An Afternoon At The Pics - Gold and Diamonds Sparkle !

 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.....