EARLSWOOD TOWN: who we are...
A short history of the club, which plays at Studley FC's ground but its REAL home is: Springbrook Farm; Earlswood; B94 5DX.
Formerly known as Churchgreen United, the club moved to a ground in Lady Lane, Earlswood in 1966 and changed its name to Earlswood Town FC in 1968. In the early years the first team played in the Warwickshire and West Midland Alliance, which later became the West Midlands Metropolitan League. The club has also run teams in the South Birmingham Saturday League and Combination, Solihull Combination, Birmingham A.F.A., Kings Norton League and Stratford-upon-Avon Alliance over the seasons, winning a number of trophies along the way.
The club was a founder member of the Central Warwickshire Over 35s League in 1980, finishing as runners-up in the inaugural season and then as champions in the 1981/82 season, whilst also finishing runners-up in the Con Richards Memorial Cup, in season 1983/84. Earlswood has also had youth teams in the Birmingham Youth Committee League and the Birmingham Boys League, winning the Major Cup in 1990/91 and finishing as league runners-up in the same season.
In 1970 we moved to our picturesque ground in Malt House Lane, Earlswood. The first team joined the Mercian League, formerly the Birmingham Youths and Old Boys League, in 1971/72, winning a number of trophies over the years, including the Queens Hospital Cup, the Aston Villa Shield (joint winners) and the Senior Cup. After finishing as runners-up in the Premier Division of the Mercian League in 1979/80, the first team came from nowhere in the 1981/82 season to win the Premier Division of the Mercian League. Earlswood also won the prestigious Stratford-upon-Avon Nursing Home Cup in the same season, defeating Henley Forest 1-0 at Stratford Town’s Masons Road ground.
The club was accepted into Division 2 of the Midland Combination in 1982, finishing a creditable fourth in its first season. Town won the Midland Combination’s Challenge Vase in 2002/03, defeating the Division 2 league champions Barnt Green 3-1 and retained it the following season, again beating the Division 2 league champions, this time Wellesbourne, by the same 3-1 margin, becoming one of only three teams to date to achieve the feat of winning this trophy two years running. The under 18 team finished in runners-up spot in the Coventry Minor League (Red Division) in the 2007-08 season.
After a re-vamp at the ground in Malt House Lane, building new state of the art dressing-rooms and a modern clubroom, which made it one of the better grounds in the Midland Combination, Town were promoted to Division 1 of the Midland Combination in 2007 and finished in the top half of the table. The first team finished runners-up in Division 1 of the Midland Combination the following Season, 2009/10 and the following season saw the club moving to Pilkington XXX FC for its games, in order to upgrade our facilities to step six and also to enable the team to play under floodlights.
The team gained promotion to the Premier Division of The Midland Combination in the 2010/11 season, when it won Division 1 by 7 points, scoring 120 goals in 30 games and only conceding 25. The icing on the cake came as it won its way to the final of the major Midland Combination trophy, the Les James Memorial Cup, defeating three Premier Division teams on the way to the final. In the final, the team went down to Premier Division team Castle Vale, with the game being played at the Bescot Stadium, Walsall. The 2011/12 season saw the first team playing in the Premier Division of the Midland Combination, in which it finished in a respectable 8th position, as well as playing for the first time in the FA Vase.
The club also returned to its own ground in Malt House Lane, where the reserve team played its home fixtures in the Midland Combination Reserve League Division 2. The club also entered an under 18 team in the Midland Floodlit Youth League (Southern Division), in which Town finished runners-up in its first season, winning eight and drawing one of its nine home fixtures, which were played at Studley FC’s ground and only losing two of its 18 league games played. In the club’s first venture in the F.A. Vase, it went out in the first qualifying round, 0-2 at home against Brocton, following a replay, after drawing the first game 1-1 at Brocton.
Town moved to Studley FC for the 2012-13 season to play home games, alongside the youth team. The club entered the FA Cup in 2012-13 too, going down 3-1 at Nuneaton Griff in a replay, following a 3-3 draw at home. The club also entered the youth team in the FA Youth Cup.