Yeah, I think there is a risk that supporters are 'othered' in the consultation reporting. This kind of work is part of my job, and I've seen this kind of thing happen... it would be easy for the council to see it as legitimate to remove the views of supporters and look at the remainder as the true' voice of Oxfordshire. That would be to completely ignore the fact that a significant proportion of the county's residents count themselves as supporters.
When they did the initial consultation on this at the start of 2022, I sent the blurb below to my county councillor (who is also a Cabinet Member). I also contemplated speaking at the Cabinet meeting (but ultimately, my jobs prevents me from doing so) to say something similar. I pinged it to the club as well... similar rhetoric ended up in the OxVox statement at the meeting. I'll be updating this and sending it to the whole Cabinet before the next one.
On Saturday, when I was driving to the football, my car broke down. I missed the match. While I waited for the AA, I popped into a nearby local village shop - the person serving me was an Oxford United supporter. His Saturday job prevents him from going to most of the matches, but he’s a supporter nonetheless.
The lady at the garage where I took my car to be fixed is an Oxford United supporter. A guy who works behind the bar in my favourite pub is an Oxford United Supporter. My postman is an Oxford United Supporter. The estate agent who sold my house was an Oxford United supporter, as was my solicitor. My county councillor is an Oxford United supporter.
I am labouring this point because I think it’s very important you bear all of this in mind when you look at the statistics from the consultation in front of you.
It would be incredibly tempting to count the opinions of Oxford United supporters as separate to those of “Oxfordshire Residents”, but it would be wrong to do so. We are Oxfordshire residents. We are a statistically significant proportion of them at that. As just one example of this, in 2010, 33,000 people, mainly from Oxfordshire travelled to Wembley to watch the team play.
We are Oxford United supporters. We are the people who sell you snacks when you car has broken down, we are the people who fix your cars, who serve you drinks, who post your letters and sell you houses, we are the people who conduct consultations for your local authorities. Oxford United supporters are Oxfordshire residents.
Our responses to this consultation don’t carry an asterisk purely because we have a vested interest, our feedback should not be caveated. We’re not a minority interest group that has been mobilised to respond in large numbers to this consultation. The numbers and proportions are significant, because we are significant. Oxford United is our county’s only professional sports team and that is one of the many reasons it is so close to the hearts of incredible numbers of residents in every corner of the county.
I would urge you NOT to compare the statistics from Oxfordshire residents who are supporters in contrast to the statistics from Oxfordshire residents who aren’t, because there is not a direct comparison to be made there. The statistics and feedback from Oxfordshire residents should be looked at as a single whole. We are a significant part of this county and our voices should be heard equally.
