Chairman Neil Johnson, his nephew Steven Johnson, son-in-law Chris Sankey and son Lee Johnson of Kimberley MW FC
First formed in 1926, the club will face Blaby & Whetstone Athletic in their Cup debut at their home venue of the Stag.
Here, chairman Neil Johnson explains what it means to him as he hopes to take the Nottinghamshire club to the next level.
"The club has been a massive part of my family and the town of Kimberley for many years.
My father was chairman before me and then I took over in 1982. Before that, my brother Terry played for the club back in the 1960s and early 1970s and I played my first game for them at the age of 14-years-old, back in 1968.
From there, my nephew Steven Johnson went on to play for many years, my son Lee Johnson plays now again and my grandson Lewis Sankey also plays for the club, he’s currently in the U13s squad, so the club’s been part of the family life since 1953.
This is the first time we’ve been eligible to apply for the Emirates FA Cup and whatever competition we can bring to the club and the people of Kimberley, we will do.
Neil Johnson's grandson Lewis now plays for Kimberley MW's U13s squad
It’s an adventure and somewhere that we never ever dreamed of being. We do hope we’ll make a good fist of it and compete and it’d be nice to go through a couple of rounds and meet somebody of note. Last season, our U18s had a run in the FA Youth Cup, where we eventually got beat by Boston United, and that was a nice trip so it would be marvellous to repeat that.
There’s been a lot of hard work behind the scenes since we found out we were in the competition and we’ve had a gentleman, chairman of the local council Trevor Rood, putting in a shift at the Stag over the last three weeks.
He’s brought the ground up to health and safety measures and he’s done a fabulous job getting it ready for Saturday. He’s even been painting the tea room and he’s done a lot for us, so he’s been a real star.
And Steven Hobster and Danny Staley who have looked after everything else, including the pitch so they’ll be marking it out for the first time in the Emirates FA Cup this week. It’s a lovely rags-to-riches story really.
It’s very difficult to get any kind of sponsorship at this level but we’ve come through that, and all of our players are amateurs, none of them get paid at all so it’s a chance for them to make a name for themselves.
We’ll prepare for it like any other game, but just it’s unfortunate that I won’t be able to be there on Saturday as I’m actually on holiday in Menorca.
It’s typical, as our annual pilgrimage was booked last September before we knew what we’d be doing this season, but everyone else will be there, cheering the team on and I shall be on the phone finding out what the score is and getting a minute-by-minute update from the game.
Neil Johnson (front row, second left) along with team-mates in the 1972-73 season with the club
I hope the local community will come out to support us and see some Emirates FA Cup football in the town. We don’t have any mining in this area anymore, our pit closed back in 1928, and our original pitch is the old pit yard.
It’s still there at Digby Street though, and we use it for training and games at the weekend for the kids and the Sunday teams.
As well as mining, we used to be a brewery town as well, Kimberley Ales which used to be a good drink. There was also hosiery within the town with Wolsey, but that’s now a supermarket so everything’s changed from its original roots except Kimberley Miners Welfare Football Club.
So community-wise, I’m hopeful that we’ll get some interest locally, now that we’re into the Emirates FA Cup.”
