| Nuneaton Griff F.c. |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT NUNEATON GRIFF F.C. | |
| english football clubs | |
| midland football combination | |
| football soccer clubs established in 1972 | |
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The club was originally founded in 1972 as Nuneaton Amateurs when a dispute at the well-known Co-op Sports F.C. led to many members moving to the Nuneaton Griff and Coton Miners Welfare Ground. Nine players and officials paid £1 each to start the new club and former Rugby Town, Lockheed Leamington and Bedworth Town player Colin Wetton became the first manager with Colin Rathbone as Chairman and Derek Brown as Treasurer. Defeating Jet Blades 2-1 away in their first-ever game, the Amateurs were denied a championship success in their first season when their opponents did not turn up for a late-season rescheduled game and the Coventry and North Warwickshire League decided there was not time to fit in another match. In the Birmingham Junior Cup there were two notable scalps as Kingswinford and Solihull Borough were defeated and the Amateurs finished a fine season by winning the Coventry Telegraph Cup. The club was accepted into the Coventry and Alliance Suburban League Premier Two and another superb season saw them promoted into the top Division where they more than held their own and Derek Brown gained representative honours for the League side. May 1975 saw the end of the Colin Wetton era but the now Nuneaton Griff went on to gain many honours until there followed a bleak spell of fortune leading to relegation. During the early 80's the Chairman, John Gore, took charge of team affairs. He was successful in arresting the slide and turning Griff into a powerful Coventry Alliance outfit. On retiring in 1996 he made the best decision in the club's history, persuading the then 34 year-old Mark Green to come out of retirement. Green totally transformed the club as Nuneaton Griff FC swept all before them in the Coventry Alliance, just as he had done previously with his former club Arley WMC FC. In 1998-99 the decision was made to apply for membership of the Midland Football Combination. The club was controversially placed in the Premier Division but the Heartlanders, under manager Mark Green, repaid that faith by winning the Championship in their initial season and then made it a double the following season 2000/2001 and also added the Endsleigh Challenge Cup for good measure. In the process they made history by winning the Challenge Cup at Villa Park and the following night winning the Coventry Telegraph Cup at Highfield Road, Coventry, to become the only club to play two finals on consecutive days on two different Premiership grounds and win both times. Since then the club has consolidated in the Premier Division and under present manager Matthew Cook has high hopes of adding to those earlier glories. The club has built up an impressive youth section, which has already attained charter status, and for the first time the juniors have entered the F.A.Youth Cup. The senior section added a third team last season, playing in the Coventry District & Warwickshire League, composed of young players who hopefully will feed into the reserve team. |
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