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Index of clubs on this page: Just click on the club you wish to view.
Great Wyrley were members of the West Midlands (Regional) League but have sadly gone out of business recently. As recently as the 2005/06 season they finish 3rd in the West Midlands League Premier Division and runners up in the League Cup Final. Formed in 1960, their Hazel Lane ground has some great facilities. The ground is still used, West Midlands League Division Two side Wyrley Juniors using the ground these days. The pitch is now owned by the social club and is used every Sunday by local football sides.
The impressive clubhouse and changing rooms at Great Wyrley are still used on a regular basis. In fact there's even a cafe that opens six mornings a week based there.
Great Wyrley's ground has one stand, with seats, behind the goal.
A couple of elevated views of Great Wyrley's ground.
All the facilities are still in place, the ground still having floodlights, dugouts and changing rooms. They also have an impressive social club upstairs, lots of clubs at this level rely on the bar takings to keep the football going. Although Great Wyrley have gone its nice to see the ground being made use of and by the local community too.
The social club is used as a cafe six mornings a week, a great idea to bring in some extra income. The locals out walking their dogs use the stand while they eat their early morning bacon sandwiches!!!
Perhaps with the pitch in constant use at the weekends and a busy social club senior non-league football will return to Hazel Lane in the future. We keep losing a few clubs each year but in the case of Great Wyrley at least the facilities and pitch are being maintained and used and it does leave the door open for a return of the football club at some point in the future.
Special thanks to Phil Hill for pointing out important corrections to this feature, and to Leon Murray for additional information.
Halesowen Harriers were formed by Derek Beasley in 1961 and played 11 friendlies during the 1961-2 season, the first being on 7th January 1962. All games were played away from home as Sunday football was not allowed in Halesowen at the time.
In the summer of 1962 the team were admitted to Division Three of the Festival League having acquired a home pitch at Sennelly’s Park in Bartley Green, Birmingham. They won the Division Three championship in the first season and were immediately promoted to the Premier Division.
In 1965 they moved to Cooksey Lane in Kingstanding, Birmingham where they stayed until 1969 before finally ‘coming home’ to play their games at Halesowen Town’s Grove ground. During their years in the Festival League they won the Premier Division championship four times and were runners-up eight times.
1984 saw the Harriers make the big step up from Sunday to Saturday football as they gained admission to Division Two of the West Midlands (Regional) League. The move coincided with the opening of their Park Road ground which the club dug out of the hillside themselves and which remained their home for the rest of their years.
The first season was an outstanding success with the club winning the championship and League Cup double, losing only three times in the entire season. The following year they continued to progress through the league as they won the Division One championship, again having lost only three times. It was also in this season that the club achieved their record victory, 12-0 against Shirley Town.
Winning the Division One title earned the club a place in the Premier Division and qualified them as a senior non-league team an honour that qualified them for entry into the F.A. Cup, F.A. Vase and Birmingham Senior Cup. Eight years of consolidation followed, the best season being 1988-9 when they finished third and could have applied for Southern League membership but for a lack of floodlights.
In 1994 the club was selected to become founder members of the Midland Football Alliance and Rod Brown was appointed to run the team assisted by, now chairman Derek Beasley. After a sticky start, they ended the season in fine style in fifth place and as the league’s leading scorers thanks in no small part to the goalscoring exploits of strike partners Ian Perry and Charlie Blakemore (now manager of Chasetown). In the same season the club were runners-up in the League Cup, losing 2-0 to Sandwell Borough in the Final played at Willenhall Town FC.
In 1995-6 the club finished twelfth after some inconsistent displays and this was followed the next season by a final placing of nineteenth out of twenty clubs, the worst season on the pitch for many years.
The close season saw Derek Beasley give up the role of manager after 30 years at the helm and hand over to former Lye Town boss Dave Beasley (no relation). Dave wasted no time in making major changes to the playing staff and the club were rewarded with a final placing of ninth and an appearance in the Walsall Senior Cup Final at Walsall FC which they lost 2-1 to Blakenall of the Southern League.
In his second season, 1998-9 Dave Beasley bettered this, taking Harriers to sixth, their highest placing in five years. At the end of the season Beasley resigned to spend more time with his family and the position was offered to ex-player Alan Collett who had already worked alongside Dave as well as helping to run the reserve team.
Alan’s period in charge lasted less than a year before he was forced to resign through work commitments and player Darren Taylor was appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. Over this season Darren impressed and was offered the manager’s job in the summer of 2000.
