Midland Football Alliance


The Midland Football Alliance was an English association football league for semi-professional teams. It covered Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and also southern parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The league consisted of a single division which sat at Step 5 of the National League System, or the ninth level of the overall English football league system.
The league was formed in 1994, drawing its initial membership from the strongest clubs in the Midland Football Combination and the West Midlands League, both of which became feeder leagues to the new competition. Each season, the champion club of each feeder league was eligible for promotion to the Alliance, and Alliance clubs could in turn be relegated to the feeder leagues. Successful teams in the Alliance were eligible for promotion to a Step 4 league, either the Southern League or Northern Premier League depending on geographical considerations. The league merged with the Midland Combination in 2014 to form the new Midland Football League.

History

The Alliance was formed in 1994, taking its initial member clubs from the West Midlands League and the Midland Football Combination, which had existed since before the Second World War, having originally been formed as the Birmingham & District League and the Worcestershire Combination respectively. Their catchment areas had gradually converged, and by the early 1990s the standard of play and geographical coverage of the two competitions were considered to be similar enough that a new competition was formed to cater for the best clubs previously split across the two leagues.
The league drew ten member clubs from each of the two leagues for its inaugural season. The clubs selected to join from the Midland Combination were Barwell, Boldmere St Michaels, Bolehall Swifts, Pershore Town, Sandwell Borough, Shepshed Dynamo, Shifnal Town, Stapenhill, Stratford Town and West Midlands Police. Those selected from the West Midlands League were Brierley Hill Town, Chasetown, Halesowen Harriers, Hinckley Athletic, Knypersley Victoria, Oldbury United, Paget Rangers, Rocester, Rushall Olympic and Willenhall Town. Paget Rangers won the first league championship by a margin of 12 points from Hinckley Athletic in the 1994–95 season, and gained promotion to the Southern League. The Alliance's status as a feeder to the Southern League was cemented when Armitage 90 were relegated in the opposite direction. Armitage went on to dominate the league in the 1995–96 season but disbanded midway through the season, with the result that their record was expunged from the table.
For the 1999–2000 season the league increased in size to 22 clubs when two clubs were promoted into the Alliance but none relegated out of it. One of the promoted clubs was Oadby Town of the Leicestershire Senior League, the first time a team from that league had been promoted into the Alliance. Two years later, the league increased in size to 23 clubs as more teams joined than left, but Stapenhill resigned midway through the 2001–02 season, reverting the number of clubs in the competition back to 22. The league expanded to 24 clubs for the 2003–04 season, at the end of which, for the first time, Alliance clubs were promoted to the Northern Premier League, rather than the Southern League, when Rocester and Willenhall Town joined the more northerly of the two leagues. The following season Coalville Town became the first Alliance team to reach the first round proper of the FA Cup, a feat which was repeated in the 2005–06 season by both Chasetown and Leamington.
With the creation of the National League System by the Football Association the league was officially defined as a Step 5 league. The champions of the Midland Combination, West Midlands League and Leicestershire Senior League continued to gain promotion to the Alliance, although in 2008 the new East Midlands Counties Football League was formed at the Step 6 level and it was anticipated that successful teams from the Leicestershire Senior League, which is officially a Step 7 league, would now move up to the new league and that the champions of the new league would in turn move up to the Alliance if they fell within its coverage area.
In 2014 the Alliance merged with the Midland Combination to form the new Midland Football League. The clubs which had been members of the Alliance formed the Premier Division of the new league.

Structure

The Alliance was known under various sponsored names following deals with companies including Baker-Joiner, Polymac Services, Harvey World Travel, Travel Factory, and Aspire. In July 2008, it was announced that 23 teams would compete in the Alliance in the 2008–09 season, however the following week it was announced that Stapenhill had folded, leaving 22 teams in the league. The league was contested on a double round-robin basis, with each team playing each of the other teams in the division once at home and once away. Three points were awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a defeat. Goal difference was used to separate teams on the same points.
As the Alliance was a Step 5 league, its member clubs were eligible to take part in the FA Cup and FA Vase as long as their grounds met the required standards. The league also operated two cup competitions of its own, the knock-out League Cup, which was staged every season, and the Joe McGorian Cup, which was contested between the previous season's League Cup winners and league champions and which was first contested in 1996.
According to official FA regulations, clubs from the Alliance were eligible for promotion to a Step 4 league, provided their grounds met the required standard. Clubs promoted from Step 5 leagues were placed in the most geographically appropriate Step 4 leagues as determined by the FA's Leagues Committee. The number of clubs promoted from the Alliance each season could vary, as regulations stated that the "ten most suitable clubs from the leagues at Step 5" will gain promotion. All clubs gaining promotion from the Alliance were placed in either the Southern League or the Northern Premier League. Teams finishing at the bottom of the Alliance table could be relegated to an appropriate feeder league, depending on the number of teams remaining in the division after other promotion and relegation issues have been resolved.

