Today I'm going back 18 years to 2004 and Racing Club Warwick's visit to "The Cricketts" in Rowley Regis (it's just off Junction 2 of the M5 and you can just about see the floodlights at night from the motorway) to play Oldbury United in the Midland Football Alliance. The official attendance for the game was just 50.
Oldbury United were founder members of the Midland Football Alliance in 1994 and were continuous members right through until season 2008/09 when a legal dispute forced them to leave their home and ground share with Tividale FC. If I remember correctly, the legal dispute was between the football club and its social club but it was a sad situation and surely one where a bit of mediation and reasonableness on both sides would have resolved the situation amicably. At the end of that season the club ended up folding but were reformed again in 2017 and now play their home games back at "The Cricketts". The club is currently in Birmingham & District League Division 4 which is several levels below their former position in the Midland Football Alliance (the ninth tier of the English football pyramid).
Judging by an ad in the featured programme, Oldbury's shirt (£30), shorts (£10) and socks (£5) sponsorship "opportunities" underlined the message that "Your club needs your support" as there had been no takers whatsoever with their season already 13 games old. The programme editorial also stated that the club's financial standing remained "tight".
Racing Club, under the management of Marcus Law, went into the game sitting in 3rd place in the league after 10 games, just two points behind Westfields who occupied top spot. Oldbury were nine points and eleven places further back in 14th place (of 22). Warwick therefore arrived in a buoyant mood but were rocked back on their heels by the only goal of the first half which went to Oldbury and was scored by Sebastian Hamilton. Little did we know that there would be five goals in the second period but sadly the first two of those went to Oldbury and, after 51 minutes Warwick found themselves 3-0 down and surely out of it. Warwick's leading goal scorer Ollie Olanepekun had been left on the bench but was brought on and scored Racing Club's first with just 20 minutes remaining. When Paul White grabbed Warwick's second with 12 minutes to go we began to wonder if we might be about to witness a remarkable comeback. Sadly however it was not to be and Oldbury's Richard Taylor scored in the 90th minute to make the final score 4-2.
Disappointingly, Warwick finished a season which had promised so much down in 9th place with Oldbury finishing further down in 17th. Champions that season were Rushall Olympic who were promoted into the Southern League. The bottom two, the Shropshire pair of Ludlow Town and Bridgnorth Town were relegated into the West Midlands (Regional) League and the Midland Combination respectively but both clubs have folded in the intervening years illustrating the precarious existence of some of our grassroots clubs.
CRB Match No. 1396
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