Exploring the WMRL with Club Details and Useful information

BRIDGNORTH TOWN / RESERVES

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:46:54 GMT

BRIDGNORTH TOWN / RESERVES - Crown Meadow, Innage Lane, B'north 01746 762747

Bridgnorth Town was formed in 1949. Prior to that the club was called St Leonard ’s Football Club – the name derived from one of the parish churches. During the 50s and 60s ‘Town’ as they became known, played their football in the Kidderminster League winning the championship on one occasion. In the 1960s Town were selected to the Midland Combination and remained at that level for 15 years. The championship was won on two occasions and they were runners up twice. Promotion was then gained to the Southern League (Midland Division) and Town remained there for 12 years before being relegated to the Interlink Express Midland Football Alliance League.

Their time in the Southern League was usually dominated by relegation battles. 1994/95 saw the appointment of Kevin Bowen as manager and Town missed out on promotion to the premier division very narrowly. Unfortunately Stafford Rangers enticed Bowen away at the start of the next season. Town struggle, a succession of managers came and went within 5 months and Town were relegated. At the start of 1996/97 season there were many changes on and off the pitch. This saw the introduction of Ian Britton as manager only one player from the previous season remained (Carl Bradley).

The new regimes start was not all smooth and by October Town were rock bottom, Britton turned the corner and finished in 6th position, the side also reached the final of Interlink Invitation Cup but lost out to Oldbury United. The 97/98 season was something of a disappointment as after a promising start Town lost their way and finished 8th. The club parted company with Ian Britton and appointed ex – Town player Les Bristow as manager and look toward the 99/00 with renewed optimism. By the end of March the side were in thetop four and were in the semi finals of the Staffs Senior Cup and the Industrial Rewinds Cup.

However an appalling fixture pile up was to ruin any chances ofsuccess and Town finished mid table with no silverware. Nine games into the 99/00 season and two points adrift at the bottom end of the table, Bristow was sacked. Enter Kenny Drakeford and an immediate recovery, 8 wins and a draw from Kenny’s first 10 games at the helm, Town moved away from the trouble and the icing on the cake came when the Davies Invitation Cup was won. Bridgnorth Town ’s first senior trophy win since 1986.

The 2000/01 season saw Tow off to a flying start, by October they were sitting pretty in the top three and in all cups. Drakeford took over as Chairman from Simon Bromley. However Drakeford’s no. 2, Steve Daley, departed to manage Bilston Town and Drakeford two days later, followed the ex wolves star and with them the whole of the first team squad. Harold Broome took over as Chairman and enters Mark Pound and Paul Tester who had to attract a new squad within 3 days, which to their credit they managed to achieve. Tester sadly departed in the summer, due to work commitments and that left Pound in charge of team affairs. He re-introduced Mick Tranter and Paul Blakeley.

The 2002/03 season saw a run of disappointing results under Pound. However, transfer activity bought in some much needed reinforcements and Town won three matches on the bounce. This was not enough to secure Pounds future and he was sacked in November. He was replaced by Jimmy Mullen (ex Burnley, Blackpool and Telford ) and with a lot of hard work Mullen put points on the board to steer the club to a mid table finish.

In the summer the club went through many changes, Mullen moved onto Colwyn Bay , and Lee Edginton took over as Chairman and the committee saw a lot of new blood. Edginton imposed a season of consolidation and tighter financial control. Also enter ex -Walsall, Telford and Bridgnorth player Steve Frisby with the emphasis on local players from around Shropshire and under no pressure, 2003/04 season is looked upon with renewed optimism.

At county level Town have had many successes, winning the Challenge Trophy 5 timesand the Junior Cup once, the best of all was in 1986 when Shropshire’s Senior Cup took pride of place in the clubhouse, Town dumped Shrewsbury out in the semi final 1- 0 before beating Oswestry in the final. The Welsh Amateur Cup was also won in 1971.

