The WMCFL Commitee are all volunteers who give up their spare time to ensure the League runs smoothly. We have a variety of people, some are linked to our teams, some are not. But all have been elected by the member clubs.

Chairman - Graham Brazier

1. How did you first hear about WMCFL? How did you get involved? Have you played for any of our clubs? I moved to Stourbridge in 1984 due to my Dad’s company relocating his office. We chose Chawn Hill Church to attend and I was asked if I fancied playing football...does a fish swim? I started (and ended) my “career” with Chawn Hill Church FC. At the time I began playing in the League, there were only a few teams (possibly 7 or 8) and we were the “whipping boys”, I seem to remember we were overjoyed if we conceded less than five and if we scored a goal…….well, you can only imagine! That changed and we became (and still are) the most successful team that has played in the League.

2. Tell me a bit about what Christianity means to you. Do you go to church, are you a Christian? I worship at Chawn Hill Church in Stourbridge and have been a Christian since 1982. Christianity to me means a faith and trust in something that we don’t necessarily understand and certainly can’t comprehend in that we are all sinners, we have all sinned and we will all continue to sin but God gave up his son, Jesus, and sent him to earth to be the ultimate sacrifice in order that we can be forgiven our sins (past, present and future) and that if we believe in him and pass over full control of our lives to him, we shall not die and go to hell but we shall live forever in heaven. A bit spiritual, possibly, but this is the whole basis of our faith.

John ch 3 v 16.

3. What do you do for a living? I work for Zurich Financial Services as a Risk Analyst. I undertake surveys of commercial premises (factories, workshops, offices, retail premises etc.) on behalf of the insurance underwriters in order to assess them as to whether they are viable insurance risks, or not. I have worked for Zurich (previously Eagle Star) since 1985.

4. Tell me a bit about your family. I have been married to Philippa, who is a Nurse at Russells Hall Hospital, for the last 12 years and we have two children, Joshua who is 9 and Megan who is 6.

5. Favourite WMCFL moment…For me, my finest football moment within WMCFL has to be when I scored the “winning” goal against Oldbury Bethel in the cup final at Cradley Town’s pitch. The move started with Kevin Kovacs making a tackle on our own penalty area and then passing the ball to me who carried the whole length of the pitch and shot from out side the opposition area to score in the top far corner………..a scorcher (in my opinion!!).

If I am allowed two, my most proudest moment was when it was suggested to me that I should put myself forward as Chairman and then was actually voted in by the League, this still remains my proudest moment and, so far, has been repeated for the last few years when re-elected.

6. What is your involvement with WMCFL now? What have you done in the past? How long have you been on the committee? I first started working on the League Committee in 1985 as the Treasurer. I carried out this task for a year or so and then was appointed as the Fixtures Secretary. I used to produce the fixtures on my mum's old typewriter and then photocopy them………..oh the good old days! I carried on doing that job until a few years ago, when it was suggested I should put my self forward as Chairman and, as they say, the rest is history.

7. What team do you support? Stockport County. I used to live between Stockport and Macclesfield and an old boy from the church we went to up there used to take me to all the home and away games and therefore, it has stuck.

8. How would you like to see WMCFL develop? I would like to see the numbers of teams involved increase, there are literally hundreds of churches in the West Midlands area and we only “tap into” a small number of them. I know it would mean more work for us, as a Committee, but if we swelled to large numbers, it could even end up with us running as a financially viable proposition.

Numerous years ago, Kevin and myself discussed how we saw the League progressing and one of the things that I would still like us to achieve is to have our own League pitch.

Finally, we are already a professionally run League which is well respected within the BCFA and this is not only down to the Committee but also the Club Secretaries and I would not like to see any of us “sit back on our laurels”, we should all aspire to improve what we do and how we do it and with God’s help, we will.

League Secretary - Neil Kovacs

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David Davies - Referees' Secretary

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Rob Hill - Treasurer

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Willis Mullin - Club Representative

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James Orotayo - Fixtures Secretary

1. How did you first hear about WMCFL? How did you get involved? Have you played for any of our clubs? I probably first heard about WMCFL when I was league secretary of the (now defunct) Mercian Christian Football League (MCFL). The occasion in particular would have been when Dave Harris (former Chairman) was announcing the Cup Final on WM’s Christian programme.
Sadly, involvement in WMCFL came about when the MCFL fell apart in the late 1990s.
Throughout my time in WMCFL I have played for W&P. In addition I played one game as a secretary in a Refs v Secs game.

