Halesowen Town

Halesowen Town Football Club is a football club based in Halesowen, West Midlands, England. They are currently members of the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands and play at the Grove Recreation Ground.

History

The club was believed to have been established around 1873, but recent research has suggested it was probably formed in 1877 under the name Halesowen Football Club. They played on three different pitches before moving to their present home, the Grove, ca. 1881. The team joined the Birmingham & District League in 1892, finishing bottom in their first season. They finished bottom of the league again in 1904–05 and were relegated to the Walsall & District League. After only one season, they returned to the Birmingham & District League in 1906. Another last-place finish in 1910–11 saw the club transfer to the Birmingham Combination. They finished bottom of the new league for the next two seasons and left after finishing second-from-bottom in 1913–14. The team then moved into the Birmingham Youth & Old Boys Football Association Suburban League Division One, an amateur league where youth football continued through the war.

Halesowen rejoined the Birmingham Combination in 1919 and were incorporated under the name Halesowen Town around 1926. They finished bottom of the league in 1926–27 but remained members of the competition until 1939. In 1946 they rejoined the Birmingham & District League and won their first-ever league title in 1946–47. In 1954 the league split into Northern and Southern divisions, with Halesowen placed in the Southern section. Further league reorganisation saw them become members of Division One the following season. In 1955–56 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time, losing 4–2 at home to Hendon in front of a record crowd of 5,000. However, after finishing in the bottom three the following season, they were relegated to Division Two.

A third-place finish in 1957–58 saw Halesowen promoted back to Division One.