Players who have gone on to greater things include Paul Jones (Southampton and Wales ) and Simon Travis ( Stockport ). Another famous son Delwyn Humphriesalso activatedfame when he scored for Kidderminster against Birmingham City in the 5th round of the FA Cup.

During the 2003/2004 season Bridgnorth Town saw a lot of internal changes with the departure of the Chairman, the Football Secretary, and at the end of the season we let Steve Frisby go and introduced another local Lad Kevin Hestletine as manager.

The start of 2004/05 under Kevin, saw Bridgnorth win just 2 league games out of 17 and the performance on the pitch was poor, Kev resigned after the 17 games in early November and the committee appointed Julian Marsh as manager who bought in Kenny Howells as joint manager in the hope to get us out of the bottom of the league. Town never saw the mid table position again that season and finished bottom to be relegated into the Midland Combination League.

DUDLEY Sports & DUDLEY TOWN FC

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:37:12 GMT

DUDLEY SPORTS

Ground: Dudley Sports & Social Club, Hillcrest Avenue, Brierley Hill DY5 3QJ

Ground Telephone: 01384 826420

Dudley Employees Sports + Social Club was founded
in June 1979 from the demise of The Marsh + Baxter’s
Company. Over 20 years on people still refer to our club
as “The Old Marsh’s Club”.

The football section of our club is very strong boasting 3 teams. Our first team plays in the West Midland Premier League. Our Sunday section play in the Kidderminster and District Premier League and our youth team play in the Midland Floodlit League. Other sporting sections in our club include Bowls, Darts, Runners and Pigeon Flyers, all of who have played a prominent part in our success story over the years. With our excellent grounds and
facilities here at High Ercal we hope the our success will Continue for many years to come.

Before entering the Midland Combination the club played in the Birmingham Works as Marsh + Baxter’s for many years. In the final year they were league champions and winners of the Bass Cup, Prudential Cup and the Paddy Mason Shield. The club started life in the Midland Combination in Division
Two, moving to division one 3 years later. They are twice winners of the Presidents cup in 1989/90 and 2002/3 also winners of the Worcester Junior Cup 1998.

Whilst receiving one of the lottery grants in 1995, they were one of the first to have floodlights. However as the league has progressed the need for upgrade was necessary and the club have just spent £38,000 on new floodlights and are now looking to start work soon on upgrading the changing facilities.

DUDLEY TOWN FC

STOURBRIDGE F.C. WAR MEMORIAL GROUND, HIGH STREET, STOURBRIDGE 01384 394040

Dudley Town Football Club was founded in 1888 by a group of gentleman from Dudley St John's and members of the disbanded rugby club. The club had a very chequered begining playing friendly and West Midland Amateur League Matches. In June 1898it was decided that Dudley should have a Birmingham League team, made up from both Dudley Town and Dudley St John's and that they should play on the latter's ground at Shavers End, playing there until 1911/1912 when they moved on to the Birmingham Road Cricket Ground where they remained until the onset of the First World War.The Club was reformed in 1928/29 and entered the Cradley Heath and District League taking over the fixtures of Dudley West End. A red letter day in the clubs history was in September 1932 with the opening of the Sports Centre. During this era Dudley Town won the Worcestershire Combination in 1931/32 and the Birmingham Combination in 1933/34, becoming succumbing to financial problems in 1938. The end of the Second World War again saw the resurrection of the club, this time in the Birmingham Combination. The Club rejoined the Birmingham League in 1953/54 but suffered their worse spell of results and were unable to finish outside the bottom three until 1963.

From this time the clubs playing position and financial situation improved, joining the Southern Premier League for the 1981/82 season, winning the Midland Division in 1984/85. Sadly in the May of 1985 disaster struck when the lime stone caverns under the nearby County Cricket Ground collapsed and without any warning the council closed the 30,000 capacity ground, which was destined never to be opened again.The club took the decision to purchase the Round Oak Stadium in Brierley Hill after a long battle with the council and local residents. Unfortunately, the enforced ground share for two years prior to this took it's toll financially forcing the club to look for a major sponsor, even after this, large debts and excessive rate demands forced the closure of the club at the end of the 1996/97 season.

