For the first two seasons of their existence, Albion played local sides on parks pitches throughout West Bromwich, Smethwick and Wednesbury, occasionally travelling as far afield as Stourbridge to get a game. The real breakthrough came at the start of the 1881–82 season, when they decided to pay a subscription to join the Birmingham & District Football Association, thus becoming eligible for their first competition, the Birmingham Senior Cup. It was their run to the quarter finals of that tournament – beating, as they did, established sides such as Elwells FC (from Wednesbury) and Calthorpe (Edgbaston) – that made their name in the Birmingham press. Suddenly, the local papers began to take notice of the club, and began reporting on their games.