Meir King's Arms Football Club was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, established in 1972. Originally formed as the Sunday league team of the King's Arms

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

in the

Meir Meir ( he, מֵאִיר) is a Jewish male given name and an occasional surname. It means "one who shines". It is often Germanized as Maier, Mayer, Mayr, Meier, Meyer, Meijer, Italianized as Miagro, or Anglicized as Mayer, Meyer, or Myer.Alfre ...

district, the club was later based in the neighbouring area of

Meir Heath Meir Heath is a village just to the south of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire situated on a hilltop between Meir and Rough Close, miles from Barlaston and only 5 miles from Stone. The population as taken at the 2011 census can be found under the ...

. Meir KA reached the 2nd round of the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

twice.

History

The club was formed in 1972 as a Sunday league side based at the King's Arms

.The FA
/ref> They competed for three years in the North Staffs and District Sunday League and in 1976 made the decision to switch to Saturday football, initially playing in the Longton League, where they won the league and cup double at the first attempt. In 1978 the club joined the North Staffs Alliance League, shortly after which they moved to their present ground. In 1984 Meir became founder members of the Staffordshire Senior League, where they were league champions in 1989 and 1991 and also won the Walsall Senior Cup in 1990, beating

Rushall Olympic Rushall Olympic Football Club is an English football club based in Rushall, a former mining village now forming part of the northern suburbs of Walsall. The team plays in the . History Early years Although football had been played in the villa ...

2–1 after extra time and a replay. In 1992 they stepped up again to the Midland Combination (starting in the Premier Division), where the team played until 2010 when the club closed down.

Ground

The club purchased their ground in 1993 from former owners

Mitchells and Butlers Mitchells & Butlers plc (also referred to as "M&B") runs circa 1,784 managed pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom. The company's headquarters are in Birmingham, England. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange an ...

and embarked on a major redevelopment scheme. The pitch was re-drained during the 1995 close season and after finally winning planning permission from the local council, Meir completed the second phase of the operation by erecting floodlights in readiness for the 1996 season.

Club records

*Best league performance: 2nd in Midland Combination Premier Division, 1996–97 *Best

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

performance: First Qualifying Round, 2008–09 *Best

performance: 2nd Round, 1994–95 and 1998–99

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 52, 56, 49.67, N, 2, 06, 00.42, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Defunct football clubs in England Midland Football Combination Defunct football clubs in Staffordshire Sport in Stoke-on-Trent Association football clubs established in 1972 Association football clubs disestablished in 2010 1972 establishments in England 2010 disestablishments in England Midland Football League (1994)