Northfield Town Football Club is an amateur football club based in the

Selly Oak Selly Oak is an industrial and residential area in south-west Birmingham, England. The area gives its name to Selly Oak ward and includes the neighbourhoods of: Bournbrook, Selly Park, and Ten Acres. The adjoining wards of Edgbaston and Harbor ...

/ Northfield area in the South of the City of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The senior first team play in the .

History

Although the name of Northfield Town Football Club came into being in 1966, its origins go back to the early 1930s, then playing under the name of Allen's Cross Football Club, which was part of the Allen's Cross Sports Club. Due to the success of the sports ground and the permission of a bar being allowed from Cadburys in 1970, the Allen's Cross Sports Club grew and went from strength to strength, which resulted in the sports ground requesting to break away from the Allen's Cross Community Association (which was the original lease holder of the current sports ground on Shenley Lane) in 1983. There was an initial reluctance, but an eventual agreement to the request, with the understating that the new organisation become a community association, which was the birth of Shenley Lane Community Association & Sports Centre. In its early days the club had two teams Allen's Cross F.C. Seniors & Allen's Cross F.C. Juniors, the clubs teams had spells in the Kings Norton League, Warwickshire & West Midlands Alliance and the Mercian League, then the senior team joined the Midland Combination in 1957 (then known as the Worcestershire Combination). The senior team won the League Challenge Cup in their first year and the League Championship in 1961–62. Following an amalgamation with another successful local side, Castle Rovers, the club played briefly as Cross Castle United before adopting the present title of Northfield Town in 1966. In 2013 Northfield Town F.C. amalgamated with Shenley Radford Youth F.C. to create a youth system. This was the beginning of Northfield Town Juniors F.C. then becoming Northfield Town Foundation in 2025 after gaining charity status. The 2013–14 season was the last season in the

Midland Football Combination The Midland Football Combination was an English association football, football league covering parts of the West Midlands (region), West Midlands. It comprised five divisions, a Premier Division, Divisions One and Two and two Reserves Divisions. ...

, in which 'The Town' finished 13th before entering the newly formed

Midland Football League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an England, English association football, football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the form ...

for the 2014–15 season. For the 2021–22 season the club went through some major changes and made the decision to join the

Birmingham and District Football League The Birmingham and District Football League (formerly the Birmingham & District Amateur Football Association and often referred to as the Birmingham AFA) is an amateur association football competition covering the city of Birmingham, England, an ...

, with the hope this will help the clubs growth in the long term. The changes made have started to come to fruition sooner than expected, with a rise for the senior first team back to the

Division 2 for the 2024–25 season, a creation of a development team to help our players transitioning from U18 to open age football competing in the Birmingham and District Football League in season 2023–24, our first venture into the Midland Floodlit Youth League for our U18 team in season 2024-25 and for the season 2023-24 we created a girls section at the club with our first girls team playing in the Central Warwickshire Girls Football League. Along with all this we have managed to keep growing the junior section of the club with our teams competing in the Midland Junior Premier League, the Mercian Junior Football League, the Central Warwickshire Youth Football League and the Central Warwickshire Girls Football League. During the 2024/25 season the club broke the previous record attendance (of 124 people set in the 2016/17 season Vs Montpellier) twice. Firstly Vs Cadbury Athletic, with 151 people attending the match, and then again, on what was viewed as the division two title decider, Vs Knowle F.C. with 393 people attending the match. If Knowle F.C. had won that match, they were the league champions, if Northfield Town won, it meant that the title wouldn't be decided until Northfield Town had played their next two fixtures, fortunately Northfield Town won 1–0, and then won the following fixture to be crowned the division two champions.