2. Tell me a bit about what Christianity means to you. Do you go to church, are you a Christian? Christianity is about trust – do I trust God enough to believe his promises about my future? Do I trust what the Bible says about His character and His Son? Do I trust the work of His Holy Spirit? These are the crunch questions for me.
I attend St. Jude’s Wolverhampton and I would say yes I am a Christian

3. What do you do for a living?I’m a Clinical Audit and Effectiveness Facilitator – basically quality assurance in the NHS

4. Tell me a bit about your family. I’m married and have a son

5. Favourite WMCFL moment…Probably walking out at the start of our Cup Final in 2005. Unfortunately the rest of the match would probably constitute my worst WMCFL moment…

6. What is your involvement with WMCFL now? What have you done in the past? How long have you been on the committee? I’m about the enter the third year (I think) of my second stint as Fixtures Secretary. Before it was called such I did the e secretary role for a year or so, but I kept myself ex officio. I think if you total up all my years (including e secretary) I have probably been on the committee for about five years.

7. What team do you support? Amateur: W&P; Professional: Wolves; International: England

8. How would you like to see WMCFL develop? Spiritually speaking it would be good if we could have more evangelistic/outreach events. I’m not sure if this would work in practice because it seems hard to motivate the teams to come out for meetings. So maybe it could be something we can provide virtually, i.e. on the website
Admin is my ‘thing’ and I would like not only for the various forms to be available to the secretaries on the website, but I would also like them to be interactive.
Expansion – I would like us to develop a Women’s version of WMCFL. In my new role as a referee I’ve found that the league has a healthy respect out there so why not go beyond simply encouraging lads to play?

Tony Skelton - Disciplinary Secretary

1. How did you first hear about WMCFL? How did you get involved? Have you played for any of our clubs? The league was recommended to me as a good league to officiate in. I approached the then referees secretary Kevin Dodd, who gave me a couple of fixtures in the 2nd division. I think my first fixture was Dynamo kingswinford v Alpha

2. Tell me a bit about what Christianity means to you. Do you go to church, are you a Christian? This is a hard subject for me to answer, No I am not a practising Christian in the truth sense of the word, but in my life I try to practice Christian values to the best of my ability

3. What do you do for a living? I am a Regional Sales Manager in the construction supplies industry.

4. Tell me a bit about your family. I am married to Susan who is my second wife and we have 4 children between us Emma who is 29, Scott who is 27 James who is 26 and Hannah who is 24, we have been together since 1984, and we got married in Kenya.

5. Favourite WMCFL moment… Hmmm, hard one to answer but I guess it has to be the 1997/98 cup final in which I was the man in the middle.

6. What is your involvement with WMCFL now? What have you done in the past? How long have you been on the committee? My involvement within the WMCFL now is one of Disciplinary officer & Referee Mentor, I also still officiate in the odd game or two, but because of back problems I do not officiate as much as I would like. Although in my capacity I get to see quite a few games per season I have served on the committee for 7 years

7. What team do you support? Aston Villa

8. How would you like to see WMCFL develop? I would like to see many more teams join this league, but keeping the moral values as we have now, this is not an easy task, I believe that this League is perhaps the best run within the midlands and the teams and players and indeed committee members should be proud of its achievements and its standing within the footballing community.

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Ed Walker - e-Secretary

1. How did you first hear about WMCFL? How did you get involved? Have you played for any of our clubs? I first went to Amblecote in 1984, became a regular in 1985 and joined the football club. I played against the likes of Brierley Hill, Dunstall, Tipton, Sparkbrook Elim, Chawn and Ebenezer etc. at that time. Amblecote has had a sporadic existence in WMCFL and I’ve played on and off for the club throughout.

2. Tell me a bit about what Christianity means to you. Do you go to church, are you a Christian? I have very strong family links with Christianity and churches. I was brought up in a Christian home as my father was and still is a Church of England vicar. I started going to Amblecote in 1985, where I still go every now and then.