In the latter part of 2000-1 season, Darren persuaded Dave Beasley to rejoin him and the two carried out the role of dual management for the club. Dave Cole was also added to the management team as coach to reunite a trio who had spent much of the 1990s together as players at Lye Town.
 2001-02 season saw many former players return to the squad, galvanising it into one which was determined for success, despite the financial constraints that were beginning to be placed upon it.
However, with financial pressures mounting, the regrettable decision was made that 2002-3 would be Harriers last. And so it was that on 28th April 2003 Harriers played their final game, at home to Causeway United, a team that were ironically at the time ground sharing with Halesowen Town.
Harriers had a great deal of success in cup competitions. As a Sunday team they won the Birmingham Sunday Cup in 1982 and reached the semi-finals of the F.A. Sunday Cup in 1980 before losing out to Liverpool based Fantail FC.
As a Saturday team they finished as runners-up in the Premier Division Cup in 1989 and 1990, losing to Gresley Rovers and Chasetown in respective finals.
Since joining the Midland Football Alliance, apart from their appearance in the League Cup Final and Walsall Senior Cup Final, they have reached the semi-finals of the Staffordshire Senior Cup in 1994-5 and the Midland Invitation Cup in 1995-6.
Harriers also fielded a reserve side for much of their history. A reserve side competed in the Festival League from 1964 to 1991 and in the West Midlands (Regional) League from 1991-4 and 1997-9 where they achieved moderate success. A Youth team also competed in the West Midlands (Regional) League Youth Division in 1990-1 season.
In their final years the Harriers ground was shared by other clubs to bring in much needed revenue. These included Dudley Town, Blackheath Town and Brierley and Hagley Alliance.
THE HISTORY I HAVE WRITTEN INCLUDES
Special thanks to Robert Shinfield for writing this history of Halesowen Harriers and supplying the details of his soon to be published book.
 
Penn Colts folded at the end of February 2008. Although Penn Colts as a football club have been around since 1985 the senior section of the club has only enjoyed two seasons, both spent in the West Midlands (Regional) League Division Two.
Like many clubs in the lower divisions of the West Midlands League Penn Colts took the decision to set up a senior side at the start of the  2006/07 season to provide the necessary progression for players from their junior ranks.
 Their first season was spent ground sharing at Wolverhampton Development's Four Ashes ground, just to the north of Wolverhampton on the A449 Stafford Road. The club enjoyed relative success in their first campaign, managed by Shane Samuels, finishing 5th in the league scoring 73 goals, being the highest goal scorers in Division Two that season.
 At the end of the 2006/07 season Shane Samuels left the club to manage Warstones Wanderers and a number of key players followed him. This season hasn't been good for the club, by now based at the Goodyear Training Ground, still on the A449, but closer to Wolverhampton City Centre, known as the Pavillion.
After a poor campaign up to Christmas, things got worse in the New Year when they were deducted 11 points for fielding an ineligible player. This left Penn Colts second from bottom of the league.  Penn Colts were managed this season by Pinder Deo, who became one of the oldest players to score in a West Midlands League game against Tenbury United at the age of 50. Pinder Deo has a wealth of experience at West Midlands League level having played for Bilston United for a number of years.
 Sadly Penn Colts have been added to the list of defunct non league clubs by a mixture of financial difficulties and internal politics. The junior sides will continue to play in the local Bilston and Stourbridge leagues but for now the non league community must say goodbye to yet another club.
The ground was home to Goodrich FC who played in the West Midlands League until they folded in 1995/96 and since then the ground has been used by at least two other now-defunct clubs, Wolverhampton Town and Marston Wolves. The ground at The Pavillion will remain, however at the time of writing no other side have announced plans to play senior non league football from there next season.
Special thanks to Steveb and SB from Tony Kempster's forum for pointing out some necessary additions to this feature.
 Polesworth North Warwicks went to the wall just a couple of season's ago. They were members of the Midland Combination and played in the Premier and Division One for a number of years. Their ground on the B5000 Tamworth Road is still in existence and is today know as North Warwicks Cricket Club. On a Sunday morning its home to Tamworth & District Sunday League Division Three side New North Warwicks and on a Saturday junior teams make use of the pitch.
Special thanks to Paul Edwards for the scan of the programme.
These pictures show the entrance to the ground and the cricket club sign.
