Possibly the smallest FA Cup 2^nd round tie ever with Forest Green hamlet taking on Alvechurch village.

It will be live on BBC 1.

A train strike was announced for 26th November, so hopefully Alvechurch managed to book their 15 coaches again. The strike appears to have subsequently been postponed.

Alvechurch is a large village in northeast Worcestershire, in the valley of the River Arrow.

It is 11 miles (18 kilometres) south of Birmingham, 5 mi (8 km) north of Redditch and 6 mi (10 km) east of Bromsgrove.

At the 2021 Census, the population was 5,942 so slightly smaller than the whole of Nailsworth.

Alvechurch, nicknamed Church, play in yellow shirts & black shorts. Their away kit is all green so it is unlikely they will wear that.

Alvechurch do not appear to have a mascot, if you know better, please let us know.

Previous Meetings

91/92 Season – 26/8/91 – v Alvechurch (A) – FGR Won 2-1

Scorers: Stephen Crouch and Chris Townsend

Attendance – 75

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91/92 Season – 19/11/91 – v Alvechurch (H) – FGR Won 5-2

Scorers: Doug Foxwell, Neil Gough, Stephen Crouch, Colin Peacey, Simon Darlaston

Attendance – 69

(Thanks to Lady M)

The very small crowds are partly due to the fact that FGR had adopted the name Stroud FC which was unpopular with most supporters.

Tim Barnard’s excellent ‘Something to Shout About ‘ book features a photo (page 202, second edition) from that season of the team playing Bath City in an empty stadium.

In 1991 Trevor Horsley became a director of the club, the name reverted to FGR in May 1992 and the rest his history.

How Are They Doing

Alvechurch are in 20^th place (out of 22) in the Southern League Premier Central League, but this is slightly misleading as they have between 4 and 6 games in hand over their rivals. Southern League – Premier Central | League Table | Football Web Pages

In all competitions they have played 21, won 12, drawn 3 & lost 6 matches.

Ones to Watch

Danny Waldron

Centre forward Danny Waldron joined Alvechurch this year from Leamington. He has scored 12 goals this season.

Click here for video of his 2 goals against Cheltenham in Round 1. Cheltenham Town 1-2 Alvechurch: Danny Waldron’s double sees non-league side progress – BBC Sport

Other goal threats are midfielder Jediael Abbey with 9 goals & striker Leo Brown with 7 goals.

Midfielder Jediael Abbey scorer of 9 goals.

Striker Leo Brown scorer of 7 goals.

Manager

Ian Long

Originally from West Bromwich but he is a Manchester United supporter.

He first managed Alvechurch from 2015 to 2019 before leaving to manage Stourbridge in July 19 but returned to Alvechurch in February 2020.

Rovers Connection

Josh March

Born in Stourbridge March began his career with Alvechurch, becoming the club’s first contracted player in a decade in May 2017, and scoring 81 goals in 184 matches, being described as “an integral part in [the club’s] rise from the Midland Alliance to the Southern Premier “.He then played for Leamington for the 2019–20 season, scoring 24 goals in 27 games, before signing for FGR in January 2020.

Club History

Alan Smith England, Arsenal & Leicester player started at Alvechurch. He is now a pundit at Sky TV and writes for newspapers.

The club was established in 1929 as Alvechurch Juniors.

Since 1957 they have played at Lye Meadows. A record attendance of 13,500 was set for an FA Amateur Cup quarter-final tie against Enfield in 1964–65, although it is estimated that there were up to 16,000 in the ground.

In 1965–66 they reached the semi-finals of the FA Amateur Cup, eventually losing 1–0 to Wealdstone at Stamford Bridge with around 10,000 supporters travelling to London for the game.

The 1971-72 season also saw them make FA Cup history; in the 4^th Qualifying Round they were drawn against Oxford City. Following a 2–2 draw at home; the tie went to a record five replays; the first replay at Oxford City’s ground was drawn 1–1. The second replay was at St Andrews in Birmingham, as any replays after the first were required to be on a neutral ground and ended 0–0. The third and fourth replays (both at the Manor Ground in Oxford) also ended 0–0, before Alvechurch finally won the fifth replay 1–0 at Villa Park. Four of the games also went to extra time The six matches, which were played over 17 days during which Alvechurch also had a league match remains a record for an FA Cup tie, as in 1991 the FA scrapped any matches beyond the first replay, which would now end with penalties to decide a winner. The win meant that Alvechurch reached the 1^st Round Proper for the first time, also becoming the first club from the Midland Combination to do so. They went on to lose 4–2 at Aldershot.

In the FA Cup in 1973/74 Church reached the Third Round Proper, going down 4-2 at Bradford City.

Sadly, Alvechurch went into decline and despite Geoff Turton of the Rockin’ Berries pop group stepping in to keep the club alive aided by the sale of Andy Comyn to Aston Villa for a club record fee of £30,000 the club subsequently folded in 1993.

The club was re-established under the name Alvechurch Villa in 1994, entering the Premier Division of the Midland Combination. In 1996 they returned to the name Alvechurch. In 2002-03 the club were Premier Division champions and League Cup winners and were promoted to the Midland Alliance. They subsequently won the Worcestershire Senior Urn in 2003–04, 2004–05, 2007–08, 2009–10 and 2012–13When the Midland Combination merged with the Midland Combination to form the Midland League in 2014, Alvechurch were placed in the Premier Division. They were runners-up in the league and Worcestershire Senior Urn winners in 2015-16, and went on to win the league and League Cup double the following season, earning promotion to Division One South of the Northern Premier League

Alvechurch’s first season in the Northern Premier League saw them finish as runners-up in Division One South, resulting in promotion to the Premier Division Central of the Southern League. A fourth-place finish in 2018/19 led to the club qualifying for the promotion play-offs. However, after beating Stourbridge 2–1 in the semi-finals, they lost 3–0 to Kings Lynn in the final. At the end of the season the club won the Worcestershire Senior Cup for the fourth time.

In 2022 the club reached the FA Cup first round again, winning 2–1 at League One club Cheltenham Town to progress to the second round

England International Alan Smith who scored the winning goal for Arsenal in the 1994 Cup Winners Cup final played for Alvechurch F.C.

Famous Alvechurch Residents

‘The Loves of a Green Devil’ – Fay Weldon might come from Alvechurch but in this picture she is clearly wearing an FGR scarf.

Fay Weldon – Author of (The Life and Loves of a She-Devil). Her book ‘The Spa Decameron’ might be a suitable description of Alvechurch’s 1st round Cup match.
Godfrey Baseley – Creator of (The Archers)
Lord Digby Jones – Lived in the village, his parents owned a shop in the village
Rockin’ Berries – The 1960’s pop group practised in the village hall.

Christine McVie (Perfect) of Fleetwood Mac was for a while the keyboard player of the Rockin Berries before she decided to Go Her Own Way.
Ian Williams – National Hunt & Flat Racehorse Trainer (Dominion Racing Stables)
Mary Stewart (Baroness Stewart of Alvechurch) – Life Peer, Politician & Educator
J R R Tolkien – Author of (Lord of the Rings) Alvechurch inspired scenes in his books.

Home of Tracie Andrews who murdered Lee Harvey in 1996 in a high-profile case which Andrews initially blamed on a ‘road rage’ killer.