If you ever wondered where Rushden & Diamonds got their unusual name from, Irthlingborough Diamonds is one half of the reason. It’s the merger between them and Rushden Town in 1992 that created the club. But, like Town, we already had a reason to know the Diamonds in their own right. Our promotion to the United Counties League in 1981 arguably caught them in their pomp too; the Diamonds ending second-best in our first-ever campaign at that level. The season after, they went one better and lifted the title.
But the good times couldn’t last. By the 1992 merger, they were finishing in the bottom half of the table.
