I strongly disagree with you Ardiles. In another thread you state that you originated from outside the area and didn't start supporting Town until at least 1986. Could I suggest that you are unaware of the rivalry of the 70's. Yes, City and Reading were rivals but with Oxford there existed pure hatred. In 1979, after coming off the train from Liverpool (after a 5-0 thrashing) I was arrested on circumstantial evidence for alledgedly petrol-bombing Oxford fans a few weeks previously. Suffice it to say I was totally innocent, yet, this had also occurred on a previous occasion. Such was the level of hatred. OK we are no longer football rivals, yet, when that level of hatred is so engrained, there is no doubt it will re-emerge should circumstances allow it.
I see what you say, and I'm not making light of it either. Sounds very serious and, probably, quite frightening for you at the time. You're right that I only started watching more recently - 1990 as it happens. This is my 20th season, during which time I've seen many Oxford derbies, home and away. And I lived in Oxford for 4 years. I know what the rivalry is/was all about.
But in a way, you're helping make my point for me. If you were old enough to be arrested in 1979 I'm guessing you're 50+ now. So in 10 years time you'll be in your 60s. Your generation will, I hope, still be there in numbers - but they won't be leading all the singing in the stands.
In 2019, there will be 20 year old lads doing that...born in the late 1990s (around the time we last played them in the league). If we start progressing in the league, these lads will probably never have come up against a set of Oxford fans. But they will probably have encountered City and Reading on a number of occasions. A story about a petrol bombing 40 years earlier in the 1970s will mean little to them.
So I'm sure that, individually, the Oxford hatred thing will live on for many of us here. But unless the younger generation of fans gets a chance to see a Swindon vs Oxford derby soon, the rivalry will die with us.