In late 1997, Dudley Club President Nevil Jeynes reformed the club and with a new committee now in place, applied for and were accepted into The West Midlands (Regional) League, (Formly the Birmingham League), exactly 100 years after joining it. The 'Robins' were enrolledinto The Premier Division for thestart of the 1998/99 season. After two years ground sharing with Gornal Athletic, the club left the Borough Of Dudley to move to The Beeches, home of Tividale FC. However after a four year exile, Dudley are back in the Borough and for the next five years, will play at The War Memorial Ground, Amblecote, Stourbridge.

ELLESMERE RANGERS F.C.

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:35:47 GMT

BEECH GROVE, ELLESMERE, SHROPSHIRE

An introduction to Ellesmere

Ellesmere is a pretty market town with its Tudor, Georgian and Victorian buildings and is only yards from both the spectacular Mere with its Visitor centre and the Llangollen Canal. The town with a population in the region of 50,000, date's back to Saxon times. This must be one of the most historic and beautiful regions of England. The town is also well served with all amenities and has a wide range of shops for both the essentials and luxuries of life. Being small it has a friendly atmosphere and personal service.

Ellesmere Rangers football club were re-established as a football club in 1969. However the club’s history goes back to the 1940’s, when a group of workers at the local railway factory decided to form a football team. Since 1969 when the club re-formed a group of dedicated, local enthusiasts, have managed to maintain a football club that has developed a history of being a close nit, friendly organisation with reasonable facilities and an ambition to progress to greater heights in the football world.

The club have been fortunate to win a number of prestigious competitions in their time, the pinnacle being crowned champions of the Shropshire Junior Cup in 1981 a feat reproduced two seasons ago by the Rangers reserve team.

In November 2000 the club appointed Geoff Graham as their manager. His dream was and still is to make Ellesmere Rangers a more professional organisation on and off the field. He brings with him experience of running football teams at a much higher level (league of Wales) and in doing so he is helping to identify the various stages needed to make Ellesmere a force both on and off the field. He is a sports lecturer at a local college and through the years he has helped develop a number of youngsters who have gone on to make a name for themselves at a professional level, Boaz Myhill (Hull City) David Johnson (Ipswich Town, Nottingham Forest) Joe Hart (Manchester City) Adam Proudlock (Wolverhampton Wanderers) and John Leah (Darlington).

So far, in the five full seasons, since the manager took over the reigns, the club have enjoyed four successive promotions from the Shropshire County League First Division to the West Midland League Premier Division and have appeared in seven cup finals winning four of them.

LYE TOWN F.C. /BRIERLEY & HAGLEY

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:29:05 GMT

SPORTS GROUND, STOURBRIDGE ROAD, LYE, STOURBRIDGE 01384 422672

“ The Flyers otherwise known as Lye Town is probably one of the better known clubs in the Birmingham area. Founded in 1930 as Lye and Wollascote, they quickly found favour with the local cricket club and were allowed the southern end of the Stourbridge Road to set up their goal posts. The first ever game played on this ground on the 25th of October 1930 was against Dudley Town, who were victors on this occasion by five goals to three. The two clubs also met in the semi final of the Dudley St John’s Ambulance Cup on the 28th February 1931, Dudley once again came out on top, winning by six goals to one. The final time that they met in their first season was on March 21st 1931, this game was played at the County Ground and ended in a stalemate, with both teams sharing a 2 - 2 draw.

The following year Lye Town joined the Worcestershire Combination where they remained for eight years until the outbreak of war. During this period the club picked up the Birmingham Junior Cup, by winning it in 1933/34 beating Jack Mould’s Athletic 2 - 1, and again in 1937/38 beating Netherton Liberals and a third time the year later with a 4 - 1 win over Standard Athletic ( Coventry). The League title was captured in 1935/36, and they finished runners up in 1937/38.

