Pelsall Villa F.C. was a football club based in the village of

Pelsall Pelsall is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. Forming part of the borough's border with Staffordshire, Pelsall is located 4 miles north of central Walsall, midway between the towns of Bloxwich and Brown ...

, near

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

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 ...

. The team kit consisted of black and red striped shirts, black shorts and black socks.

History

Records from the '' Walsall Observer'' newspaper show that football was played in

as long ago as 1898. The two

World Wars A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

caused a temporary halt to proceedings, but in 1961 the club reformed and this heralded the beginning of Pelsall Villa as it is known today. Using changing facilities in the nearby Red Cow public house was never a satisfactory situation and in 1978 a liaison was formed by then Chairman, Vic Dolphin with Pelsall Cricket & Sports Club. As a result of the link-up, Villa not only gained improved dressing rooms, but also real headquarters. In 1982 the club left the Staffordshire County League having been accepted into the

West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has tw ...

Division Two. Promotion was secured after two seasons at that level, but it was obvious that a number of improvements were needed at The Bush ground to bring it up to the required standard for an assault on the Premier Division. During the summer of 1991 floodlights were installed and Aston Villa provided the opposition as they were officially switched on in front of a crowd of 2,000 in November 1991. Manager Reg Priest set about the task of strengthening the playing squad and success soon followed in both the

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 ...

and FA Vase competitions. In fact, Villa were within three games of making it to

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

in the FA Vase in 1992–93 before narrowly losing out to an extra-time own goal at the hands of Buckingham Town. The next stage of the club’s ongoing development saw hard-standing laid all around the perimeter and a 500-seater stand erected at The Bush end of the ground. The aim was to secure a place in the newly formed

Midland 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 Not ...

, but, having taken the

Premier Division title in 1994–95, the eagerly-awaited promotion was not granted. It did arrive at the end of the following season, however, following a second-placed berth during a campaign that also saw the League Cup and Midland Invitation Cup secured. The first season at the higher level ended with a mid-table finish as captain Adrian Horne won the Alliance Player of the Year. A position in the middle of the table was the norm for the next few years as the club consolidated. 1998–99 saw chairman Vic Dolphin and club stalwart Tony Gough resign after more than two decades of service. Ron New took over the chair in 1999–2000 before relegation followed in 2003–04 as the club returned to the West Midlands (Regional) League. In January 2004, former

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

player

Dean Edwards Dean Edwards (born July 30, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, singer, writer and musician. His work as a voice actor includes Scottie Pippen and Spike Lee in ''Celebrity Deathmatch'', a robot in ''Robotomy'', and Donkey in ''Scar ...

was appointed as player-manager but was unable to prevent the club's relegation and left at the end of the season. There was another change of personnel at the helm when former player Shaun Mason returned to the club, initially as first-team manager then chairman as Mark Bentley took over the reins. For the 2009–10 season, the club was transferred into the Midland Combination, which subsequently merged with the

to form the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History T ...

. In November 2014, former professional goalkeeper Scott Cooksey was appointed joint manager alongside Barry Dedman. At the end of the 2017-18 season, the club was expelled from the Midland League after failing to fulfill a number of fixtures. From the 2018-19 season onwards the club has not fielded a side in Saturday football and effectively no longer exists. The Bush Ground is now disused and has been earmarked as a potential site for a supermarket. An unrelated team called Pelsall Villa Colts now compete in the Staffordshire County Senior League.

Players

Managers

* Stephen Cooke 2016–? * Scott Cooksey 2014–2015 * Barry Dedman 2014– * Dave Dowling 2014 * Mark Bentley 2004–2014 * Shaun Mason 2004–2005 * Steve Hicks 2002–2004 * Kevin Gough 1999–2002 * Reg Priest 1991–1999 * S.Hart 1987–1991 * B.Hill 1984–1987

Honours

* Staffordshire County League **Runners-up: 1968–69 *

**Premier Division ***Champions: 1994–95, ***Runners-up: 1995–96 **Division One ***Runners-up: 1989–90 **Division Two ***Runners-up: 1983–84 **Premier Division Cup ***Winners: 1995–96 **Division One Cup ***Winners: 1988–89 ***Runners-up: 1989–90 **Division Two Cup ***Runners-up: 1983–84 *Sporting Star Cup **Champions: 1976–77 **Runners-up: 1961–62, *Cannock Charity Cup **Champions: 1963–64, *

Wednesbury Charity Cup The Wednesbury Charity Cup was an early football competition held from 1880 - eight years before the foundation of the Football League - for teams from the West Midlands region of England. The competition was conceived and initiated by Isaak G ...

**Champions: 1967–68, 1968–69, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1988–89, 1989–90 **Runners-up: 1966–67, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94 *Rugeley Charity Cup **Winners: 1969–70, 1978–79 *D. Stanton Shield **Winners: 1973–74 **Runners-up: 1975–76 *Bloxwich Charity Cup **Winners: 1981–82, 1982–83 *Edge Cup **Winners: 1983–84 *Walsall Challenge Cup **Runners-up: 1989–90 *Ike Cooper Trophy **Runners-up: 1989–90 * Walsall Senior Cup **Runners-up: 1992–93 *Midland Triangular Invitation Cup **Winners: 1995–96 *Staffordshire FA Challenge Vase **Runners-up: 2006–07

Youth honours

*Midland Floodlit Youth League **Northern Division champions: 2009–10 *Staffordshire FA Floodlit Youth County Cup **Runners Up: 2009–10 *Staffordshire Junior Cup **Champions: 1968–69

Club records

* Best league position: 14th in Midland Alliance, 1997–98 * Best

performance: 3rd round qualifying, 1992–93 * Best FA Vase performance: 5th round, 1992–93

Ground

The club's long-standing home, the Bush Ground, takes its name from the Old Bush

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 ...

which is next to it. It has a stand behind one goal which came from the ground of the defunct

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in t ...

-based club

GKN Sankey GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...

, and seats which came from Molineux, home of

, as well as unusually-shaped concrete dugouts. In 2017, however, the club began a groundshare with

Walsall Wood Walsall Wood is a suburb split between both Brownhills and Aldridge in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. History In the late-18th century and early-19th century, the workers of Walsall Wood were primarily involved in ...

following vandalism at the Bush Ground.

References

{{coord, 52, 37, 16.64, N, 1, 57, 58.27, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Sport in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall Association football clubs established in 1897 Midland Football Combination Football clubs in the West Midlands (county) 1897 establishments in England West Midlands (Regional) League Midland Football League Midland Football Alliance Staffordshire County League Staffordshire County League (South)