Knowle Football club was previously known as Knowle Town and formed in 1926 at the Men’s Institute. Their early matches were played in the Birmingham Youth & Old Boys League. The first honours collected by the club were in 1933-34 when they won the Dr Nelson Charity Cup. Then in 1935-36 the Henry Butler Cup and the West Bromwich Shield were lifted. In 1938-39 the club won the Evelyn Cecil Shield, one of the big competitions of that time, before the war interrupted the sport. When the war ended and the league recommenced in 1947 the following year Knowle achieved the double of the Senior League Championship and the Senior Cup.
Knowle joined the Worcestershire Combination in 1966 and finished a creditable fifth in their first season. However, in the following season they finished just one place off the bottom. Knowle claimed the Division Two runners-up spot in 1968-69, the first year of the Midland Combination, and were promoted to what is now the Premier Division the following season. In 1970-71 Knowle reached the final of the Birmingham Junior Cup and last season raised the Midland Combination Challenge Cup beating Kings Heath in the final. Last season also saw the club finish fifth in the league, having ending fourth the previous year. Prior to that the highest position that the club reached was eighth in 1981-82.
In the same period Knowle reached the quarter finals of the FA Vase. In 1983 Knowle merged with a junior soccer club, North Star Rangers, and for a time were known as North Star Rangers before changing to Knowle Football Club. At present, in addition to the two Midland Combination sides, the club runs ten junior sides ranging from under-8’s through to under-17’s.
Many professional footballers have emerged from the ranks of Knowle Football Club.In recent years Guy Russell, John Frain, Ian Clarkson, Kevin Ashley and Carl Adams have all played for Birmingham City whilst Daryll Burgess, Graham Potter and Steve Lilwall have been successful at West Bromwich Albion.Craig Langford (Hereford) and Dave Bing (Torquay) are two other players who have recently attained professional status.It hasn’t all been one way either Kevin Broadhurst and Tony Evans both playing for Knowle after finishing with Birmingham.
