West Midlands Police football team to fold after 80 years

The current West Midlands Police Football Club was formed in 1974, but the roots of the team date back to 1928 when the Birmingham City Police team was founded.

Now members of the club's committee have announced this will be its last season due to a lack of funding and low membership numbers, with low recruitment in the force cited as a major factor in the club's demise.

Secretary and player Detective Constable Thomas Cunningham-Smith, said the club would be no more after completing this season's fixtures in division one of the Midlands Combination League.

"Unfortunately it looks like this will be our last season as a club," he said.

"We have been losing money for a while now and the writing has been on the wall for some time.

"We are reliant on the force's sports and social funding to keep us afloat and our money has been cut year on year.

"Financial contributions from club members has also been key to our survival, but with no recruitment in the force for the last five years the we have not been able to bring in any new players.

"Increasingly we have had to rely on civilian players to fill the squad, and we don't want to get to the point where we have a team funded by contributions from police officers which contains no players from the force."

For the last two years the team has played its home games at the Tally Ho sports complex in the shadow of Edgbaston cricket ground, with a squad of 26 players.

Mr Cunningham-Smith, who has played for the team since 1999, said the committee had explored a number of options in an effort to keep the club afloat.

"We have looked at several ways to maintain the club. We tried to attract sponsorship but no one has come forward. It's a real shame to let so many years of history go but it looks like we are left with no option."

He added the force were hoping to continue to run a football section with the emphasis on charity games.