So, for my weekly Non League vlog, the destination was Rugby Town FC last Saturday for their vital bottom of the table clash vs AFC Rushden and Diamonds.
After contacting the club midweek, the very helpful Neil Melvin was great in answering every question I needed answering.
Matchday! It was a bit of a nervous wait in the morning as to whether the match would go ahead what with the freezing weather conditions across the country so I had a few back up matches in reserve just in case.
Thankfully, at the 10.30am pitch inspection the pitch was declared good to go, so I was happy with that and I set off.
I arrived at the ground ridiculously early, and the only people there at that time were a coach load of Oldham Athletic fans who had decided to attend the game after their trip to Eastleigh was postponed on route!
Footage of Oldham fans deciding to divert to Rugby Town. (credited to @BradleyKnowles on X)
I had a chat to a couple of them, and the coach driver was the one who held my phone as I filmed my opening link to the vlog!
After that, I hung around a bit outside as the players were starting to arrive.
I made a beeline to a fella in a Rushden & Diamond tracksuit and asked him would it be ok to do a quick interview… I had no idea he was their captain! and, of course, as this is Non League, he obliged!
After that, I had a nose around Rugby Town’s Butlin Road ground, which, I have to say, is very very impressive.
I actually bumped into Neil, and he kindly showed me around the dressing rooms and arranged another interview, this time with a Rugby Town player... actually, a club legend as he is their all time leading goal scorer!
After all that filming, I had loads of time before kick off, where I was talking to plenty of people, notably David , who’s 17 year old son Devonn had just moved to Rugby Town on a months loan from Stratford Town FC.
He was telling me how emotional he got when his son scored for STFC on Boxing Day, which was a very poignant day for the club, due to the first anniversary of a tragedy.
So, onto the match, and, as I always say, I won’t spoil what happened as I would like you to have a look at the vlog at the end of the post.
Full time then, and my fingers are absolutely freezing, I made my way down to pitch side where I managed to nab a couple more interviews, and a good off camera chat with R & D club photographer Shaun.
I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon out at Rugby Town, I found it such a friendly place, and the atmosphere was really good… I believe it was actually their best attendance of the season, with plenty of away fans dotted all over the ground, and, of course, the Oldham fans!
So, if you have never done a ground hop at Rugby Town, I would strongly recommend it, and, if anyone is reading this and is connected to R& D, I would love to do a vlog there too.
Thanks for reading!
A big thankyou to Darren Ashley for sharing this with us on our Proper Football Groundhopping page, you can watch all of Darren's other content on his YouTube channel and please subscribe!