Stourport Swifts

In 1965 John McDonald became secretary of Stourport Swifts and the Club you see today began to take shape. In the last 50 years, the Swifts, founded in 1882, and the oldest club in the County, have progressed steadily to the Midland Football League Premier Division, which is Step 5 on the Football League pyramid.
In 1970, the changing rooms were in an old outbuilding, now owned by sponsors Walshes Farm Caravan Park, some 100 yards away, and over time these were renovated, with showers, toilet facilities and electricity installed.

The pitch, although a decent size, was heavily populated with weeds, and before each game the players would have to remove, on some occasions, some 200 molehills before the matches could begin. Several professional experts were called in to discuss the mole problem, but none felt they could do anything to solve it. Groundsman at the time, Duncan Pinnegar, set to with his trusty traps, and over a period of 4 years, eventually secured a clean bill of health for the pitch. No fence was in place around the ground, and no conifers in place to prevent the loss of many balls in the River Severn. Kindly fishermen and boatmen from Worcester returned many footballs with the Stourport Swifts name on them, often several weeks after they were lost.
Several attempts were made to bring the changing facilities next to the pitch, but each time these were vandalised, and twice burned to the ground.

The Swifts progressed from the Worcester League into the West Midland League, where there were some notable successes in both League and County Cup form. Ron Bradley, former WBA player and also former coach to the national team in Libya, was a manager to note in the 70’s, followed by former player Richard Leach, who can be seen at most home matches..Former Mayor of Stourport, Roy Crowe, became chairman at that time. Roy remained Life President of the club until he passed away at the age of 88 on December 3rd 2016. The pitch was fenced in, a requirement for progression through the higher levels of non league football, and work began on the Clubhouse you see today in the 1980’s, with players and officials digging out foundations by hand. The bar in the Clubhouse was salvaged from the Wheatsheaf pub in Stourport town centre when it went through some extensive refurbishment, and the Club was decorated in the current style by decorator and committee man Dave Watts, who is sadly no longer with us.

Pat Lynch and Kidderminster Harriers legend Phil Mullen became the management team in the late 80’s and early 90’s and the Swifts progressed to the Premier Division of the West Midlands League, and won the Worcestershire Senior Urn three times during their spell in charge. Chris Reynolds took over as Chairman in 1992 and John McDonald secured funding for the building of the new stand in the same year. Despite the team finishing runners up in the Premier Division in 1994, they failed to gain promotion to the new Midland Football Alliance.That promotion came 4 years later, in 1998, and in 2001, with Rod Brown in charge, Stourport Swifts took and incredible 66 points from their last 26 matches of the season (W20 D6) to pip Rushall Olympic to the Midland Football Alliance title by ONE GOAL. Lee Booth scored 40 goals that season, and Rod Brown was voted Manager of the Year.

The Swifts were promoted as Champions to the Southern League and enjoyed their highest level of football over the next ten years in this Division. The Non League Pyramid was re organised in 2013 and the Swifts secured a place in the Midland League Premier Division, which significantly reduced travelling on match days. Chris Reynolds passed away on Saturday 23rd July 2016, after a brave battle against cancer. Chris had been with the club some 45 years as player, manager, committee member and Chairman, and he will be sorely missed by all the great friends he made in that time.

The Club then lost John McDonald on 17th October the same year, also after a long battle against cancer. Mac was honoured by the Football Association in 2015 for 50 years of service to Stourport Swifts, and has been the heartbeat of the Swifts for the past 50 years. He will be remembered as the man who built the Club, and this is a pair of shoes we will never fill.
Mac and Chris secured the future of the club before they both passed away by pulling back in a group of former players and their friends to take on the task of taking the club forwards. Graham Haighway, Nigel Wager and Ian Johnson, had all played for the Swifts in the seventies and eighties, and along with new chairman Pip Hanson, had been running a local Sunday League side for the previous 30 years. Chris’s eldest son Paul also joined the committee. This Sunday team moved to the Swifts home at Washes Meadow in 2015-2016, and the group picked up the mantle from then to carry them forward in the Midland Premier League on Saturdays. Mark Phillips and John Dowdeswell were appointed as the new managers in 2015, and led them to 10th, 10th and 13th place finishes. In 2017 Swifts also won the Worcester Infirmary Cup for the first time in 19 years, and in 2018 reached the 5th Round of the FA Vase before going out to eventual finalists Stockton Town. John and Mark resigned at the end of the 2017-2018 season, and Swifts appointed former Wolves and Hereford player Quentin Townsend as manager, and five years of growth and improvement at Club and team level have followed.

The 2022-2023 season saw the Swifts win the WFA Senior Cup for the first time, with a 2-0 win against Redditch United.
On the 10th February 2024, a record crowd of 1,903 saw the Swifts host local rivals Worcester City in the last 16 of the Isuzu FA Vase, but unfortunately also saw them go down 5-1.The Swifts also reached the first ever Midland League Play Offs, finishing 4th in the table, but lost 3 – 1 to eventual winners Darlaston Town.

At the end of the 2025-2026 season, Stourport Swifts application to join the Hellenic League was accepted by the FA.

Division Two Cup Runners Up 1982-83
Division One Runners Up 1987-88
Premier Division Runners Up 1993-94, 96-97, 97-98
Cup Winners 1992-93
Worcester Senior Invitation Cup Winners: 2022-2023
Worcester Senior Urn Winners: 92-93, 93-94, 94-95, 97-98
Worcester Royal Infirmary Cup Winners: 93-94, 94-95, 95-96, 97-98, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19
Worcester Sunday Premier Cup Winners: 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2025-2026
Midland Football Alliance Winners: 2000-2001
Kidderminster Sunday Premier League Winners: 2022-23, 2023-2024