The Robins were formed in 1926 under the quaint name of Knowle Men’s Institute! We have lots of lovely old photos of past glories with the likes of the Dr Nelson Charity Cup, the Henry Butler Cup, the West Bromwich Shield before the war! After the war, our club house was built at our Hampton Road ground – its still there today and probably has a preservation order on it! In 1947 we became too strong for the Birmingham & Old Boys League when we won the Cup and League double so off we went to play in the stronger Worcester Combination League (later to become the Midland Combination!)
After a few (make that a lot!) seasons of mediocrity, Knowle Town (as we were known as in those days) suddenly began to find their feet. By the time England won the World Cup we had won the 2nd Division title and moved up to Division 1. We did flirt with relegation a few years after, but by ’68 Knowle went storming up to the Premier Division, They reached the final of the Birmingham Junior Cup where they lost to Highgate United in front of over 1000 spectators but did win the League and President’s Cup during that brilliant period of the early 70s. In ’86 we also reached the fifth round proper of the FA Vase (last 16!).
Now operating under the name of Knowle FC our best period of success came when Dave Prust became the Chairman. He brought together a series of highly successful managers who went on to win the league title 4 times, the Challenge Cup twice and the Presidents Cup twice. The most notable of these was Peter Frain (who went on to manage Alvechurch & now Highgate United). Sadly Dave died tragically of a thrombosis in 2003 at the age of 44 and in the same year we were relegated to the 1st Division even though we finished 11th as the ground didn’t have floodlights! This left Knowle in a real quandary, but the late Roger Whittick and current President, Liam Coyle steadied the ship and still under Peter Frain, we won the 1st Division twice but couldn’t get back into the Premier Division because we still didn’t have floodlights! Peter left as he was frustrated – what more could he do?
Derek Adamson and Dave Cox then took over and were immediately successful! They won the 1st Division in 2005 and then again in 2007. This time the lads were adamant that they were going to go up so it was decided that we would ground share with Studley! Last season saw us finish 12th under the management of Dave Cox & Martin Bishop (with Derek Adamson moving ‘Upstairs’ to become Chairman). Adam Green’s reserve team also gained promotion to Div 2.
The club moves from strength these days with a further reserve side, a ladies team, 6 girls teams (from U10 to U16) and 23 boys teams (from U7 to U18s). Quite a few of our current squad have come through the ranks but our real gem was Jimmy Davis, who was tragically killed while driving his car down to play for Watford where he was on loan from Manchester United. Jimmy played 4 and a half seasons for Knowle Juniors before signing for Man U. In that time he scored 256 goals in the Premier League of the CWYFL – some record! We also boast Ashley Sammons who captained Blues last year at U18s and scored a 30 yarder at Anfield in the Youth Cup Semi Final!