Club badge and colours

The early clubs history was incorporated into the current club badge, with the X representing Allen's Cross Football Club & the castle representing Castle Rovers. The club colours changed in 2013 as part of the agreement with the amalgamation with Shenley Radford Youth F.C. The home kits are Black and White vertical stripes with a hint of red in the shirts (Shenley Radford's traditional colours), the away kit is Blue and Yellow (Northfield Town's traditional colours) For the 2016/17 season and to celebrate 50 years of the club, the senior first team wore the Blue and Yellow kit at home, in honour to the milestone and the clubs history, with the black and white strip being used as an away kit.

Ground

The home games for the Northfield Town F.C. 1st and Development teams, Northfield Town F.C. Veterans teams and the Northfield Town F.C. Junior girls and boys teams are played at '''The Lane @ Shenley Community Association and Sports Centre, based in the

area of

. The Northfield Town F.C. U18 team currently play their home matches at Shenley Academy, based in the

Weoley Castle Weoley Castle is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The area is part of the Weoley local authority electoral ward, and also comes under the Northfield local council constituency. The suburb of Weoley Castle is ...

area of

. The present sports ground was initially the playing fields for the Allen's Cross Sports Club which was part of the greater Allen's Cross Community Association and they were the "parent body" until 1983, the current body of the sports ground is Shenley Lane Community Association & Sports Centre. The playing fields were opened for use in 1935, that year

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

and Queen Mary were celebrating the

Silver Jubilee Silver Jubilee marks a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, the 25th year of a monarch's reign or anything that has completed or is entering a 25-year mark. Royal Silver Jubilees since 1750 Note: This ...

of their reign, to mark the event a fund was set up, called the

King George V Playing Field A King George's Field is a public open space in the United Kingdom dedicated to the memory of George V, King George V (1865–1936). In 1936, after the king's death, Sir Vincent baronets, Percy Vincent, the then–Lord Mayor of the City of ...

s Fund. The Allen's Cross Community Association obtained funds from the Birmingham Branch of the

National Playing Fields Association Fields in Trust is a British charity set up in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), by Brigadier-General Reginald Kentish and the Duke of York, later King George VI, who was the first president, which protects parks and green s ...

, the

Birmingham Civic Society Birmingham Civic Society is a voluntary body in Birmingham, England, and is registered with the Civic Trust. History The society was founded at an inaugural meeting on 10 June 1918 in the Birmingham Council House. The first president of th ...

Bournville Village Trust Bournville Village Trust is an organisation created to maintain and improve the Birmingham suburb of Bournville. During the 20th century it expanded its geographical coverage to include developments in Shenley Green, Lightmoor in Telford, Bloomsb ...

and other donors. On 1 April 1937, a 99-year lease for the playing fields was agreed between

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. ...

s and The Birmingham Common Good Trust to create the Allen's Cross Sports Ground, which was a subsidiary of the Allen's Cross Community Association. At this time work started on a clubhouse pavilion, provided by the Feeney Trust, a tarmac tennis court and a caretaker's house, all of which were officially opened on 27 August 1938 by

George Cadbury JR George Cadbury Jr (7 April 1878 – 27 September 1954) was a British chairman of Cadbury, business theorist, and philanthropist. He is best known for developing Cadbury Dairy Milk in 1905 which would become the company's best-selling product ...

. At this time the sports fields were laid out for two football pitches and one cricket pitch. When

s formed a partnership with

Schweppes Schweppes ( , ) is a soft drink brand founded in the Republic of Geneva in 1783 by the German watchmaker and amateur scientist Johann Jacob Schweppe; it is now made, bottled, and distributed worldwide by multiple international conglomerates, de ...

in the early 1970s, three of their properties, the Allen's Cross Sports Ground, Weoley Hill Cricket and Tennis Club and the Cadbury Club, were allowed to have a bar. The sports club then went from strength to strength while the Community Hall was struggling and in the red. Due to the success of the sports ground, the Allen's Cross Sports Club grew and went from strength to strength, which resulted in the committee from sports ground requesting to break away from the Allen's Cross Community Association in 1983. Discussions took place and there was an initial reluctance, Chris Cadbury, then the President of the Association, reluctantly agreed to the request, with the understating that the new organisation become a community association. With that, the sports ground 'broke' from its parent body, the Allen's Cross Community Association. It became a registered charity in its own right and was renamed Shenley Lane Community Association & Sports Centre. It originally consisted of Northfield Town Football Club, Allen's Cross Cricket Club and Shenley Radford Youth Football Club. At the same time a development plan was put into place and with the help of the

