Final whistle for founder Dave, 71
Hundreds of budding footballers, including Wolves legend Steve Bull, have honed their skills with Bustleholme FC and founder member Dave Martin, who has been involved since it began in 1974.
The 71-year-old has decided to step aside from his role as secretary at the West Bromwich club, but admits it will be hard to completely give up his involvement with the club.
Grandfather-of-four Dave, a retired toolmaker, was a keen amateur player and had been involved with the running of one of his own sides when he was approached by neighbours on the Bustleholme Mill estate Ray Coley and Dick Shiner in the mid-1970s about helping out with running a children's team.
Dave, whose two grown-up sons Ashley, 43, and Spencer, 41, went on to play for Bustleholme, said the offer to start a youth team came just at the right time, as he was on the verge of giving up playing and his children were getting to the right age to take up football themselves.
Together, the three men founded an under-12s side, and over the years the club swelled to 26 teams at its peak, It has 14 running this year.
They even got some help from a star name in the first year, with ex-Albion striker Ronnie Allen coaching the side. "Ronnie was a wonderful Albion footballer, and he knew one of the parents, so used to coach us," said Dave.
"We only thought we would last for a couple of years and that would be it, and he always advised me to stick with one team and not take any more on. But I thought that was a bit strange, and we never stopped growing after that, and the following season we had four teams.
"Steve Bull is probably the most famous but I always thought that Dave Burrows was the best player we've seen in professional terms. Villa were always after him as well but his father always insisted that he wouldn't go to the Villa and that he went to Albion; then he went on to play for Liverpool and England.
"Steve Bull was with us at about 12 but he hardly got a game. He scored a few goals in his first season in 1978. The photograph I have of him, he was on the bench. He developed when he was 15 or 16 when the Albion picked him up."
Dave admitted that football has caused a few "ructions" with wife Barbara over the years. "I will miss it, obviously, but I haven't said I want nothing else to do with it," he added.
A Bustleholme FC reunion in Dave's honour will be held at the Banks's Stadium on September 4. Tickets are £5. Call Brendan Appleyard on 07852 951501 or Geoff Bendow on 07805 829354.