3. What do you do for a living? I am a Senior Branch Manager at Nationwide Building Society

4. Tell me a bit about your family. I am married with two boys

5. Favourite WMCFL moment…Amblecote and Bilston played Aldridge Parish in 1999. We were two down within twenty minutes and cruising for a crushing. We fought back to win the game three-two, much to Aldridge’s chagrin. They went on to win the title.

6. What is your involvement with WMCFL now? What have you done in the past? How long have you been on the committee? I am still a registered player with Amblecote, but my main role within WMCFL is maintaining and developing the web site. You may see me visiting matches, armed with my camera, taking photos for the site.

I was secretary and manager of Amblecote and Bilston from 1997 to 2000, effectively when I stopped playing seriously due to an ankle injury that kept me out for five months. I also have to work some Saturdays until three pm. I joined the committee in 1999, where I took on the role of Fixtures Secretary. In 2001, I invented the role of e-Secretary and with some help from friends, books and courses; I learned how to make a web site.

7. What team do you support? I’m a glory boy, Liverpool since 1977.

8. How would you like to see WMCFL develop? I would like to see WMCFL grow in teams to say 32. Then we can have a proper knock-out cup competition. I would like to see the new clubs come from churches or youth groups, where football is used as a vehicle to get young people to church.

Richard Webster - Minutes Secretary

1. How did you first hear about WMCFL? How did you get involved? Have you played for any of our clubs? I first heard about WMCFL from our then secretary (now chairman) James Orotayo. We were playing in the Mercian Christian League at the time, before moving to the WMCFL for the 1998/1999 season.
I became involved with W&P through my cousin, who invited me and my brother to training, think toward the end of the 1996 season. If memory serves, I turned out a couple of times in that season (I was playing for another team at the time) and went ‘full time’ in 1997.
I have previously played for :18th Wolverhampton Boys Brigade (from seven to eighteen), in the junior and senior sections league. Perton Housing (I know it’s a strange name! Think the club originated originally from those involved in building the Perton estate in Wolverhampton) in the Wolverhampton Municipal league. I then moved to another team in the league as I wasn’t playing often, (but can’t remember the name) for two seasons, but because of conflict within the team, I decided to move on with W&P coming to the rescue!I also played (occasionally) for AFC Codsall in the Beacon and Wolverhampton Sunday league.

2. Tell me a bit about what Christianity means to you. Do you go to church, are you a Christian? God has been an integral part of my life from an early age, through attending Low Hill Methodist church (sadly demolished last year) and St Peters Collegiate School. I feel that Christianity gives you a simple set of rules and values that will help you through your life, both good and bad.I attend church more infrequently than I would wish at the moment, but attend as much as possible.

3. What do you do for a living? I have work worked for a bank since I left school in 1988. I have undertaken various roles, but currently I am a business lending sanctioner (basically assessing business customers requests for borrowing). Sounds seriously boring, but I find it interesting!

4. Tell me a bit about your family. I have been married to Samantha since 1995 and have a son Matthew, who will shortly be eight.

5. Favourite WMCFL moment… The game I remember the most, was versus Chawn Hill in the Cup quarter-final in 2005. While it was the first time we had progressed past the quarter-final stage, this is not the main reason I remember it. I remember it for being simply the best game I ever played in with two teams going at it for 120 minutes, playing fantastic football and scoring some unstoppable goals. This was in addition to the game being played in a brilliant spirit, which was cemented by Chawn's congratulations at the end of the game, despite finally losing the game 5 – 4 on penalties.

6. What is your involvement with WMCFL now? What have you done in the past? How long have you been on the committee? I have been involved with W&P in the League since 1998, first as a player then as the Club Secretary. I have been on the Committee for one meeting! While the role I am undertaking is not the most involved (and reflects the limited time I have available at present), I felt that I would like to give a little back to the League I have enjoyed playing in the most.

7. What team do you support? Wolves and AC Milan (from a distance!)

8. How would you like to see WMCFL develop? I would like to see the League become involved with other faiths in the region that run teams, perhaps through an ‘Inter faith’ cup competition. I believe that breaking down barriers is important and I think this would be a good way of integrating with other faiths and extending our horizons.
I would also like to see the season begin with a ‘charity shield’ match between the Cup and Division One winners, with all proceeds raised going to a charity nominated by the League Clubs. I would like the trophy to be dedicated ‘in memory of Kev Kovacs,’ as I feel that it would be a fitting memorial to Kev’s life and the massive contribution he made to the League.