My day out at Nene Park happened on 24 April 2004, and I went FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER. It was a bored Saturday, so a friend and I drove up the M11 and A14 to watch Rushden & Diamonds play Hartlepool.
Why Rushden & Diamonds?
I’ve always had a soft spot for them, and I can’t really explain why. They were formed in 1992 when Rushden Town merged with Irthlingborough Diamonds, and they effectively bought their way into the Football League in 2001, just 9 years later. Irthlingborough is also a perennial quiz favourite – the smallest town in England ever to have a league team (population 8,900, and the ground held 6,441).
The match
I don’t remember a lot about it, other than there was a good buzz before the game and the Rushden fans were singing songs about Jeff Stelling. The team I supported for the day lost 2-0, just like the team I support the rest of the year when I go to Upton Park. Funnily enough West Ham were in the Championship that day and won 2-0 at Stoke, with goals from David Connolly and Marlon Harewood (typical – the one Saturday I wasn’t there).
It was the Second Division, which is now League One, so the third tier whatever they called it. Rushden finished the season 22nd and went down, and two years later they were out of the league altogether.
What happened to Nene Park?
The club was thrown out of the Conference in 2011 and folded. Kettering Town used the ground for a while but left in 2012, and the stadium – which had opened in 1969 and cost an estimated £30 million to redevelop – was demolished in 2017. The land was still derelict in 2021, and I’m not sure what’s there now. A new club, AFC Rushden & Diamonds, carries on the name.
Quick answers
Where was Nene Park? Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire.
How big was it? 6,441 (4,641 seated).
When was it demolished? Between February and May 2017.
I never did learn how to pronounce Nene.