Local Leagues FC Report

Season 2007-08

Local Leagues FC had a great season this year as they won their respective league and got promoted from Division 4 to Division 3 in the Central Warwickshire Under 15 Football League.

Local Leagues FC represent the growing diversity of talent that is being nurtured at grass roots level in inner city Birmingham. The youngsters in the team are drawn together from over twenty different ethnicities including Pakistani, Indian, Bosnian, Arabic, Yemeni, Algerian, Somalian and British, and are proving a right handful for the established Warwickshire Central FA leagues teams.

The team was established at the beginning of the 2006-07 season and the boys didn’t even know each others names. Since then, however, they have bonded well and have achieved much success. Initially they were placed in Division 8 of the league but subsequently were promoted by the FA officials to division 4. They went on to win Division 4 and secured back to back titles by winning Division 3 this season. Local Leagues FC were the leading goal scorers in their division amassing 103 goals in just 18 games – that’s an average of nearly 6 per game. 16 wins came over opponents from well established clubs from across the region. Indeed Local Leagues FC are the only team from inner city Birmingham in their league and the first from the inner city to win the division.

3 team members were also selected and played for Birmingham City youth team and most recently the players have been capturing the attention of Kidderminster Town and Worcester City scouts. A further 11 youngsters aged between 10 and 15 who participate in Local Leagues football activities on a Saturday also got into the Birmingham City Academy. As a result of entering a tournament in Rubery the boys have also attracted the attention of West Bromwich Albion. So it would seem the future of LLFC is looking bright.

The team is now gearing up to take Division 2 when the season starts later this year with eyes ultimately on taking on the best the FA have in division 1 next year.

These achievements highlight the undoubted talent out there in inner city Birmingham and the power of sport to bring diverse communities together. Of course none of this would be possible without the hard work and determination of the Local Leagues coaching staff and team of community volunteers.

The LLFC team members are listed below:

Chris McKay (now with Pilkington FC)
Simeon Brown
Fabien Wintas
Jack Foster
Simon Piere (now with Solihul FC after a spell with Birmingham City FC)
Mo Sageed
Cabdalla Mahdi
Mo Ahmed Hassan
Abdul Nore
Obaid Javed
Khalid Mansoorian
Awad Ali (now with Birmingham City FC)
Emad Kassim (now with Birmingham City FC)
Curvin Ellis
Lewis Williams
Showzab Ali
Kamran Uddin
Ateeb Hassan
Manai Kayd
Stephan Morgan