These pictures show the front and rear of the social club which is still open every night of the week. The picture on the right shows the damage to the roof after the club was broken into in September 2007.
New North Warwicks now use the pitch on a Sunday morning.
Action here from the 2-2 draw between New North Warwicks and Fazeley Three Tuns, in their Tamworth & District Division Three game on Sunday 22nd October 2007.
A view of the pitch at Polesworth and the cricket scoreboard.
Behind the far goal there's a hard standing area, but no cover or seats.
Although there doesn't seem to be any plans for Polesworth North Warwicks to re-form and once again play in the Midland Combination, the fact that the ground is still used gives hope
for them to
return in the
future.
First Ever Game 8th September 1956 - Last Ever Game 30th April 2005
This is a brief and incomplete history of VS Rugby Football Club. Hopefully in the future when time allows I will put a completed version on here. For now here's just a few of the high points and one or two of the low ones in the history of the club.
VS Rugby were formed in 1956 by Keith Coughlan in the New Bilton area of Rugby, playing their games at Hillmorton Rec. They played their first ever competitive game on 8th September 1956 in the Rugby & District Sunday League.
These three old programmes show (from left to right) the front cover of the programmes from 30th October 1970 against British Timken played at Oakfield, the home game against Stewarts & Lloyds in the United Counties League Cup Final on 8th May 1975, this one played at Butlin Road and the front cover of the programme from the game played against Eastwood Hanley on 8th April 1978 in the West Midlands (Regional) League.
VS Rugby made steady progress through the local leagues and eventually ended up in the West Midlands League - Premier Division by the mid-1970s. (After a spell in the United Counties League) A real turning point for the club was the appointment of Rugby based and ex-AP Leamington manager Jimmy Knox in January 1981. His first game in charge away at Bilston gave no clues of what was to come with a 4-1 defeat in the fog at Queen Street. (Programme cover pictured right)
Jimmy Knox quickly signed new players, his first signings being Steve Convey and Keith Evans, Keith went on to play in the FA Vase Final for VS in 1983.
Things really started to happen at Butlin Road in the 1982/83 season with a run in the FA Vase all the way to the final, ending in a famous 1-0 victory against Halesowen Town at Wembley with an Ian Crawley goal at the start of the second half. VS Rugby were also promoted to the Southern League for the first time in their history.
The first game away at Aylesbury United was also the first time the club had been on the pools coupon, but goals from Derek Owen and John McGinty ensured their would be no score draw and earned VS Rugby a 2-1 victory in their first Southern League game.
VS Rugby's first decent run in the FA Cup came the following season, with VS extremely unlucky not to win in the First Round Proper at Northampton Town's County Ground. Ian Crawley had given the Valley a late 2-1 lead, only for Cobbler's Captain Ray Train to grab an equaliser late on. The replay at Butlin Road saw the record attendance of 3,961 squeeze into VS's ground and see Northampton come out 1-0 winners in the pouring rain.
Other great games against league opposition were to follow in the FA Cup with games against Bristol Rovers, Leyton Orient, Bristol City and Brentford. VS Rugby never did beat league opposition but came so so close on many ocassion and forced replays against Bristol Rovers and Leyton Orient.
The front cover of the programme from the FA Cup game away at Bristol City which VS Rugby lost 3-1, despite taking the lead late in the second half through a John Lane penalty. Pictured right is the programme from the second leg of the Midland Floodlit Cup Final on 8th May 1985 when VS Rugby lifted the Trophy at Nuneaton's Manor Park ground.
Problems arose at the club during the early 1990s, these included the depature of Jimmy Knox at the end of the 1991/92 season after falling out with then club chairman Roy Gallimore and the first threat to the future of the club at the end of the 1993/94 season. The efforts of a hand full of fans and officials of the club saved VS Rugby from extinction and Ron Bradbury was appointed manager. Ron led VS to promotion back to the Premier Division of the Southern League and a FA Cup First Round Proper tie at home to Brentford in his first season in charge..
Sadly a few years later VS Rugby were taken over by a local businessman and played their last ever home game as VS Rugby against Erith & Belvedere on 29th April 2000. The last ever game played as VS Rugby was a 2-1 victory at St Leonards the following Saturday, 6th May 2000, Darren Beckett getting the winner and being the last ever goalscorer for VS Rugby.
VS Rugby became Rugby United for the 2000/01 season, the fans hated this decision but had no choice but to put up with it, after all they were told it was only a name change.