Attendance

Attendances at Midland Alliance matches were generally small, with many matches attracting fewer than 100 spectators. In the 2006–07 season the average attendance across the league was 124, but in the 2007–08 season this fell to 87. The best supported team in that season was Atherstone Town, whose average home attendance was 162. The worst supported team was Oldbury United whose matches drew an average of only 39 spectators. The highest attendance for a single match was 411, for the match between Stratford Town and Barwell. Barwell also took part in the match with the lowest attendance, when their game away to Oldbury United drew only 20 spectators.
The largest crowd ever registered for an Alliance match was 1,280, for the match between Racing Club Warwick and local rivals Leamington on 26 December 2005. The smallest crowd recorded was 10, for a match between Wednesfield and Biddulph Victoria on 19 April 2003.

Champions and cup-winners

The league champions and clubs promoted from the league were as follows:
The winners of the Alliance's two cup competitions were as follows:
SeasonLeague CupJoe McGorian Cup
1994–95Sandwell BoroughNot contested
1995–96BlakenallNot contested
1996–97Willenhall TownShepshed Dynamo
1997–98Knypersley VictoriaWillenhall Town
1998–99Oldbury UnitedKnypersley Victoria
1999–2000Willenhall TownOldbury United
2000–01StourbridgeOadby Town
2001–02Rushall OlympicStourbridge
2002–03Stratford TownStourbridge
2003–04Stratford TownStratford Town
2004–05Racing Club WarwickNot contested
2005–06BarwellRacing Club Warwick
2006–07LeamingtonChasetown
2007–08Shifnal TownLeamington
2008–09Market Drayton TownAtherstone Town
2009–10Coventry SphinxBarwell
2010–11Stratford TownBarwell
2011–12Loughborough UniversityStratford Town
2012–13Loughborough UniversityGresley
2013–14QuornLoughborough University

Member clubs

A total of 65 clubs played in the Midland Football Alliance:
ClubYears
AFC Wulfrunians2013–141
Alvechurch2003–1411
Armitage1995–961
Atherstone Town2006–08
2011–12		3
Barwell1994–201016
Biddulph Victoria1994–201117
Blakenall1995–972
Bloxwich Town1996–98
1999–2001		4
Boldmere St. Michaels1994–201420
Bolehall Swifts1994–962
Bridgnorth Town1996–2005
2008–13		14
Brierley Hill Town1994–951
Bromsgrove Rovers2001–021
Causeway United2002–1412
Chasetown1994–200612
Coalville Town2003–118
Coleshill Town2008–146
Continental Star2012–142
Coventry Sphinx2007–147
Cradley Town1999–201011
Dunkirk2010–144
Ellesmere Rangers2010–133
Friar Lane & Epworth2006–115

ClubYears
Gornal Athletic2012–142
Gresley2011–121
Grosvenor Park2002–042
Halesowen Harriers1994–20039
Heath Hayes2010–144
Heather St Johns2011–143
Highgate United2008–146
Hinckley Athletic1994–973
Kings Norton Town1997–20003
Kirby Muxloe2009–145
Leamington2005–072
Loughborough Dynamo2004–084
Loughborough University2009–145
Ludlow Town2001–054
Malvern Town2004–06
2009–11		4
Market Drayton Town2006–093
Oadby Town1999–201112
Oldbury United1994–200915
Paget Rangers1994–95
2001–02		2
Pelsall Villa1996–20048
Pershore Town1994–20006
Quorn2001–07
2013–14		7
Racing Club Warwick2003–096

ClubYears
Rocester1994–99
2003–04
2005–14		15
Romulus2004–073
Rushall Olympic1994–200511
Sandwell Borough1994–20017
Shepshed Dynamo1994–96
2013–14		3
Shifnal Town1994–2003
2007–10		12
Stafford Town2000–044
Stapenhill1994–2002
2007–08		9
Stratford Town1994–201319
Stourbridge2000–066
Stourport Swifts1998–2001
2012–14		5
Studley2001–1312
Tipton Town2005–149
Tividale2011–143
Walsall Wood2013–141
Wednesfield1997–20036
West Midlands Police1994–20017
Westfields2003–141
Willenhall1994–2004
2010–12		12