Rushall Olympic 4th WWLLLL v AFC Rushden & Diamonds 12th DDWLLL
And so to Dales
Lane, Daw End in Walsall, and the Southern League Premier
Central for a clash between Rushall Olympic and AFC Rushden &
Diamonds.
Although football had been
played in the village for at least 20 years previously, the earliest known
reference to Rushall Olympic Football Club is in local newspaper reports on
matches from the 1893–94 season. The club joined the Cannock & District League
in 1895, before moving on to the Walsall & District League, with many
players working at the local Aldridge pit. During the inter-war years the club
disbanded.
In 1951, a group of local
young men decided to reform the club. They approached the proprietor of a local
fish and chip shop for permission to use his premises as their headquarters and
secured the use of Rowley Place as a home ground. The club joined the Walsall
& District Amateur League, and gained promotion to
the Staffordshire County League.
After moving to Dales Lane
the club was accepted into the West Midlands (Regional) League in
1978, and won the First Division title in 1980. The club enjoyed 14
seasons of moderate success in the Premier Division, with a highest finish of
fifth place achieved in 1988–89. In 1994, the 'Pics' became a founder member of
the new Midland Football Alliance.
Olympic
gained promotion to the Southern League Division One West in 2005,
and were then transferred to the Southern League Division One
Midlands for the 2006/07 season, where they stayed for two
years, qualifying for the play-offs in their last season by finishing fifth.
Due to the restructuring of
the Northern Premier League, they were transferred again to the NPL
Division One South for the 2008/09 season, when they once more
finished fifth and qualified for the play-offs, but finally reached the Premier
League in 2011 after a play off victory against Grantham Town. The club was
moved laterally to the Southern Premier League Central this summer, where they
currently lie fourth after four consecutive defeats.
The original
Rushden & Diamonds was formed on 21 April 1992, as a merger of
Irthlingborough Diamonds and Rushden
Town. The club's early years were marked by success and the backing of Max Griggs,
owner of Doc Martens. Within four seasons the club had reached the Conference,
and within nine the club had become a member of the Football League.
However,
following their promotion to Division Two the Diamonds' fortunes took a turn
for the worse. The club was relegated twice in three years, and suffered
instability off the field. Seven different managers took charge of the team
between March 2004 and May 2011, while the club itself was controlled by four
different parties during the same period. Following a period of sustained
financial difficulties during the 2010–11 season, the club was expelled from
the Conference at the end of the campaign, and entered
administration that July.
AFC Rushden
& Diamonds was created during the summer of 2011 by Diamonds' fans as
a phoenix club. After missing the FA league deadline for registering a senior
side, AFC R&D formed a youth team to compete in the Northants Senior Youth
League for the club's inaugural 2011–12 season, with the intention of fielding
a senior side the following year. Initially they played at Kiln Park, home of
Raunds Town.
The following season the
senior team was registered to play in the United Counties Football League
Division One, playing at the Dog and Duck, home of Wellingborough Town, and
finished second to secure promotion to the Premier Division.
A third place finish was
followed by the championship in 2015 and a move up to the Southern League
Division One Central, and a first campaign that saw the Diamonds reach and then
lose in the play offs. A lateral move to the Northern Premier League Division
One South again ended with play off heartache.
Rushden were then transferred
back to the Southern League and moved to groundshare with Rushden & Higham
United, before finally gaining promotion to Step 3 in 2018 as runners up,
finishing 9th last time and currently sitting in twelfth, and still
smarting from an 8-2 home defeat by the Rouslers of Bromsgrove Sporting.
So a brief meander down the
tow path, spotting Wing Ding, Still Friskey (sic) and, my favourite, Giggling
Haddock, it's over to the M6 via Hair Atelier, The Starving Man (a curious name
for a takeaway) and Papa Chino's. On the motorway a lorry parked on the nearest
bridge with its skirt advertising 'M6 Jn 19 Pub on Roundabout', two trucks in
convoy transporting lorry cabs and, as ever, today's numberplates: F1RER, F4VE
X and ELA710N.
The PIES graffiti has been
painted over but, in the Smart Motorway roadworks, there are are now distracting
signs on the bridges - Hanchurch Interchange, Jacob's Ladder, Knowl Hall Farm
et al... Off at Junction 10 through Walsall with its signs for the Leather
Museum and Dorothy Pattison Hospital, past the African & Caribbean
Community Association, and onto the Lichfield Road at the terrific red floral
entrance to the Four Seasons Garden. Right at Daw End Road and Rushall Olympic
is hidden opposite the Royal Oak.
£1 to park and my worst fears
emanating from mishaps at gridlock at Abbey Hulton and trapped in mud at
Eccleshall prove groundless. £10 in 'the cheapest price in this division'
(allegedly) and it's in to 'Yam Yam Land' and a 'busy' stadium, in terms
of structures, if not fans - today's crowd of 236 includes a healthy number of
Diamonds followers.
The pitch is astroturf, with
three sides of the ground surrounded by woodland; inside we have a short raised
walkway, then a covered disabled viewing area, adjoining covered benches, two
small grandstands in the corners, an elevated terraced area behind the goal
and, on the opposite side, a media room, video and press tower and sponsors'
lounge, behind which is a field of mud littered with football paraphernalia.
Finally the near end supports Pics Pantry, the clubhouse, changing rooms and
the club shop. There's also a whiteboard showing the teams' line ups outside
the clubhouse - a nice touch ! Busy as I say !!
Pics are in traditional gold
shirts and black shorts, Diamonds in their third strip of blue with red half
diamonds. Their goalkeeper, Ben Heath, is in all pink and wears number 13
- the no 1 having been retired after the tragic suicide of former shotstopper
Dale Roberts. The match is refereed by a Mr Pratt.
The sun breaches the overcast
cloud cover and it's a bright start to the game too. The first 15 minutes see Rushall
conjure up five chances - Eesa Sawyers has two shots off target, Ben Lund has
an effort straight at Heath and the Diamonds' custodian makes two routine saves
from Shaquille Leachman-Whittingham. Rushden are not without menace too, Jon
Flatt tipping Morgan Roberts' cross shot round for a corner.
So it's a surprise we have to
wait 19 minutes for the first goal and a further surprise that Diamonds score
it. Matthew Slinn's corner is flicked on by Ben Farrell and the away team's
burly captain Liam Dolman crashes home. This is the cue for more Pics'
pressure. Alex Moore has a piledriver turned aside then shoots wide,
Whittingham has two shots saved and one over the bar and the overworked Heath
also prevents Sawyers with a tidy stop.
Eventually Rushall do fashion
an equaliser, a minute from half time, with Reece Mitchell superbly whipping in
a short corner and captain Sam Whittall heads into the bottom corner, and it's
1-1 after a breathless first period.
The second half doesn't quite
live up to the first 45 minutes, but Diamonds have the first big opportunity
four minutes in. Slinn's free kick is headed goalwards by Roberts and the
Rushden fans are already celebrating before Flatt pulls off an astonishing
world class save.
Jon Letford then has a goal
dubiously ruled out for Olympic by Mr Pratt for kicking the ball out of
Heath's hands, before shooting straight at the keeper. Whittall also has a goal
chalked off for offside.
But the best chance falls to
Diamonds with ten minutes to go. Roberts is left unmarked on the right wing on
the half way line and is set free, his pace ensuring it's a one on one with
Flatt and finishes by placing the ball wide and then hanging his head in shame.
It finishes 1-1 - hardly a true reflection of the game.....
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