The fixture news below is an archive from the 2015-16 season. Details of the 2016-17 season will appear here in due course. Initial details of dates for various FA Competitions can be found here (click on the embedded document for more specific detail). The Diamonds have been placed in the Northern Premier League First Division South next season – details here. The fixtures are expected to be released on Friday 15th July 2016.

Senior Team 

AFC Rushden & Diamonds play in the Southern Football League Division One Central, as well as the following cup competitions. 

  • FA Cup
  • FA Trophy
  • Northants FA Hillier Senior Cup
  • Southern League Knock-Out Cup.
These fixtures and results are detailed in the Diamonds Fixture and Result list here.

The full set of Southern League Division One Central fixtures are detailed here.

The round dates for the Emirates FA Cup can be found on the FA Website here. The Diamonds entered the FA Cup at the Preliminary Round stage and defeated fellow SL1C team Kings Langley FC 1-0 on 29th August. They then defeated Bedfont & Feltham FC 2-1 in the First Qualifying Round of the competition on 12th September. They then defeated Deeping Rangers 3-0 in the Second Qualifying Round on 26th September, and Ashton United on 10th October but lost in a replay in the Fourth Qualifying Round to face Barwell FC on 27th October – details here. Details of round dates and prize money are in the weekly competition bulletin here along with details of the other ties in the competition.

In the FA Trophy the Diamonds went out of the competition to Basford United at the Preliminary Round stage on 3rd October.

The Southern League Knock-Out Cup is known as the Red Insure Cup, and is a heavily regionalised competition involving teams from the Premier Division and the two regions of Division One from the outset. The Diamonds went out in the First Round when hosting Histon FC. Details of other round dates can be found on the Southern League Website here.

The Diamonds are also competing in the Northants FA Hillier Senior Cup, and have reached the final of that competition, after they knocked out Desborough Town in the quarter final on 3rd November and Brackley Town in the semi-final. They then defeated Kettering Town 2-1 in the final, with the tie played at Sixfields, Northampton on Thursday 5th May 2016.

An updated colour-coded fixture and results list is also available for download – AFCRD Fixtures 6May16

You can also find a shared Google calendar that includes all the Diamonds fixtures here. This will allow you to link to that calendar or copy and paste them into a personal calendar. See here for more details of linking to iOS calendars.

The season ends on Saturday 23rd April, with those teams who qualify for the Division play-offs playing a single semi-final tie on the home ground of the highest place team in the following midweek, with the final on Monday 2nd May, again at the home ground of the highest placed team. There is also a “Championship Match” between the winners of Division One Central and Division One South and West to be held on Saturday 30th April. Specific rules for promotion and relegation are in section 5.3 of the National League System section of the FA Handbook

Details of the competition rules, including relegation and promotion criteria as well as links to cup competition rules will be made available on the Southern League News Page. 

A current list of SL1C clubs, along with links to their websites, and directions to their grounds is here– along with links to their Twitter feeds along with other useful information on a club-by-club basis.
 
Junior Teams
 
The Diamonds / MAA partnership are fielding a team in the Football Conference Youth Alliance where they will play in Division C. You can see FCYA fixtures, results and league table here.
 
There is also a overview of the main U18 fixtures on this website here, where you will also find details of any FA Youth Cup fixtures.
 
Although the AFC R&D U21 team was playing in a league of only six sides during the 2014/15 season the UCL have announced a number of new applicants to their U21 league for the 2015/16 season. Details of the fixtures for the Diamonds U21 side are here. The AFC R&D U21 team will also be competing in the NFA Lower Junior Cup in the 2015/16 season – the draw details are here.
 

Academy and Community Teams

Details of the AFC R&D Community teams can be found on the Community pages here.

Details of the various AFC R&D Academy teams below U18 level can be found via the Academy News pages with the fixtures held on their respective league websites. Links to these are found here.

The overall club structure is illustrated in the following diagram, which is also available in PDF format with clickable links to the various league / fixture lists – Whole_Club_Football_Structure1516 v4