A Happy Valley?

Rugby Town  2  Sporting Khalsa  1

Midland Football League – Premier Division

I defy anyone to walk into Rugby Town’s Butlin Road stadium and fail to be impressed.

There is clearly a history behind the club, which I’ll come onto shortly, but in terms of football grounds, this is a set up that in my opinion would be fit for National League football, and we aren’t just talking the regional divisions. I’m no ground grader, but I’ve seen plenty of grounds and this is right up there with non-league’s best.

Set on the very Eastern edge of Rugby, Butlin Road sits at the end of a lengthy drive which leads off the main route into the town centre, with the West Coast Mainline running parallel . Once in the car park you can start to see the scale of the place. The clubhouse has a very impressive façade and behind this sits a tall seated stand that is reasonably new, or at least has certainly been added since my only previous visit in 2000 when I saw them play Burnham in their guise of VS Rugby.

Behind the North goal is a vast covered terrace complete with crush barriers, while behind the opposite goal is a further smaller covered terracing area. Opposite the main stand is another shallower seated area which is flanked to both sides by small covered areas of terracing. In fact, anything that isn’t under cover, is properly terraced with barriers, add to that they have segregation capability, and a clubhouse that is accessible from within the ground, modern floodlights and a very good pitch, and you are talking one hell of a football stadium.

I’ll let the pictures tell the true story, but this begs a huge question, and I mean this with the greatest of respect, but what the hell is this doing in Step 5 football?

The history behind Rugby Town is not straightforward. In fact to understand it, you have to get to grips with the evolvement of football in the town itself.

Rugby Town were historically the principal club in the town, up until 1973 when they ceased to play, which is very different to going out of business, I suppose the phrase you would use is that they were "In Abeyance" as a senior club. They reappeared in 1993, but disappeared again mid-way through the 1995-96 season with their playing record expunged. Back they came again in 2000, but by 2004 they had once again vanished.

Across town VS Rugby (Valley Sports) were the junior of the clubs but following the demise of Town in 1973, they took on the mantle of the senior team and had success. The FA Vase was won in 1983 and the heady heights of the Southern League Premier Division were achieved. Along with that the Proper rounds of the F.A.Cup were reached on several occasions.

The club changed their name to Rugby United in 2000, much to the annoyance of the VS faithful, but then upon the demise of Rugby Town in 2004, the club that was United and formerly VS, decided to take on the name! Their time in the Premier Division came to an end, a move to the Northern Premier League followed, and then at the end of last season the club were relegated to Step 5 and the superb Butlin Road ground was to host host the lowest level of football it's witnessed since the early Eighties.

That’s the facts, but behind all of this are no doubt further strands to it, around ownership, finances, politics etc, as you get at most football clubs, the detail around which I’m not familiar with. But, the harsh reality is we have a Step 1 ground at Step 5.

Step 5 does not look like it’s going to be exited in a hurry either, they sit in seventh place in the Midland Football League with promotion not on the radar, but what’s the reality in terms of perhaps mounting a challenge next season?

They have some good players, Ruben Wiggins-Thomas is someone who I’ve seen playing regularly for Belper Town, and he knows where the net is, as does David Kolodynski who’s been banging them in for a few seasons now at Butlin Road. Add in Stuart Hendrie (brother of Lee) who was prolific at Basford United and you’ve got some serious ammunition at your disposal.

Just 96 spectators turned up on a night where it was all about the pitch inspections again, and in the first half they saw a Sporting Khalsa side who sat above Rugby in the table take the lead via a Mikel Beckley penalty kick. Rugby had been poor in the first period, creating very little, and that theme continued into the second period, until we saw a double substitution.

Wiggins-Thomas got his head to the ball to equalise in the 68^th minute and then Hendrie scored seven minutes later to give the hosts what was an unlikely lead, the game had been turned on its head.

Khalsa, somewhat shell shocked by the fact they were losing a game they were seemingly in control of, poured forward but couldn’t find a way through. Despite several minutes of added time, Rugby held on for three points that if I’m honest, looked unlikely as we tipped over the hour mark.

So as the spectators, players and officials made their way out of Butlin Road and the gates were locked again for another evening, you could be forgiven for wondering just when the status on the field starts to match the facilities.

It will be a step by step process and it won’t happen overnight, but when the giant oil tanker does start to turn, you wonder just where it might stop?