Higham Town F.C.
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Rushden & Higham United F.C. is a
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club based in Rushden, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the .


History


Higham Town

Records show that a Higham Town club was formed in 1876 at a meeting held in the Griffin. There was a team competing in the Northants League (now the
United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckinghamshi ...
) during the 1890s and in 1895 the team were runners up in the Northamptonshire FA Junior cup. They joined the Northamptonshire League in 1897. The club's golden age was however in the 1920s. Re-formed after the end of the "great war" the team started in the Wellingborough and District league in season 1920–21, winning the NFA junior cup and gaining admittance to the Northants league. the team won the league at the first attempt together with the NFA senior cup. the league title was retained the following season and the county FA's premier competition, the Maunsell cup was also won, a unique cup treble unlikely ever again to be repeated. That same season also saw the club draw at Football League third division north side
Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
, 4–4 in the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
, only to lose 1–0 at home in the replay. The club were the highest scorers in the FA cup that year. In 1923–24 and 1926–27 the club were runners up in the league and in 1931 and 1933 were senior cup runners up. In 1934 the Maunsell cup was won for the second and to date the last time by a United Counties League side.
Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...
who had beaten First Division leaders
Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...
in the FA Cup earlier in the season being beaten finalists. On the resumption of league football in 1946 the club played in the Rushden & District League where they remained for four seasons before rejoining the UCL. During the period 1950 to 1997 the highest league position achieved was second on seven occasions, In 1970–71, again in the following season and then in 1989–90 and in each of the four seasons from 1992–93 to 1995–96. finally in 1997–98 they won Division One, their first league title for 75 years but were runners up again once again in 1998–99. In 1994–95 the NFA junior cup was won for only the second time and the reserves were promoted to the UCL Reserve Division One for the first time. The first team were runners up in the Division Two knock out cup in 1954 whilst the reserves won the division three cup in 1980. More recently the club beat a number of Premier Division sides in the revamped league cup. this includes the record win, 7–0 against
Wellingborough Town Wellingborough Town F.C. is a football club based in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England. They play in the United Counties Premier Division. The club was formed in 2004 after the previous club bearing the name had folded. History The ori ...
whilst in 1995–96 they won 1–0 away to Premier Division Champions and
FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...
quarter-finalists Raunds Town and have twice reached the semi finals of the competition. In 2011, a new incarnation of Higham Town was founded, playing in the Northamptonshire Combination Division. They play their home games at Lancaster Park in Higham Ferrers. The season of 2016/2017 saw them win the Division 2 cup on penalties vs Northampton Spartak .


Rushden Rangers

Rushden Rangers were formed as a youth football club in 1978 and it was not until the mid-1990s that a senior section was formed. In the short time that they were in existence before the merger they won the NFA lower junior cup as well as being Northants Combination league and KO cup winners. Founded by Steve Cavender in 1978 who was inspired by watching local lads playing a game of football at Melloway Park. He was General Secretary until 1990. The Rangers started by playing friendlies with only 3 teams coached by Bruce Ogden and Joe Payne. They had expanded to 5 teams by 1990 ranging in age from 11 to 15. Players went on to Higham Youth Team at 16. Home games were played at Jubilee Park, Spencer Park and Higham. In 1994 Neil Gant offered the Hayden Road ground to Rushden Rangers when Rushden Town formed with Irthlingborough Diamonds to become Rushden and Diamonds Football Club. On 19 May 1995 a meeting was held at Rushden & Diamonds and the offer was made to purchase the facilities of Rushden Town F.C. at Hayden Road


Merger

In 2007 the decision was made to merge the two clubs, with the new club playing at Rangers' ground in order to preserve United Counties League football within the two towns. With assistance from the Stadia Improvement fund the Hayden Road ground was brought up to the required standard and Rushden & Higham United was founded. Rushden Rangers continued at youth level for one season before also changing their name to Rushden & Higham United. From the start of the 2017–2018 season
AFC Rushden & Diamonds A.F.C. Rushden & Diamonds is an English football club based in Rushden in Northamptonshire. They played their opening season at Kiln Park, the home of Raunds Town, in 2011–12 and subsequently shared the Dog & Duck ground with Wellingboroug ...
agreed a groundshare with the club whereby R&D moved to Hayden Road. At the end of the 2020–21 season the club were transferred to Division One of the
Spartan South Midlands League The Spartan South Midlands Football League is an English football league covering Hertfordshire, northwest Greater London, central Buckinghamshire and southern Bedfordshire. It is a feeder to the Southern Football League or the Isthmian League, ...
finishing in a credible 11th place in their first season.


Notable ex players

Ernie Toseland part of Higham Town's successful side of the early 1920s who went on to play over 300 games for
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between 1928-1938 winning both the League and FA Cup Solomon Upton former Higham Town player who played for Tottenham Hostpur prior to the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
Greg Downs Gregory Downs (born 13 December 1958) is an English former professional footballer. Originally a centre-forward, he switched to left full-back early in his career. Downs began his career with Norwich City where he was player of the year in 198 ...
former Higham Town player who went onto play in the Football League for
Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
and
Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...
where he won an FA Cup Winners medal in 1987.


Records

''First Team Only'' *
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
**Extra Preliminary Round :- 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14 *
FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...
**First Qualifying Round :- 2013–14 **Second Qualifying Round :- 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, * NFA Les Underwood Junior Cup **R1:- 2009–10, 2010–11, 2014–15 **R2:- **R3:- 2008–09,2013–14, **Final:- 2007–08, 2012–13, * UCL League Cup **R1:-2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15 **R2:-2009–10, 2011–12 **Q/Final:- 2012–13,


References


External links


Club website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rushden and Higham United F.C. Football clubs in England Football clubs in Northamptonshire United Counties League Rushden 2007 establishments in England Spartan South Midlands Football League