Boxing champ is a local football champion

Givemefootbal.com Ian Clarkson6th November, 2009

Former World and British Middleweight boxing champion Wayne Elcock has a dream and he is bringing a whole community together to achieve it.

'Mad Dog', who is locking horns with Darren Barker for the British and Commonwealth Middleweight title belts at the Brentwood Leisure Centre later this month, has a football vision for a suburb of Birmingham that is already underway.

The 35-year-old has already held the WBU world Middleweight belt as well as the British Middleweight strap becoming the first domestic boxer to beat Howard Eastman.

However, he has also been a keen footballer over the years and has been a prolific goalscorer for the Shard End Royals as well as netting a hatful of goals for the Birmingham City All-Stars.

But Elcock is a man who doesn't do anything by halves and thanks to the generous sponsorship of local businesses bucking the credit crunch, he is building a dynasty to last.

"When I was growing up there was nowhere to play football locally and you had to travel to Chelmsley Wood or Marston Green," said Elcock."I started an open age side called Shard End Royals, who I manage, for local lads and this pre-season I found that we had up to 40 people coming along for training.

"There were loads of lads between the ages of 16-18 who had nothing to do and wanted to play football so we have started up a reserve team. The long-term picture for me is to have sides between the ages of 7-18 all feeding into a team that is playing in the Midland Combination.

"No-one has ever brought Midland Combination football to Shard End before but I am used to success and I want to achieve this."

However, what has really warmed Elcock's heart is the support he has received from the community in developing this dream from near enough scratch. A quick conversation with a bunch of young lads banging a football outside his front gate was the catalyst he needed to take it into overdrive.

"There were a group of young lads just kicking a ball around and they said they had nowhere to go and nothing to do. I promised them I would start up a Sunday team for them and spoke to the guy who used to manage me on a Sunday morning - Pete Baker.

"He had been retired from football for about eight years but he gave me a commitment and the first steps were in place for an Under-9s team. However, I have already put quite a lot of my own money into the open-age team in terms of pitch hire, kit etc and was wondering how we could make it happen.

"I had drawn up some costings and it came to about three and a half grand for everything and I was really chuffed when two businesses came forward.

"Jane's Café on the Chester Road in Castle Bromwich agreed to buy hooded tops and kit bags for the boys while the Sea Queen Chippy in Timberley Lane sponsored the kit.

"I took care of the footballs and pitch hire but I can't believe how much support we have had. In the current climate, small businesses fear for their future but they were still prepared to put money into sponsoring a project that will hopefully unite all the community."

The local council have also helped in identifying and developing a plot of land in Kendrick Avenue in Shard End that is now known as the Pavilions. State of the art changing rooms and decent pitches have ensured the Shard End Royals have a home in the heart of the community.

"The local kids had been in limbo and we have only attracted a small minority of how many I want to get involved. I want my son to be plying for Shard End Royals on a Sunday when he is old enough and there should be a pathway all the way through to the Midland Combination.

"If we can develop the facilities at Kendrick Road that would be the ultimate dream but we can't run before we can walk.

"The next step is to develop two teams every season until we have teams running all the way through from seven to 18 and I think I can get the backers to get this off the ground. This is my dream and I think it can become a reality."

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