Prince's Trust The King's Trust (formerly the Prince's Trust) is a United Kingdom-based charity founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are unempl ...

a brand new changing block, entrance, stand and toilets were added. Later an all-weather pitch was built. Various developments have taken place over recent years, most significantly the security fencing, but are usually limited to "refurbishments" due to limited funds. From the opening of the sports ground the football club are the only surviving group, although with a name change, playing at the ground from 1938 to the present day. The Allen's Cross Cricket Club played at the ground from 1938 to 2002. There have been some cricket clubs that have rented the cricket pitch from season to season, but there is now a long term renter in Shenley Fields Cricket Club, who formed in 2013 and have been at the sports ground since then and up to the present day.

Honours

Seniors *

Division 2 ** Champions 2019–20, 2024–25 *

Division 3 ** Promotion 2016–17, 2023–24 *

Birmingham & District Football League The Birmingham and District Football League (formerly the Birmingham & District Amateur Football Association and often referred to as the Birmingham AFA) is an amateur association football competition covering the city of Birmingham, England, an ...

Division 1 **Champions 2022–23 **Promotion 2024–25 *

Holder Cup **Champions 2022–23 *

Division 2 **Champions 2021–22 **Promotion 2023–24 *

Senior Cup **Runners-up 2021–22 *

Intermediate Cup **Champions 2021–22 **Runners-up 2023–24 *

Premier Division **Champions 1975–76, 1994–95 **Runners-up 1989–90 *

Division One **Champions 1998–99 **Runner-up 2005–06 *

Challenge Cup **Winners 1983–84, 1988–89 *

Presidents Cup **Winners 1980–81 *Birmingham Senior Amateur Cup **Winners 1974–75 *Birmingham County Saturday Challenge Vase **Winners 2007–08, 2017–18 *Lord Mayor of Birmingham Charity Cup **Runners-up 1990–91, 1992–93 *Tony Alden Memorial Cup **Winners 1976–77 *Smedley Crooke Cup **Winners 1989–90 **Runners-up 4 times Juniors * Birmingham County Youth Cup _{(Saturday & Sunday combined)} **Winners 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1987–88 **Runners Up 1972–73, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1985–86 * Birmingham County Minor Cup (U16s) **Winners 1993–94, 1999–00, 2013–14 **Runners-up 1998–99, 2001–02, 2008–09, 2012–13 *Worcestershire County Youth Cup winners **4 times * Birmingham A.F.A Youth Cup winners **Winners 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1993-94 **Runners-up 1988–89, 1992–93 *Mercian A.F.A. Premier Championship **1982/83 *Mercian A.F.A. Division One Champions **1973/74 *Mercian A.F.A. Senior Cup **1979/80 *Aston Villa Shield **Winners 1973–74, 1979–80 *Queens Hospital Cup **Winners 1985–86

Records

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

**3rd Round 1988-89Northfield Town Football History Database
/ref> *Record Attendance **2024-25 season, Saturday 5 April 2025, Vs Knowle F.C. - 393 *Birmingham Youth Cup (Saturday & Sunday Combined) **Most times winners - 6 **Most final appearances - 10

References

External links

*
Midland Football Combination Division One clubs

Midland Football League 2014/15 Division Three
{{coord, 52, 25, 27.04, N, 1, 57, 57.90, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in the West Midlands (county) Association football clubs established in 1966 Sport in Birmingham, West Midlands Football clubs in Birmingham, West Midlands 1966 establishments in England Midland Football Combination Midland Football League Football clubs in England