Darlaston Town - Brief CLub History

Originally formed in 1874 the first known league game was a 2-2 draw against Walsall Unity on 23 September 1893 in the Walsall and District League. The home record gate of 7000 was recorded on 3 April 1899 in a 3-1 win against Wednesbury Old Athletic.

The club moved to the City Ground in January 1900. The origin of the ground name is believed to emanate from the club nickname at the time when they were known as The Citizens. The City Ground became home for 114 years.

In 1897/98 brought silverware winning the Birmingham County Junior Cup and in 1907/08 the club were crowned champions of the Birmingham Junior League. The club were founder members of the Birmingham Combination, winning it in season 1910/11. Promotion to the Birmingham & District League followed, returning to the Birmingham Combination in 1928/29. The 1937/38 season was probably the most successful in the club’s history winning the Birmingham Combination from runners-up Aston Villa “A” with 64 points out of a maximum 76 and a 101-goal difference.

During the Second World War the Combination ceased to run but on the return to normal Combination Football in season 1945/46 the club were crowned Champions. The Championship winning side included 19-year-old Jack Burkitt who was sold to Nottingham Forest in 1947 going on to make more than 500 League and Cup appearances and captaining them to their 1959 FA Cup Final win over Luton Town.

The club were founder members of the West Midlands Regional League (WMRL) in 1962/63 playing in the Premier Division until the 1981/82 season when poor ground facilities demotion to Division One. Promotion back to the Premier Division followed after winning Division One at the end of the1989/90 season. The club became the first side to win the Birmingham County FA Vase in back-to-back in seasons in 1990/91 and 1991/92.

In 2006/07 Darlaston brought silverware back to the City Ground when we won the 2006/07 West Midlands (Regional) League Division One League title.

The 2013/14 season saw the WMRL fixtures published for the first time without a Darlaston side present, the club folding in June 2013. Following two public meetings a new committee formed a phoenix club Darlaston Town (1874) FC.

During its long and distinguished history 6 FA Cup winners and an FA Cup winning captain have played for the club as have two England internationals including an England captain, a Welsh international and four Football League managers. At least 44 players have progressed into the Football League and 72 former Football League players have also played for the club.

In 2014 the re-formed club were accepted into the WMRL Division 2. The end of their first season back in the saw the club earn promotion into Division Two and the club moved to the impressive Paycare Ground (Recently renamed Paycare Stadium).
Since the club has moved to its new home, the club has grown considerably, introducing a successful youth section, with teams playing in the Midland Junior Premier League on Saturday mornings, and the Walsall Junior Youth Leagues and Stourbridge Leagues on Sunday morning and afternoons.

The first team earned promotion back into the Premier Division of the WMRL at the end of the 2019/20 season, finishing runners up by a single point after a close-run season with Worcester Raiders.

After Darlaston’s promotion was announced in order to be promoted the club erected at their now much improved Paycare Ground floodlights on the main pitch, which were duly opened on the 5th November 2019, when the club hosted EFL side Walsall FC, which produced the clubs record attendance of 452. At the end of that season Darlaston finished in 8th position following their return to the WMRL Premier Division, the last full season played.

The club attracted a Ladies team to play under the name of Darlaston Town (1874) Ladies, who in their first season secured promotion into the Birmingham County Women’s Premier League for the start of the 2020/21 season.

Darlaston’s Ladies team suffered the same fate as the first team, in having two seasons cut short by the Pandemic, in both seasons they were well placed and looking to finish as Champions in both Divisions. Due to their successful playing record, the Ladies gained their second promotion in successive seasons entering the National Womens Pyramid in the Division One North of the West Midlands Regional Womens League effective from the start of the 2021/22 season as well as winning their first trophy beating Redditch United Ladies 2-0 in a tense Covid Cup-Final

After the shortening of two seasons due to the COVID Pandemic, the FA re-organised the National League Structure in May 2021, the restructuring included reducing Step 6 Leagues from 20 to 17, and thus the West Midlands (Regional) League lost its Step 6 Premier Division. The 18 clubs were split between the Hellenic, Northwest Counties, and the Midland Football Leagues. Darlaston due to geographic location were moved laterally into Division One of the Midland Football League remaining at Step 6 of the NLS.

After completing a full season for the first time in two years Darlaston Town (1874) finished Runners Up after a 97th minute goal in the final game of the season at Chelmsley Wood to secure the Runners Up spot and also prime place in the play-offs in the hope to secure promotion into Step 5 of the NLS.

Darlaston by virtue of their second placed finish hosted local rivals Dudley Town in front of a record crowd of 789 at the Paycare Stadium on the Tuesday evening following the last game of the season and a 4-0 win secured a play-off final against Stapenhill who beat Ashby Ivanhoe 3-1 in the other playoff semi-final.

The play-off final played the following Saturday at the Paycare Stadium in front of 501 supporters saw Darlaston secure Step 5 or equivalent football for the first time in the club’s history since their inception in 1874. The winning goal scored by Keiron Miller in the 96th minute sent Darlaston players and supporters delirious, the celebrations went on long into the night.

Darlaston’s season finished with a Birmingham FA Midweek Challenge Cup Final against near neighbours Wednesfield at Solihull Moors. After the exploits of the final league games and play-offs this proved to be a game too far and Wednesfield ran out winners easily 2-0.

Darlaston’s first ever season at Step 5 playing in the Midland Football League Premier Division the rise in level saw the team adjust very quickly, and after an excellent start the club managed to stay in contention in the top five for the majority of the season, unfortunately a couple of losses on key weekends the club finished in a highly successful 4th place.

During the summer of 2023 the club was forced to restructure allowing the first team to return to the club’s original name Darlaston Town, with remainder of the clubs teams playing under the Darlaston Town 1874 FC name.

Darlaston Town started the 2023/24 season once again exceptionally well, beating Racing Club Warwick, and Northern Premier League Western Division side Hednesford Town reach the First Round Qualifying when they received a great draw away against local rivals Sporting Khalsa. The game was televised nationally by the BBC, in front of the nation Darlaston drew 2-2 against their higher league rivals to earn a reply the following Wednesday evening at the Paycare Stadium. The reply was played in front of a club record crowd of 1,144 Darlaston bowed out of the competition losing on penalties.

The clubs good start to the season continued playing well throughout the whole season never dropping below seventh in the table. But following an uncharacteristic last minute loss in a mistake riddled game in mid-March at Romulus, the management team and the players had a difficult week. The conversations that took place proved decisive because following the Romulus defeat the team went on an unbeaten seven game run to secure a third place finish in the league and qualification for the end of season playoffs. The unbeaten run included beating five of the top eight finishers in the league.

A third placed finish meant a home semi final against fourth placed Stourport Swifts which Darlaston won 3-1, the other semi-final between Lichfield City and Highgate saw league runners up Lichfield City win convincingly to host the play off final against Darlaston Town.

The clubs met the following week playing in front of 1,000 people, Darlaston won 3-1 to earn promotion into Step 4 for the first time in their 150 year history, and this season will take up their place in the Northern Premier League for the first ever time.

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