Irthlingborough, the town in which Rushden & Diamonds Nene Park is located has a population of just over 8,000. In the 2001-02 season, when Rushden and Diamonds spent their first season in the Nationwide Division 3, two clubs in their division had average attendances higher than the population of Irthlingborough. Incredibly, the Diamonds (who were born from a 1992 merger of Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds) reached the Division Three playoff final at the first attempt, winning the league in 2003, after just two years in the Football League. The next season Rushden and Diamonds, who ten years earlier had been playing in the Southern League Midland Division played league fixtures against the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Blackpool and Bristol City. The fairytale did not last long, after immediate relegation in the 2003-04 season, the club finished bottom of the newly named 'League Two' in 2005-06, losing their Football League status after just five years. In 2001 financial issues forced the club to fold, leaving the legacy of a club which lasted for nineteen years, rising from a part-time outfit to a side which won the fourth-tier of English football in its eleventh year as a club. Phoenix club AFC Rushden & Diamonds currently play in the Southern League Division One Central.
