The Romans History
23 Jan 2008

The club was formed as Irchester Excelsior in 1883, changing its name to United two years later. In 1980 the club underwent another name change following a merger with Wellingborough Eastfield to overcome a player shortage. In 1990 a return to the more traditional United name was made.

In the early years the club played at "The Boundleys", changing at the Working Mens Club. The present Alfred Street ground was first used in 1921 although it was ploughed up during the war. The club resumed football at the Recreation Ground before going back to Alfred Street in 1952.

The Roman's first success of note came in 1929 when they won the first of a record nine Rushden & District League titles. A year later the championship was retained with further success in the Northants Junior Cup and Irchester Charity Cup, which the Romans won on ten occasions up to 1961.

The Northants League 2nd Division was won in 1931 and 1932 before Irchester briefly competed in the semi-professional 1st Division. In 1936 they returned to the Rushden League, winning it as the reserves had done in 1933 and 1934, when they also won the Northants Junior Cup.

In the post war era more success followed as the Romans won the Junior Cup in 1949 and carried off four Rushden League titles between 1947 and 1957.

Irchester returned to the UCL in 1969 and won promotion to Division One in 1974. Highlights since have included Northants Junior Cup success in 1976, runners up in the same competition seven years later and a superb run in the first open Knockout Cup in 1981-82, three Premier scalps claimed en route to a a semi-final defeat at Stamford.

The nineties saw the Romans struggle but in 2003 they enjoyed their best seasons in almost thirty Division One campaigns, finishing third.

Since that great season the Romans have struggled to carry on the potential, finishing in the bottom half for the next two seasons.

Daren Young arrived at Irchester for the start of the 2009-2010 season and won the Division 1 title at the first attempt with the club. Promotion to the Premier League was the reward as our ground improvements were at the required standard.  2010 – 2011 saw the Romans finish a creditable 10^th.

Darren Young left the club 4 weeks before the start of the 2011-2012 season to join Stewarts & Lloyds Corby although this threw the club into turmoil life goes on and so will Irchester United.

Paul Hamblin picked up the gauntlet, having been the Reserve Team Manager  for the last three years, he and his trusty band of players have stepped up from Reserve Division 2 where they finished 3^rd last year to premier League Football, a massive leap for them and it’s going to be a steep learning curve but we are aiming to pick up enough points to avoid relegation.