West Bromwich Albion 'A' v Cheltenham Town, Birmingham Combination, The Hawthorns, Tuesday 26th December 1933

This month’s featured programme comes from the festive period 80 years ago when the Baggies and The Hawthorns hosted Cheltenham Town in a Birmingham Combination fixture. 

The competition was formed in 1892, three years after the Birmingham & District League, to cater for those clubs which held 'junior' membership of the Birmingham County Football Association, and was so initially called the Birmingham & District Junior League. The eight founder member clubs were Aston St James, Bournbrook, Bournville, Ellen Street Victoria, Hamstead, Kings Heath Albion, Park Mills, and Soho Villa, the latter club becoming the league’s inaugural champions.

In 1908 the league changed its name to the Birmingham Combination. The Combination initially acted as a "feeder" league to the then superior Birmingham & District League, but by the 1930s it had grown in prestige and had come to be regarded as the stronger of the two leagues.

Walsall became the first local Football League club to enter a team in the competition when in 1923 they entered their reserve team, they were followed in 1928 by Birmingham, in 1932 by Wolves and in 1933 by Albion. Aston Villa were the last of the local league sides to enter a team, doing so in 1935.

In 1952 the Birmingham & District League, which had by now regained its status as the top league in the area, suggested a merger between the two competitions, but the Combination rejected the idea. Several of the Combination's top teams then left to join it's rival. The depleted Combination revived the idea of a merger but it was rejected and, when all but Albion defected to the League in 1954, the Combination was effectively absorbed by the Birmingham & District League.

Albion, like Birmingham, Villa and Wolves entered only their third team - their ‘A’ team. The first few years of the Baggies’ participation saw the club continually finish in the top six of the league, their best seasons being 1935/36 and 1936/37 when they finished as runners-up. Following the Second World War Albion struggled for success, the 1950/51 season saw the club finish bottom of the twenty team league.

The Baggies’ final season in the competition came in 1953/54, and despite the absence of a number of the better clubs, Albion could still only finish tenth out of fourteen clubs.

The Birmingham & District League lives on to this day, now known as the West Midlands (Regional) League.

The 12 page programme for the game, much like all pre-Second World War issues, is extremely rare with copies often changing hands for over £75 when and if they become available.

View the complete programme here