Magdalen win JCR football league

By Roger Waite

A FAMILIAR NAME stood at the top of the Slaughter and May JCR football league at the end of Hilary term. Magdalen won the Premier division by what was ultimately a convincing margin despite a three-way tussle with St Catz and Worcester that lasted the majority of the season. Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the Premier Division season was the relegation of New and Wadham, historically two of the strongest football colleges but who had both suffered from the loss of several players from last year.

In the 1st Division, St Hugh's proved themselves to be far superior to the rest and ran away with the title securing it relatively early in the season. They will be accompanied into the Premier Division next year by Jesus and Keble, who both secured promotion, while St John's, St Peter's and Exeter drop down from the 1st division.

In the league's basement, Somerville won the 2nd Division title by a point from Oriel and proved that the gap between the divisions is almost non-existent by also triumphing against Wadham in the Cuppers final at Iffley.

Both Christ Church and Lincoln were unlucky to miss out on promotion as three colleges were separated only by goal difference, but Trinity's heavy victories against lower ranked opposition earlier in the season meant that they deserved their place in the 1st Division next year. Regent's Park's zero per cent record is not as dire as the table would suggest - they pulled out of the League at Christmas!

Premier Division P W D L Pts

1 Magdalen 16 11 3 2 36

2 St. Catherine's 16 9 2 5 29

3 Worcester 16 8 5 3 29

4 Balliol 16 7 4 5 25

5 Hertford 16 7 3 6 24

6 Queen's 16 5 5 6 20

7 New 16 3 6 7 15

8 Wadham 16 3 4 9 13

9 St. Anne's 16 2 2 12 8

Division 1

1 St. Hugh's 18 13 4 1 43

2 Jesus 18 10 4 4 34

3 Keble 18 10 3 5 33

4 St. Edmund Hall 18 9 2 7 29

5 Brasenose 18 8 2 8 26

6 Pembroke 18 7 4 7 25

7 University 18 7 1 10 22

8 St. John's 18 4 5 9 17

9 St. Peter's 18 5 2 1 17

10 Exeter 18 3 1 14 10

Division 2

1 Somerville 18 14 3 1 45

2 Oriel 18 14 2 2 44

3 Trinity 18 9 5 4 32

4 Christ Church 18 10 2 6 32

5 Lincoln 18 10 2 6 32

6 LMH 18 9 2 7 29

7 OILP 18 6 2 10 20

8 Corpus/Linacre 18 4 2 12 14

9 Merton/Mansfield 18 3 2 13 11

10 Regent's Park 18 0 0 18 0

22nd Apr 2004