Ice hockey club marks 60 years of defying the odds

The Solihull Barons still play at the ice rink on Hobs Moat Road

An ice hockey club which has kept going for decades through the support of its diehard fans - and led directly to the creation of two more clubs - is preparing to celebrate its 60th birthday.

Solihull Barons was formed in 1965 and is still going despite rising costs and breakaways which led to the formation of Coventry Blaze and Telford Tigers.

"You get a sense of achievement because all the odds are stacked against you," said John Butler, spokesperson and volunteer at the Barons.

"The club has been kept going by very enthusiastic supporters."

The club originally descended from the Birmingham Barons but there are very few records of the early years.

Mr Butler first came to the Barons in 1980 when his children became interested in the sport and said it was "a good family night out".

The game has become a lot more skillful, he said, but he remembered "years ago people who played ice hockey were people who didn't play football but could skate".

Mr Butler said ice hockey proved popular in Solihull and led to crowds of more than 2,000 packed into the small rink, with queues of people stretching around the building to get in.

"At one time it was probably the biggest supported sport in Solihull," he said.

John Butler said the sport had changed a lot since he started following the Barons

Mr Butler now gives his time to help with club sponsorship, travel and publicity and many other fans also volunteer to keep the Barons going.

He said "you've got to realise its a minority sport" and over the past 60 years it has faced financial hardship on a number of occasions but survived due to the efforts of the local community.

John Freeman, who starting watching them in 1981, now serves as the club's timekeeper during matches.

He said he fell in love with the sport because it was "fast and furious" and many were drawn to it by the promise of fights between players on the ice.

He has been running the Solihull Vikings recreational team since 1987 and said he was "proud" the Barons were still going after six decades.

John Freeman is one of many volunteers who give up their time for the club

Stuart Latham has written a book on the history of the club and described it as a "great hub for the community".

He added he liked how close the players were with fans and believed it could continue "as long as people come through the doors".

Mary Lynch, who also started watching the Barons in the early 1980s, said the community that supported the club and kept it running was "like a family".

"Once you get into it, you can't get out of it," she said.

Mary Lynch has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Barons for 40 years

In 1984, nearly 20 years into the Barons' tenure, a new local authority-owned public ice rink opened in nearby Telford.

The Barons' player-coach at the time, Chuck Taylor, was approached and asked "to come and look at the rink, with the idea of having a team there".

With him was his friend Gary Newbon, the ITV sports broadcaster, who had recently stepped down as chairman of the Barons to devote more time to his role at Central Sport.

Taylor said they initially discussed the idea of making Telford a feeder club for the Barons but instead decided to form a new club.

In 1985, the Telford Tigers were born and Mr Taylor was appointed their first managing director before leaving the role a few years later.

"I went around the country and scouted the leagues - we had guys from Sheffield, Nottingham, Grimsby, London, Whitley Bay, Scotland etc," he said.

Mr Taylor was also able to convince the Barons' overseas players to follow him to Telford.

"They wanted to stick with me as they knew me," he said.

He remembered "pounding the pavement" to drum up local support for the new team.

"I'm extremely proud of what we achieved in Telford and I'm very pleased that both teams are still going strong," Mr Taylor said.

Fixtures between Telford and Solihull have always been special and the rivalry resumes in 2025 with Telford's second team joining Solihull's league.

Gary Newbon (centre) and Chuck Taylor (to his left) both left Solihull Barons to form Telford Tigers in 1985

But back to the Barons' history and, in 1996, they changed their name to Solihull Blaze before, four years later, a decision was taken to move to Coventry.

One of the men involved was the former Solihull managing director, Mike Cowley, who said: "Solihull ice rink had been undergoing some changes and we didn't think it was suitable for what we wanted."

He explained they had ambitions of playing at a higher level and "it just so happened the Skydome [in Coventry] had been completed and they were thinking of putting ice into it".

Mr Cowley, who remains an owner of Coventry Blaze, said he and his fellow directors had also considered moves to Birmingham's indoor arena and the NEC, but ruled them out because of the potential costs.

The move to Coventry was agreed as a "decision we had to make".

He accepted uprooting the club, along with its players and the majority of its fans, caused "some animosity" in Solihull but claimed most fans who followed the club to Coventry remained Blaze supporters.

Looking to the future, Mr Cowley said he still held ambitions to play at a bigger venue but there were none currently available in the West Midlands.

Mike Cowley was one of the men who brought ice hockey to Coventry

It then took a few years for the Barons to reform, with a team from Milton Keynes using their rink for a few years.

The club, in its current incarnation, returned in 2005 but Mr Butler said running an ice hockey club today was a challenge.

"A lot of things have changed, it's a lot more difficult these days than it was years ago. Obviously it's far more expensive financially," he said.

"If you look at this from a business point of view, you can't understand how this facility survives."

He said staff and budgets were stretched and admitted "I would like to think that it can carry on for another 60 years but I honestly don't know".

But Mr Butler said the Barons remained "well supported" and loved by their fans.