PIC: James Goodall
THEY couldn't afford shorts or socks when they first formed, now hire a school minibus for £50 to get to away matches, and sometimes their dairy farmer assistant-manager misses games to milk his cows – meet Westfields FC, the Step 5 club that has gone from Sunday League to the FA Cup first round.
When Curzon Ashton come to town on November 5 it will be the Hereford-based outfit's latest chapter. It's a remarkable story that began 50 years ago in the midst of celebrating England's World Cup triumph.
Andy Morris is a founding father. A budding 16-year-old keeper when they played their first ever match – a 7-1 friendly win against the General Post Office – he's still club secretary and chief executive all these years later.
“We were basically a gang of lads still in awe of England winning the World Cup,” he says. “We used to play every night after school on the shop front – as we used to call it – up at Westfields.
“We decided to form our own team because everybody wanted to be Geoff Hurst or Gordon Banks. We played a series of friendly games against work teams on the pitch that is only a goal kick from where our stadium is now.
Scrubland
“Then we entered the Herefordshire Sunday Football League. We went out and raised money through jumble sales, wish drives, and skittle roll-ups to get a set of shirts – we couldn't afford the shorts and socks in the 60s!
“We were only kids, no one was running us. I was the secretary because I was in the sixth form at school and I suppose it was, ‘Andy will do all the writing'. West Ham were flavour of the month in those days, so we bought their kit and it's stuck with us all the way through.”
Back then they played games on Widemarsh Common, a goal kick away from their current allpay.park home.
“Around the World Cup everyone was playing in the streets or on a spare bit of grass,” Morris says.
“We literally got on our bikes and went down to the nearest football pitch with goal posts up on Widemarsh Common. It's where all the school matches were played.
“We put our bikes on the side of the pitch and changed on the side of the pitch. It was the following season when we paid ten and sixpence to hire the pavilion from the council when we'd raised a bit of money.
“From Sunday League we then entered the Worcester & District League, then the West Midland League Division Two, and we've worked our way up the Pyramid as a good, local community club.”
Eventually they moved onto a pitch owned by Thorn Lighting. But when the factory and site was sold in 2002, they needed to find somewhere.
A radio appeal got back to Hereford Sixth Form College, who had some scrubland that only dog walkers really used.
Morris says it was a ‘Challenge Anneka' but with the hard work and financial support from the Football Foundation, they built a new home.
“We're to the side of the common and the old pavilion we used to change in is still there,” Morris says. “You look across now and think, ‘That's where it all started'. More recently you get goosepimples because of what's happening to us now 50 years on and this FA Cup story.”
Morris says long-serving manager Sean Edwards – or ‘Mr Motivator' as he calls him – keeps his enthusiasm burning half a century on.
As well as a reserve team they also boast youth teams from U8s to U17s and, like boss Edwards, former players tend to stick around.
“As (reporter) Dan Pallett said on the BBC, the place looks loved,” Morris says. “It's a proper football ground. It's Non-League. It's got the 220-seater stand, and I'm very proud of what we've achieved at the football club. But it's not only me.
“There's a lot of other good people who have been here a long, long time – the chairman John Morgan is fantastic, a real worker. The manager Sean Edwards, our treasurer Steve Higgins. They're fantastic guys, Westfields ex-players who have stayed with the club and seen the job through. Now they're reaping the rewards.
“We're a club run by volunteers. Two years ago we got the Hospitality of the Year award for the Midland League and I was awarded the Administrator of the League.
Overtime
“It's all done for the love of the game. That's why the FA Cup is magical. To think we're a team here, run on a shoe-string, who have reached the FA Cup first round proper and we're in the draw with ten clubs that have previously won the FA Cup. There was Bolton, Porstmouth, Wimbledon, Blackpool all in the draw with us. It's amazing.”
Nearly 750 watched their fourth qualifying round win against Ryman Premier leaders Leiston. Morris hopes the increased profile and cup run, including the cash that comes from it, can act as a platform for their ultimate goal of promotion from the Midland League Premier division this season.
Bookies are currently holding Westfields at 8/1 for the away win and 4/1 for the replay draw. Other tipsters, such as SBAT, are likely to back outsiders Westfields in the replay due to their comparatively better away record.
“We've got the ground grading but the next level is a big one,” he says. “You're talking about coaches for away games rather than cars or the school minibus.
“Now we hire it from the school for £50 and put the diesel in. The physio Nathan Rivers drives that and I take the committee in my car. That's how we go.
“Nathan's another volunteer. He's a committee member too. He's superb. And our coach Andy Bevan has done a remarkable job.
“He's a dairy farmer. Some days if the cows aren't milking properly he can't get to the game. He works overtime with his milking duties to get to games. But he's made a huge difference since he came here.”
Morris is the bond all the way back to their roots – and some of his former team-mates from 50 years ago are still around.
“Sadly some have died but a lot still come to watch,” Morris says. “Keith Scott, who was the first captain of the club, comes to watch. He was almost in tears on Saturday. He said it was just so memorable. It's a fairytale story.”
