OASIS (Oldham Athletic Supporters In the South) is an official Oldham Athletic Supporters' club.

The organisation was founded in 1986 and celebrates its 21st anniversary in the 2007/2008 season.

The organisation was created when ex-Oldhamer Myles Harrison had the idea that he couldn't be the only Latics fan standing on away terraces in the South, wishing there were someone to drown sorrows or even occasionally enjoy a celebratory pint with after matches.

His idea was to make contact with some of these lost souls and make the whole process of attending Latics matches in the South more bearable.

Myles' idea of creating a casual organisation began to take shape when, helped by a little dvertising in the Club's matchday programme and the Oldham Chronicle, fellow Southern-based Latics supporters stated to get in touch.

Numbers swelled and soon the first ever OASIS meeting took place, where names for the new organisation were discussed and banded about but none really seemed to roll off the tongue.

However, Paul Oliver arrived with a suggestion from his 8-year old son, Mark.  Members of the original hardcore consisted of doctors, bankers, accountants, lawyers and stockbrokers, none of whom could think of a suitable name for the new club.

Indeed, it took the rather fresher mind of young Master Oliver to come up with OASIS - Oldham Athletic Supporters In the South.

The show was well and truly on the road, and membership numbers continued to grow when Dave Ogden took over the reins as Chairman in 1989.

With the team excelling in the late 1980s and early 1990s, interest started to grow and membership peaked at around 120.

Members could now use the OASIS name to get priority for high-profile matches and demand from OASIS members for tickets for the Littlewoods Cup final in 1990 was so high that the only means of distributing them was for Dave to stand in Trafalgar Square while holding a number of blue balloons so he was easy to see, to allow members to come and collect their tickets from him!

OASIS continued to grow during Latics' 'glory years', where the club won promotion to the Premiership, reached a League Cup Final and two FA Cup semi-finals.

Regular newsletters were posted out to members, competitions were run, OASIS were allowed to nominate a Player of the Year, regular social events took place (including a promotion celebration dinner attended by Neil Adams) and most importantly, members who had originally found trips to matches rather lonely could now travel with fellow exiled Latics fans!

OASIS members even joined from further afield, with fans from Denmark, Scotland and America registering.

However, by the time Joe Payne had taken over the running from Dave in 1997, as all Latics fans don't need reminding the club was on the verge of dropping to the third tier of English football and membership numbers fell dramatically.

However, just as in Oldham there remained a loyal hardcore of support in the South.

Last season, thanks to the efforts of Mark Scoltock, the tide turned and there was a steady increase of members travelling to games.

For the last away game of the season in May 2007, over 20 OASIS members travelled to the city of Brighton, dressed in tangerine jackets and bowler hats, to prove that OASIS was still very much in existence.

Taking into account the availability of the internet and email, with OASIS today has changed somewhat in appearance over the years.

There is now no formality, no committee and little ceremony, but what we do have is a shared obsession and a wish to share it with like-minded people.

OASIS can be contacted at mscoltock@hotmail.com, by visiting the OASIS section on owtb.co.uk or in the Greyhound before home games.