However, worse was to follow when Rugby United and local rivals Rugby Town decided to merge, without any consultation with the fans. The fans were kept in the dark and in fact lied to about the future plans for the club. During the 2004/05 season the board of Rugby United announced that from the following season the club would use the name of local rivals Rugby Town and continue playing at Butlin Road. This time of course this was much more than just a name change and the fans decided to fight back.
A campaign was launched with a public meeting at the Clifton Inn pub close to the ground. It was decided to gain publicity for the campaign through the press and a boycott of the VS bar and a protest march before the next home game were organised. There were some fantastic displays of solidarity from other non-league fans and on the day of the march Halesowen Town's fans joined the campaigners in the Clifton Inn boycotting the VS Bar. Fans from Leamington and Shepshed gave particularly excellent support, turning up at the Clifton Inn and helping the campign in any way they could.
 On Saturday 5th March 2005 a particualrly ugly scene occured at the turnstyles before the home game with Merthy Tydfil. The club directors decided to ban the leaders of the campaign against the take over of VS Rugby/Rugby United from the ground, the Merthyr and Leamington fans (they were there again giving their support) refused to enter the ground until the VS fans were allowed in. As the directors of Rugby United sipped their wine while unwaveringly denying entrance to anyone that disagreed with them, the fans made a stand and flooded over, around and through the gates in their numbers, in support of the VS campaigners regardless of any consequences. In attempting to keep the VS and Merthyr fans out a teenage fan was assaulted by a club director and the police were called. A very sad day in the history of a once very proud and respected club.
VS Rugby/Rugby United played their last home game on 23rd April 2005 against Grantham Town and their last ever game away at Cheshan United on the Saturday 30th April 2005. A great club was lost to the world of non-league football.
The start of the 2005/06 saw many VS Rugby fans start supporting Leamington and today the Rugby Brakes are still attending Leamington games home and away. Who can blame them wanting to follow a club that is run in the true traditions of the non-league game!
It is still hoped that VS Rugby will return to the non-league game at some point in the future - watch this space!!!
Below are a few pictures of Butlin Road from the game against Clevedon Town on the 17th August 2002, the game ended in a 2-2 draw.
These pictures show the stand behind the Graveyard End and the beautiful view of the countryside from Butlin Road.
The picture on the right shows Robbie Beard, a hero with the VS Rugby/Rugby United fans.
VS RUGBY
1956 - 2005
Best Performance in the FA Cup: 2nd Round Proper 1987/88, 1992/93
Best Performance in the FA Vase: Winners 1982/83
Best Performance in the FA Trophy:
Wyrley Rangers were members of the West Midlands (Regional) League.
The 2005/06 season was one of their most successful and saw them finish 5th in the West Midlands League Premier Division and win the Premier Division League Cup Final 2-0 against local rivals Great Wyrley. They also reached the semi-finals of the Staffordshire FA Challenge Vase only to lose on penalties.
Wyrley Rangers were formed in 1988 and played at Long Lane Park. The privately owned ground is still very much in use being used by West Midlands (Regional) League - Division One sides Riverside and Warstones Wanderers.
There is a superb playing surface at Long Lane Park after a FA grant paid for improvements to the pitch. There is also a nice looking stand with 100 seats.
Long Lane Park is currently up for sale for £1.2 million.
After formation in 1988 Wyrley Rangers joined the West Midlands (Regional) League, however after one season they left to play in the Wolverhampton Combination.
They re-joined the West Midlands League in 2001, playing in Division One North, and finished mid-table in their first season. In 2003 they merged with Marston Wolves, who also played in the West Midlands League.
The 2004/05 season saw the club finish in third place in Division One and after two resignations from the West Midlands (Regional) League - Premier Division they were promoted, on the condition that the appropriate ground grading criteria could be met prior to the League AGM.
Plans to upgrade the ground for possible future Premier Division status were already in place however, Rangers had just three weeks to complete the necessary work. The work was quickly completed and Wyrley Rangers played Premier Division football for the first time in the 2005/06 season finishing 5th.
 The ground improvements carried out in 2005 at Long Lane Park included the addition of three new changing rooms, a players' entrance, hard standing around the ground, and a 100 seater cantilever stand. The ground also has floodlights which were added in 2003.
In 2007, after finishing 14th in their second season in the Premier Division the club sadly folded.
For more information on other defunct non-league clubs in the Midlands try a google search from here.
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