he was formerly with Banbury.

Coming from nearby Northampton does him no favour either with a chant of “Who’s that twat from Northampton?…Morgan Roberts is his name and he hasn’t got a brain”.. among other choice words, which only adds to his desire to score and shut them up.

Sadly for Banbury, their fans were more on the front-foot than their players, with Brackley proving too much of a counter-attacking force.

Connor Hall had signed for the Saints on loan from Solihull Moors and the striker’s superior anticipation saw him notch a couple of headers within the first half.

A small section of the Banbury fans decided to jump the segregation fences and try and reach the opposition end, leading to scuffles and the game being stopped momentarily.

The Banbury Board Of Directors released a statement after the game saying they would be “pursuing stadium bans” for anyone engaged in “violent behaviour”.

In fairness, Banbury have more to worry about, with the skies opening at full-time after the 3-1 defeat, leaving their ground some ten miles away, underwater.

Morgan Roberts drove home with the last laugh, the verges were cut up, and white trainers ruined.

The fence jumping means this grudge match will congeal for now in Oxon and Northants, thick with alcohol, pastry and local passions.