Whitchurch Alport

In April 1974, a football club from Shropshire travelled into Wales and won a Welsh trophy. Whitchurch Alport beat Cardiff College 2-1 in the final of the Welsh Amateur Cup — the only time in the competition's history that a club from England has taken it home.

The club itself was formed in 1946, named after Alport Farm and set up in memory of Cowley Maddox, a local footballer killed in the war. It was among the founding members of the Mid-Cheshire League two years later, a title it won along with the Shropshire County Cup in the same season.

Decades of decline followed through the 1980s and 1990s. The revival began with a move to the Mercian Regional League in 2012, and promotion three years later was secured only after an appeal was heard at Wembley. By 2019 Alport had reached the North West Counties League's top flight, and two years after that the club stepped up again, into the Midland Football League Premier Division.

Jimmy Quinn started out at Whitchurch Alport before going on to play for Northern Ireland and in the English Football League; another Northern Ireland international, Steve Jones, wore the shirt during the 2019/20 season. Shropshire derbies against Shifnal Town, Haughmond, Oswestry Town and Market Drayton Town are the fixtures that matter most locally.

Home matches are played at Yockings Park in red, black and white, a ground with room for 1,200. The record crowd there — 1,400 — turned out for an FA Vase quarter-final in 2022.