The restart of football after the war, saw Lye join the Central Amateur League for just one season moving on to The Birmingham District League for the 1947/48 season, which they finished in a comfortable mid-table position. In 1962 the League changed it’s name to the West Midland Regional League and Lye entered the record books with the highest score of Lye Town 2 Darlaston 13 !

From 1976 to 1981, they were league runners up on four occasions to Alvechurch, Willenhall, Sutton Coldfield Town, and Shifnal Town, twice losing the title on goal average. The League Cup was won in 1975/76 beating Dudley Town 1 - 0; they have been runners up on four other occasions.

In 1998, they won the West Midlands Premier Division title, but were denied promotion to the Midland Football Alliance falling foul of strict ground grading regulations.

BRIERLEY & HAGLEY FC (GROUND SHARE AT LYE TOWN FC)

The Brierley Hill name in football will to most supporters will always be the name of Brierley Hill Alliance, the present club was formed after the demise of their better known predecessors.

Mr Dave Dew ( The Leagues current Chairman) founded Brierley Hill Town in 1955, under the name of Oldswinford F.C., they shared the Cottage Street ground in Brierley Hill with Alliance until both clubs moved to the Dell Stadium, when the council sold the ground to “Asda”. Asda paid £60,000 to the council to fence and drain the stadium. The Alliance folded in 1980 leaving Oldswinford the only team at the Dell.

They first played in the Kidderminster League where they remained from 1955 to 1963, moving to the Staffs County League from that time to 1976 after which they entered the West Midlands (Regional) League Division One. In 1980/81 as Oldswinford F.C. They won the First Division Cup and secured the League Championship, which rewarded them with promotion to the Premier Division. In 1984/85 Oldswinford became runners-up to Halesowen Town in the Premier Division Cup.

In 1993, the clubs name changed from Oldswinford FC to Brierley Hill Town. They were founder members of the Midland Football Alliance, and returned to the West Midlands League after just one season.

Brierley Hill amalgamated with West Hagley from the Midland Combination League to form a new club and are now known as Brierley and Hagley Alliance. They left their spiritual home in Brierley Hill, and spent one season at Park Road, home of Halesowen Harriers FC. With the Harriers folding in 2002, the Lions as they are called moved a mile down the road and currently ground share at Lye Town FC. However the club will be moving to a new stadium at Wassell Grove which should be ready for Premier Division football for the start of the 2007 / 2008 season.

WEBSITE www.brierleyandhagleyfc.co.uk

BROMYARD TOWN FC

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:46:16 GMT

Delahay Meadow, Stourport Road, Bromyard 01885 483974

Bromyard Town Football Club was originally formed in 1893 and was one of the founder members of the Herefordshire Football League. During the post war years the Town had a very strong team and won nearly every competition in the area, playing on various sites over the years

In the mid 1980’s the Committee started to look for a permanent ground and in 1986, were able to purchase their present home “ Delahay Meadow”. Work to level their site and build a clubhouse was done mostly by club members. The Official Opening was held in 1994.

In 1996 they applied to the Lottery for assistance with floodlighting but were rejected as they would not assist with grass pitch area’s. The Committee has also approached various mobile phone companies and Vodaphone made them an offer which enabled them to proceed with a new Abacus lighting system, these were ready at the end of the 1998/99 season.

In the 1999/2000 season, the Club won both the H.F.A. county Challenge Cup and The West Midlands Regional League Division One South Championship, and after meeting the ground standards required for promotion duly accepted the invitation to join the Premier Division.

MAHAL FOOTBALL CLUB

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:27:10 GMT

HADLEY STADIUM, WILSON ROAD, SMETHWICK 0121 434 4848

Mahal joined the WMRL in 1995 and became established members of Division One South. With the changes in the leagues layout in 2004, Mahal found themselves in the newly reformed Division Two, but enjoyed a successful season finishing a very creditable 6th.

Last season 205/2006, the team struggled and recorded their lowest ever position 13th - althought they did enjoy a decent run in the League Cup where they made it to the last eight.

