Smithswood Firs

Smithswood Firs play their football in the Midland Football League, Division 2. This is Step 7 on the non-league football pyramid so are playing at a good level of football on a Saturday.

Come along and catch a game. We play our home games at The Glades Football Centre, Lugtrout Lane, Solihull, B91 2RX.

Club History

Paul Ryder and Steve Baker founded Smithswood Firs in 2008.

The team started their first season in Division 7 of the Birmingham & District AFA. After a successful first campaign Smithswood Firs were crowned convincing champions of their division.

Due to their great first season the AFA promoted the club four divisions so the team started their second season in Division 3. It was a good campaign which ended with a third placed finish and with it promotion to Division 2.

We were crowned champions of Division 2 following a great campaign which saw us win 18 league games out of 22 to gain our third successive promotion in the League to Division 1 for the 2012-13 Season. The team didn’t let up the following season and were crowned Champions again making it their third title in four seasons in the Birmingham & District AFA. Even their fellow challengers openly admitted we had been deserved winners and that we fully deserved promotion to the Premier League. Paul Ryder had achieved promotion from Division 7 to the Premier Division in just four season, a great achievement for the club.

After a solid 5th place in their first season in the Premier Division, Smithswood decided to make the move to the highly regarded St Mary’s Hospice Midland Football Combination. During the months where all the paperwork was being completed, the Midland Combination merged with the Midland Football Alliance. This had been the result of nearly two years of planning between the leagues and only enhanced their reputation as the newly formed Midland Football League was born.

With the new challenge the club had to bring in new players and had the biggest squad it had ever entered a season with. Paul Ryder also added more people to key roles to help with the running of the club with Neil Armstrong coming in as Chairman, Dean Farnol coming in as Club Secretary and Assistant, Stephen Shenton as Assistant and Mark Shaw as Kit Man to join Andrew Glenn who remained as Treasurer.

Smithswood were placed into the newly formed Division 3 for the 2014/15 season and came out of the blocks firing winning their first six games. Consistency proved to be their downfall and getting numbers turning up for certain games and they finished the season in 5th which was still a good finish for their first season but expectations after the great start had gotten a little higher than that.

For the 2015-16 season, Smithswood Firs added Sean Williams as Assistant Manager alongside Dean Farnol replacing the outgoing Stephen Shenton. Everyone worked hard to ensure the squad was improved and we made some fantastic signings as we looked to make a promotion and title challenge. We finished 2nd a point behind the winners although our game in hand was scrapped as a team folded but bad news was to follow when we were deducted 12 points for fielding an ineligible player. We also made it to the final of the Les James Challenge Cup Final losing out eventually to Alvis Sporting in extra time. Our reward for a tough season was promotion despite the points deduction and a place in Division 2.

The team moved to The Glades Football Centre in Solihull for the start of the 2016/17 season and Dave Leek came in as Assistant Manager with Sean Williams moving to a coaching role. Dean Farnol would continue as Secretary while Neil Armstrong and Paul Ryder would cover the role of Treasurer following the departure of Andrew Glenn. The playing side was improved to add to those who returned with players who had experience at higher levels coming in as they looked to consolidate their position in the Division and push on and challenge as high as they could with the talented squad they have assembled.

It was an indifferent season as the team struggled early on finding a consistent team and committed players. By the time we had a settled squad in the second half of the season we were to far behind but ended up consolidating our position in the Division with an 11th place finish. For our first season at Step 7, the highest level wwe have ever played at it was a creditable season and something we could build on for the following season.

Away from the football side of things, the club is also a big supporter of the Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH). As a club we hosted our first Charity Football match in April 2014 where an over 35 Smithswood Firs X1 took on the Birmingham City Legends. We lost 4-0 but managed to raise just over £2800 for the Charity. We have made this a regular thing and have now hosted four matches with players like Paul Devlin, Dele Adebola, Robert Hopkins, Maik Taylor, Paul Peschisolido, Jeff Kenna and Nicky Eaden to name a few gracing the Mackadown pitch. To date, as a club we are proud to have raised and paid in £14,544.92 to them to date. In May 2016, Manager Paul Ryder and Chairman Neil Armstrong attended a special dinner at the hospital as they became one of BCH’s top 100 fundraisers and Smithswood Firs have their own balloon on the wall in the entrance to the hospital with the other fundraisers. This shows how much we have achieved in four years supporting the Charity and we hope to continue this in the future.