|
Moor Green FC were formed in 1901 when
the players of Molesey Ashfield Cricket Club decided to
form a football team so they had an activity during the
winter months. The club mainly played friendlies and a
few cup ties until they joined the Birmingham AFA in 1922,
where they finished fourth in their first season.
During
the 1930s the club began a series of European Tours in
the form of the Verviers Trophy, which the club won in
1933 and 1937. This competition was a forerunner to the
European Cup, in which pro sides from Germany, France,
Belgium and Holland faced amateur teams from England,
and in 1938 and 1939 the club took part in European competitions
organised by Ajax. 15,000 fans watched a 3-1 defeat against
the Amsterdam club in the city's Olympic Stadium.
After
the Second World War the club joined the Birmingham Combination
League. However, this was a league where they would struggle
as the Moors were an amateur side in a predominatly professional
competition. So it was that by 1966 the club had taken
a step down and joined the Midland Combination League.
This
proved a shrewd move as the club won the League Cup and
ran out league champions by a twelve point margin in 1981.
This led to election to the Southern League in 1983, where
they achieved promotion to the Premier Division by 1987.
The club were achieving respectable finishes in the Premier
Division by the turn of the millennium, finishing seventh
in 2002, twelfth in 2003 and 13th in 2004.
The
Moors have a long list of former players that have gone
on to play league football. Steve Cooper (Birmingham City,
now Airdrie), David Busst (Coventry City), Stuart Talbot
(Port Vale), Darrell Duffy (Scunthorpe), Robert Mutchall
(Oxford United) and most famously Ian Taylor (once of
Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa).
|