MAHAL

1995-96 Joined West Midlands (Regional) League Division One 2003-04 Switched from Division One South to Division One North 2004-05 Dropped to Division Two on league re-organisation SEASON LEAGUE P W D L F A P POS 1995-96 W MID-1 40 12 6 22 61 89 42 16/21 1996-97 W MID-1S 26 10 6 10 51 44 36 10/14 1997-98 W MID-1S 26 10 2 14 54 62 32 11/14 1998-99 W MID-1S 26 7 5 14 42 67 26 12/14 1999-00 W MID-1S 22 3 1 18 26 77 10 12/12 2000-01 W MID-1S 22 11 0 11 50 57 33 6/12 2001-02 W MID-1S 26 8 4 14 37 50 28 10/14 2002-03 W MID-1S 26 13 5 8 55 46 44 5/14 2003-04 W MID-1N 30 4 6 20 47 93 18 15/16 2004-05 W MID-2 32 17 2 13 58 57 53 6/17 2005-06 W MID-2 26 3 9 14 36 68 18 13/14

HEATH TOWN RANGERS

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:31:04 GMT

COTTAGE GROUND, AMOS LANE WEDNESFIELD 01902 735506

Heath Town Rangers first joined the West Midlands Youth Division in 2005 and finished 8th in the Northern Section.

With some players now in their late teens, Chairman Mark Hopson decided to push for Senior football, therefore allowing the club the benefits of Senior and Youth football.

At the leagues AGM, Heath Town Rangers were accepted into Division Two and will continue to groundshare with Wednesfield FC. during the 2006 / 07 season.

GOODRICH F.C.

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:34:28 GMT

GOODRICH SPORTS GROUND, STAFFORD ROAD FORDHOUSES, WOLVERHAMPTON

The Club first joined the West Midlands League in 1983 as Aero Lucas, but life was short lived despite promotion to the First Division within 3 years, when the Club resigned in 1989. However they rejoined the league in 1997 as Lucas Flight Controls, and enjoyed a successful association in Division One despite a change in name in 2000/01.

A Change in company ownership in 2003, saw the Club (now Goodrich Sports) successfully win the First Division North, therefore rewarding them with promotion to the Premier Division.

The League's Management Committee gave them permission to groundshare with Wednesfield for one season allowing them promotion to the Premier Division. This gave Goodrich time to install a new grandstand and erect new floodlights.

As agreed the club returned home for the start of the 2005 / 2006 season having now established themselves as a new member of the Premier Division, with an aim to buid solid foundations for future development.

For Goodrich it is the dawning of a new and exciting era.

P W D L F A PTS POS

1983/84 26 - 05 - 06 - 15 - 29 - 53 - 16 11/14 Aero Lucas*

1984/85 32 - 10 - 05 - 17 - 46 - 66 - 25 11/17 Aero Lucas*

1985/86 34 - 18 - 06 - 10 - 66 - 45 - 42 05/18 Aero Lucas*

1986/87 38 - 11 - 09 - 18 - 43 - 65 - 31 13/20 Aero Lucas

1987/88 36 - 14 - 05 - 17 - 51 - 62 - 33 10/19 Aero Lucas

1988/89 34 - 12 - 10 - 12 - 55 - 59 - 46 09/18 Aero Lucas

1997/98 28 - 08 - 07 - 13 - 60 - 72 - 13 11/15 Lucas Flight

1998/99 28 - 18 - 04 - 06 - 91 - 37 - 58 03/15 Lucas Flight

1999/00 24 - 08 - 05 - 11 - 58 - 50 - 29 07/13 Lucas Flight

2000/01 26 - 13 - 06 - 07 - 80 - 46 - 45 05/14 Lucas Sports

2001/02 30 - 10 - 08 - 12 - 58 - 63 - 38 10/16 Lucas Sports

2002/03 34 - 25 - 03 - 06-124 - 51 - 78 03/18 Lucas Sports

2003/04 30 - 24 - 00 - 06 - 73 - 39 - 72 01/16 Goodrich Sports

Above League Statistics relate to WMRL League One North, unless marked * refer to WMRL Division Two

GORNAL ATHLETIC / RESERVES F.C.

