Whats in a name? [7 Feb @ 9:02am]

Rather a risky name for a junior football club you may think, but RED STAR AFC was named for all the right reasons. The first group of lads formed a mini soccer team back in 2005 and played u8 football under Erdington Star (Woodlands). Steve Bird took the managers/coaching role and our history began. Two seasons later a now popular group had turned into three mini-soccer teams and had moved up the chester road now called simply "Erdington Star". Playing in Erdingtons blue & white hoops our teams were winning trophies yearly and our backroom + parents were almost running any development at the Forge Lane home venue. With HEXIS UK fully supportive it was almost feeling like a club all of its own. During the closed season of 2008 the decision was made to go it alone and so the discussions began for a club name. Immediatly it was decided "Star" should make up part of out new title. "C'mon the Star" was now a big shout for us all so we really wanted to keep that part of our history. Rather by chance, a survey had been done and released on the very day Hugh, Steve, Gary Smith and Phil (Hexis MD) met to finalize the details. The survey on football teams colours had found that RED was more successful than any other colour! For the record Orange was the least successful! So it was agreed Red Star would be our name. This was also pleasing to Hexis who had hoped we would adopt their company colours, rather than the blue of Erdington. Phil Wilkins suggested we added "Athletic" and the name was agreed. Red Star AFC. This name meant we would be under no restrictions with area, and as our lads were already travelling from many different towns and villages this too made complete sense. Steve Bird set about designing the now well known club badge and both Steve and Phil spent many hours designing and ordering the well recognised harlequin home shirts. RED STAR AFC has become a big player at Steve & Hugh's level and the hope is other age groups will take on the story for the future. 2008 was the begining of a new name in junior football. Lets hope new teams will be created to build on the foundations set by our original members.