The original club was known as Alveston United from 1912 to 1914, matches were played on the village green of Alveston, the club dropped the United when it was reformed in 1919 as Alveston Football Club and ran until 1925 when it was disbanded due to lack of available players in the village.
A revival meeting was held in 1927 and from that meeting the present club was launched. Three years later in 1930 Alveston Football Club collected its first trophy. This was the first of many trophies and league titles to be won while competing in the Stratford Alliance League, playing matches down on the Recreation Ground in front of the Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The addition of a sports ground in 1975 to the Home Guard Club in Tiddington saw Alveston put down roots at the Main Street site. For 20 years Alveston were proud to be associated with The Stratford Alliance League winning pretty much all the Divisional and Cup trophies over many successful seasons.
In the 1996-97 season, having applied and been accepted to join the Midland Football Combination Division 3, the club were promoted in their first season, under the guidance of Player Manager Martin Beese and then the following year into Division 1 whilst winning the Jack Mould Trophy. The clubs meteoric rise continued the following year 1997-98 under new Player Manager Steve Sykes being crowned as Division 1 champions by clear 14 points and carrying off the coveted Smedley Crooke Cup.
The best was yet to come, in the first season in “The Big League” 1998-99 the club played the majority of the season ground sharing, the nomadic life style seemed to suite the players and a season unparalleled in local non-league football unfolded. Winning the Premiership title with 5 games to go, whilst negotiating their way through many tough games to end up in all four finals of those cups entered was outstanding.
The first was the Birmingham County Vase the second was the Coventry Evening Telegraph Final played at Highfield Road the home of Coventry City F.C. unfortunately finishing runners up in the first two Finals. The third cup final saw the club retain the Smedley Crooke Cup beating Northfield Town 1-0.
The climax of this fantastic season was yet to come The Challenge Cup Final at Villa Park two days after the ground had been packed to the rafters hosting the last European Cup Winners Cup.
A superb performance saw Alveston complete the League and cup treble with a hard earnt 2-0 victory over Coventry Sphinx. Even The Sun newspaper reported the amazing story comparing the clubs achievements with their Premiership peers Manchester United. A season to remember and a long history of great progress. The season became complete with the E******N of floodlights at their home ground.
Since then, Alveston have had mixed fortunes and we find ourselves now with a new squad of mainly youth team players under the guidance of manager, Mike Cheslin. Plans for the club, which include the first team, junior teams and girls teams are underway which will provide a strong financial and business footing so that the club can progress successfully both on and off the pitch.
Darren Bent is one of the Barclays Premier League’s most prolific strikers. Now he’s passing on his top tips to help amateur strikers everywhere score more this month.
Are you fox or chicken? Win a pair of the new Umbro Stealth!
Club Website has teamed up with our friends at Umbro to give away three pairs of their brand new football boot, the Stealth! Are you fox or chicken?