Non League Groundhopping in the West Midlands League

 

Founded in 1889 as the  Birmingham and District league with a membership of twelve clubs, Kidderminster Olympic romped home but as all the fixtures were not completed, the championship was declared void. This remarkable event happened in the following two seasons, until finally, in 1892/93 Wolverhampton Wanderers Reserves became the first ever champions.

 

Having set the pattern, the league was, to all intents and purposes, dominated by the reserve sides of the midland football league clubs for a number of years but that did not stop Old Hill Wanderers  and Hereford Thistle from winning the occasional title. A sign in the domination of the league clubs is shown in the fact that from 1897 to 1910, the championship was shared by Aston Villa Reserves (9), Wolves Reserves (3), and West Bromwich Albion Reserves (1).

 

By now the league clubs presence included the first team from Bristol (Eastville Rovers), Crewe Alexandra, Shrewsbury Town, Wrexham (singers), Coventry City, and Stoke City. Among the sides who were later to become household names were Stourbridge, Wellington Town, the sadly defunct Brierley Hill Alliance, Stafford Rangers and Kidderminster Harriers.

 

Worcester City were the last non-reserve team to win the title before the great war closed football down in 1919.

 

After the war, soccer resumed but in 1921 all of the football league reserve clubs, with the exception of Coventry City, left to join the Central League and even they followed a season later.

 

Of the twenty competitions between the two World Wars, Cradley Heath, Wellington Town, and Worcester won the title on three occasions, Kidderminster and Wrexham Reserves two each and the other sides to win were WBA Reserves, Bristol Rovers Reserves, Burton Town, Shrewsbury Town, Stafford Rangers, Stourbridge, and Willenhall.

 

Unlike the Great War, some football was played during the Second World War but only up to 1941.

 

The first post war season kicked off in 1946 and Halesowen Town ended up as the winners ofa ten team competition  that included two football league club ‘A’ teams, five reserves teams from the Southern League clubs plus Kettering Town and Oswestry Town.

 

These were the golden years of English football with the soldiers returning from the War boosting attendance’s to record levels. For instance, Birmingham Senior Cup Finals drew crowds in excess of 12,000.

 

At the end of the 1947/48 season, the top two sides, Kettering and Kidderminster left to join the Southern League. Soon the old Birmingham Combination started to disintegrate and by 1954 had been swallowed up by the Football League whoCreated the North & South Divisions to cope with the 40 clubs. The following season saw the creation of Divisions One & Two but almost immediately teams began to fall by the wayside: Bloxwich Strollers and Leek Town were two.

 

More reorganisation followed in 1960 when the ‘A’ and reserves teams from the league clubs were removed and the league were left with a top division of 24 clubs, a true ‘Town’s’ league.

 

The name of the league was changed to its present title (The West Midlands Regional League) in 1962/63 and the first champions were Lockheed Leamington who retained their title the following season.

 

1965 saw the formation of the Premier and First Divisions and the competition was enlarged in 1977 by the introduction of a Second Division. By 1969 the league were operating with 62 clubs, a number that has remained reasonably constant up until 1993.

 

In 1993/94 The Midland Alliance was formed from clubs of both the West Midlands (Regional) League and the Midland Combination, with a view that this would lead to the future creation of a Midlands Premier Division.

 

Despite this loss of ten Premier division clubs, the league continues to run to date with three divisions with clubs joining the league from the Shropshire County League and the Kidderminster District League.

 

There is no doubt that the league has proved to be a breeding ground for some of the top non-league clubs in the Midlands area particularly if you look at the clubs now playing in more senior leagues. We have already mentioned Kettering and Kidderminster and further examples spring to mind such as Boston United, Redditch, Tamworth, Bromsgrove, Hednesford, Ilkeston Town and Halesowen Town (League Champions 1982/83/84/85, and FA Vase winners 1984/85 & 1985/86.

 

In April 2006, The Football Association confirmed that the West Midlands (Regional) League along with the Midland Combination would be elevated to level 6 of the national non-league pyramid system.

 

Mark McIntyre