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:33:54 GMT

GARDEN WALK STADIUM, GARDEN WALK, LOWER GORNAL DUDLEY DY3 2NR 01384 358398

Founded in 1945 as Lower Gornal Athletic, the present club played in the Midland Combination from 1951 until 1963 when they joined the Birmingham & District League. This later became known as the West Midlands (Regional) League.

In the mid 1960’s the club enjoyed considerable success and in 1964/65 they achieved their highest ever position in the Premier Division of the League - fourth behind winners Kidderminster Harriers - and appeared in the League Cup Final where they lost 2 - 7 on aggregate to a very strong Tamworth side.

It was also in 1965 that the club received its highest ever transfer fee when George Andrews and Gary Bell signed for Cardiff City in a deal worth £2100 - a considerable sum in those days!

In 1974/75 the club had its best ever run in the FA Cup, battling through to the third round qualifying where they were bundled out 1 - 3 in an exciting game at Nuneaton Borough. Later that year, the club changed their name to Gornal Athletic and the name of the ground from Timmins Stadium to the current Garden Walk Stadium.

The late 1970’s were less successful for the club and after several seasons of struggling the 1979/80 season saw them relegated to Division One - a drop that was to take until 1994 to reverse.

With promotion back to the Premier Division a substantial amount of work had to be undertaken to bring the Stadium up to the required standard. This included the installation of floodlights. Indeed the Garden Walk Stadium - which has a capacity of 3000 - has the potential to be one of the best grounds in the area.

2002/2003 saw Gornal relegated along with Walsall Wood back to Division One, but last year they bounced back at the first attempt ending the season as Division One Champions.

2004/2005 season started with our very successful Yoth Team manager Simon Williams being promoted to First Team Manager, he brought in the whole of his youth team squad along with a couple of experienced players and finished the season in a very creditable 10th position, the clubs best for over 20 years, they also reached the league Cup Semi-finals losing2 - 1 over two legs to League Champions Tipton Town.

Last Season 2005 / 2006, the club went from strength to strength and finished League runners - up to Champions Market Drayton Town, a team they had beaten away on the opening day of the season.

With a desire to gain Midland Alliance Football, Gornal believe in their youth policy and have this season introduced a reserve side who will be playing in Division Two.

GREAT WYRLEY F.C

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:33:13 GMT

HAZLEBROOK, HAZEL LANE, GREAT WYRLEY

01922 410366

Great Wyrley were accepted into the West Midlands (Regional ) League in 1980/81 and won the Second Division Championship in 1982/83, beating local neighbours Harrisons to the title by one point in a season that saw the top five teams separated by just three points. The club continued to play at this level for 25 years. In 1994/95 Great Wyrley won the First Division league Cup after beating Lichfield by two goals to one. The 1996 / 97 season witnessed Wyrley winning the First Division championship, but with the absence of floodlighting were denied promotion to the top flight.

With this problem obstructing their progress to the Premier Division

The hardworking committee and supporters of the football club found time to raise £40,000, which enabled the club to obtain the much needed floodlights.

In 2004/2005 with manager Bob Morris at the helm with his assistant Lee Price. No less than 5 honours were won. These included the WMRL Division One Championship, The Staffs Cup, The JW Hunt cup, The JW Hunt Cup winners Cup, and the Wednesbury Charity cup.

This season was their first in the WMRL Premier Division. At one stage, they were one of the three teams competing for the league championship, the others being Market Drayton Town (League Champions), Gornal Athletic (Runners - up). Wyrley suffered a surprise home defeat in April against Wednesfield which cost them dearly, the runners - up spot.

One record which they created for themselves was a 26 match unbeaten run, which ran from the start of the season till the end of January 2006.