West Bromwich Albion Football Club /ˈbrɒmɪtʃ/, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands. The club was formed in 1878 and has played at its home ground, The Hawthorns, since 1900.
Albion were one of the founding members of The Football League in 1888 and have spent the majority of their existence in the top tier of English football. They have been champions of England once, in 1919–20, but have had more success in the FA Cup, with five wins. The first came in 1888, the year the league was founded, and the most recent in 1968, their last major trophy. They also won the Football League Cup at the first attempt in 1966. The club's longest consecutive period in the top division was between 1949 and 1973, and from 1986 to 2002 they spent their longest ever period out of the top division. The 2013–14 season is their eighth season in the Premier League since 2002.
The team has played in blue and white stripes for most of the club's history. Albion have a number of long-standing rivalries with other West Midland clubs; their traditional rivals have always been Aston Villa, though rivalry also exists with Wolverhampton Wanderers, with whom they contest the Black Country derby.
The Hawthorns
The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, Sandwell, England, (The Black Country) with a capacity of 26,445. It did hold 28,100 up until The Halfords Lane stand lost seats through refurbishment. It has been the home of Premier League club West Bromwich Albion F.C. since 1900, when it became the sixth ground to be used by the club. The ground was the last Football League ground to be built in the 19th century. At an altitude of 551 feet (168 m), it is the highest ground among those of all 92 Premier League and Football League clubs.
The ground has additionally been the venue for other sporting events. In its early years, the ground was used for athletics meetings; in May 1908, Birchfield Harriers used the Hawthorns for their Spring Meeting, which included the end of the first marathon to be run in the Midlands. The runners covered 25 miles (40 km) from Coventry to the Hawthorns, and one of them – Jack Price of Small Heath Harriers – was selected for the British team for the London Olympic Games on the strength of his performance. The ground also hosted several England matches, the most recent being on 20 October 1945 when England lost 0–1 to Wales in front of 54,611 people. Also, two FA cup semi-finals have been staged at the ground. The first saw Derby County draw 1–1 to Sheffield United in 1902 and the second took place between Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1960. Wolves won 1–0 in front of 55,596.
In the late 1970s the Hawthorns was the venue for a cricket match between India and Pakistan, watched by 2,641 spectators, while in 2000 and 2001 the ground hosted Kabaddi tournaments. On 11 January 1987, Telford United (a non league side playing some 30 miles away in Shropshire) switched their FA Cup tie against Leeds United to the Hawthorns as they had refused to host it at their own stadium as Leeds fans were notorious for hooliganism at this time.
SQUAD
Dressing Room
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