Eight nil: football team, one short, cross (6)
I believe the answer is:
oxford
'eight' is the definition.
(a rowing crew, eg Oxford in the Boat Race)
'nil football team one short cross' is the wordplay.
'nil football' becomes 'o' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'team' becomes 'xv'.
'one short' means to remove the last letter.
'cross' becomes 'ford' (to ford a river is to cross it).
'xv' with its last letter taken away is 'x'.
'o'+'x'+'ford'='OXFORD'
(Other definitions for oxford that I've seen before include "Rhodes Scholarship university" , "Where one may view St John's" , "Ancient university town" , "Isis their second boat" , "Boat Race's Dark Blues" .)