JCR Football Preview: Third Division

We kick off our JCR football previews with a look at everyone’s least favourite division.


JCR D3

The Third Division was created in 2010 in an attempt to shorten intensive first-team league schedules (from 16/18 games to the 12 we have now) and to minimise the number of uncompetitive games.

We’ll reserve judgement on the former – though it would be hilarious to see teams trying to fit 18 games into the recent weather-shorted seasons – but it…hasn’t really done the latter.

The top teams in the Third Division are largely interchangeable with average ones in the Second, and that bottom layer of teams still gets spanked by the other four or five teams every week.

The top three teams each individually got more points than the bottom three teams combined last season. At least when a team gets even halfway decent, they get the morale boost of just running train over the bottom teams…

Living Davidsa-a loca: could Univ bring the Pitbull in for cuppers?

Oriel and Corpus/Linacre were the two bottom teams in the division last year; the latter were only spared the ignominy of a 0-point season by a game that may or may not have been called as a draw.

They may be joined in the basement by Somerville, who failed to win a game in the Second Division last year after a very strong Third campaign in 2011/12.

Jesus and University were securely mid-table, but still way off the pace; Jesus’s 7 wins from 14 was their best since 2008 though, and could be a decent foundation to build upon.

Christ Church were somewhat unlucky to go down; they might hope to persuade the “Swedish Superstar”, Blues striker Peder Beck-Friis, to give them some help now that he’s established his varsity credentials.

Finally, there’s Hertford. Oh, poor, ill-fated Hertford. They finished with 9 wins from 12 and 28 points last year, a total that would win them most divisions; in their division, however, it was only good for third, missing out on 2nd by just three GD.

Tab Prediction: Hertford to somehow miss out on promotion again, Third Division teams to completely fail to attract real talent, Corpus/Linacre long shot to complete a game