Court Place Farm: Oxford City FC

From Oxford City FC

Having opened in 1993, Court Place Farm is quite modern by non-league standard. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it is more impressive than other football grounds found across the National League, however. In fact, it is quite open in nature, with the facilities being decidedly basic. That is because they are mainly terraces, although some of them are covered and even boast windshields to protect punters from the elements. It is an odd ground, with the dugouts sitting in front of one of the terraces as opposed to where you’d normally expect to find them, which is in front of of the Main Stand of the ground.

For their part, Oxford City have been in the game for a long time. The club was founded in 1882, making it one of the oldest non-league clubs around and even younger than the likes of the country’s most successful club, Liverpool. The first match played was recorded two years later, with games being irregular over the next decade or so before it was reorganised and reconstituted in 1897. It was at that point that it became the leading club in Oxfordshire and by 1906 it had won the FA Amateur Cup, which was a pre-cursor to joining the Isthmian League a year later. There have been many ups and down for Oxford City in the years that followed.

Stats

Court Place Farm Photos

Oxford City FC Stadium Fence
Steve Daniels / The old gate from The Whitehouse Ground

Oxford City FC Game in 1981

Court Place Farm Seating Plan and Where to Sit

As the table above suggests, you’re not going to be experiencing a vastly different day at the stadium regardless of where you find yourself. The Main Stand is on one side of the pitch and covered about half its length, being all-seated and covered. There is a covered terrace on the opposite side of the pitch, being roughly the same size as the Main Stand. A seated stand was built at the north-west end of the ground in 2016-2017, whilst flat standing area is located at the Marsh Lane end of the ground. There is another covered terrace at the other end.

Oxford City FC Ticket Prices

Oxford City have a somewhat confusing set of prices for their tickets, not least of all because you can get various discounts for differing reasons. If you become a Member, for example, then your ticket price will be different to those that just want to buy them in an ad-hoc scenario. If you work for the NHS, emergency service, social care sector or are part of the armed forced then you might qualify to get Blue Light Worker tickets, which promise a slight discount that way.

Here is a look at the prices for the 2023-2024 season, depending on whether you bought your ticket online or at the turnstile on a match day:

How To Get Oxford City FC Tickets

If you’d like to get match day tickets for Oxford City matches, the best way of doing so is by heading to the official club website. You can, of course, still buy tickets on the turnstile if you’d rather do that. The only thing to bear in mind is that buying them through the website will see you get a slightly more preferential rate.

Where to Buy

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Getting To Court Place Farm

Train – Oxford Railway Station is located about three miles from the stadium, which is probably too far to walk for most people. Unfortunately, it is the most convenient of the stations, so you’ll probably want to either get a taxi or jump on a bus to make it to the ground.

Bus – For those that wish to get a bus to the ground, the 14A runs in the daytime and the 14 runs both during the day and the evening. The 13 also drops you close to the stadium, as does the X13. It is important to know, though, that the X13 doesn’t go back towards the train station on the return route.

Car – If you’re hoping to drive to Court Place Farm then you’ll be wanting to get yourself onto the M40. From there, you’ll want to come off at Junction 9 if you’re travelling from the north and Junction 8 if you’re coming in from the south. You’ll then be looking to get onto the A40, following the signs for the stadium once they start to appear.

By Air – Anyone looking to fly in for an Oxford City match will probably want to get to Heathrow, which is about an hour and a half away on public transport. That being said, any of the London airports will have relatively decent transport out to Oxford, so it’s whatever suits really.

Taxi – There are plenty of taxis outside the train station on match days, knowing that people will almost certainly want to travel to the ground that way. It will probably cost you between £10 and £20, which is largely dependent on how heavy the traffic is as you get closer to the ground.

Parking Near Court Place Farm

Unlike with a lot of stadiums nowadays, there is actually a decent-sized car park at Court Place Farm. Not only that, but at the time of writing it is free to park there on a match day. This is obviously the place to head to, meaning that there is no need to take a risk and park somewhere in Oxford itself that might end up with you getting a ticket or something.

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Useful Resources

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Pubs and Bars Near Court Place Farm

About Oxford City FC

Having played their first match on the 15th of March 1884, Oxford City are older than the likes of Southampton, Celtic, Sheffield United and Liverpool. That match was a 4-2 loss to Thames Grammar School, perhaps suggesting a football club that was never destined to hit the upper echelons of the game. In fact, for the first decade of the club’s existence the games that it played were decidedly irregular, with non played at all over a seven year period between 1886 and 1893. That led to a reorganisation of things and the reconstitution of Oxford City in 1897, at which point it became the city’s most important club.

Things continued without much to talk about for the next few decades, but poor performances and decline in the second-half of the 20th century meant that Headington United took over as Oxford’s leading club, having turned professional in 1949. England’s World Cup winning captain, Bobby Moore, was brought in as manager in 1979 and Harry Redknapp was made his assistant, with the club attempting to re-install some sense of professionalism. In the years that followed, Oxford City enjoyed many ups and downs, including a win against Football League opposition when they knocked Colchester out of the FA Cup in 2017.

Court Place Farm History

One of Oxford City’s lowest ebbs came in 1988, which was when Brasenose College evicted the club from its White House Ground home in order to sell the land off for housing. It meant that the club was forced to resign from the Isthmian League, remaining absent from senior football until they reformed and were based at Cutteslowe Park. In 1993, Oxford City began playing its games at Marsh Lane in the Marston area of Oxford. It remained a basic venue, with a new seated stand being built in the 2016-2017 season in order to offer some more seating for supporters. One of the biggest changes came in 2018, which was when a new 3G pitch was installed.

Nowadays, a sponsorship agreement is in place to meant that Court Place Farm is officially referred to as the RAW Charging Stadium. That is thanks to the fact that it has been sponsored by the electric vehicle charging firm, who began life working for RAW Energy and specialised in the development of renewable energy. RAW itself is majority owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners, whilst there is a minority investment from The Bayford Group, meaning that both of those companies have at least some interest in the success of the sponsorship agreement between Oxford City and RAW Charging.