Kimberley Miners Welfare Football Club was formed in 1926, one year after the opening of the Miners Welfare. Early years was spent playing at the Mill Field, approx ½ mile North of Digby Street.

In 1932 KMWFC moved to the new recreation ground, Digby Street, situated adjacent to Digby Colliery and its cricket ground.

Initially, Digby Street was solely a playing field with teams changing in Tommy Bird’s (pronounced Tommy Bod’s, in the local dialect) front room. It was a lengthy walk, for players and officials to Digby Street, because Tommy lived in a house supplied for workers, on site, at the Giltbrook Leather Works.

In the late 1950s, changing facilities moved, to the Miners Welfare Bowling Alley underneath the building, which meant an even longer walk for players and officials!
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Part of a 1938 Ordance Survey Map showing Digby Street, Digby Colliery, The Cricket Ground and Leather Works.

A larger scale version of this map can be seen in the Clubhouse

KMWFC have played at Digby Street for 81 years but, it hasn’t been continous. The club played at the Wolsey Sports Ground for 1 season, 1974/75 (situated were Sainsbury’s Car Park now is, in Kimberley Town Centre), because the construction of the new A610 Eastwood & Kimberley Bypass took away part of the ground and made it unusable.

It wasn’t until the 1995/6 season that changing facilities were provided on the ground. A £7,500 grant from the National Lottery, and an equivalent donation from Chairman Neil Johnson, enabled the club to buy, transport and erect, the unwanted changing rooms from Calverton Cricket Club. This was around the time of the clubs most succesful era under the guidance of Paul Horry Kimberley MW won every trophy they could before Horry resigned and was replaced by Steve Hobster on a caretaker basis before the appointment of George Hulley for his first spell at the club. Hulley left and was replace by the popular Alf Stacey and Steve Towle before Hulley returned for a second spell.

In 2012 KMWFC were given a 15 year tenure on The Stag Ground.

Kimberley Miners Welfare FC

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