The new AFC Rushden & Diamonds U18 Academy side will be playing in the English Colleges Football Association East Midlands League Category 2B in the forthcoming season. They are joined in this league by teams representing the following colleges / academies:
- Central College Nottingham
- Derby College
- Lincoln College
- Manor School Sports College (Raunds)
- Moulton College (Northampton)
- South Leicestershire College (Wigston)
- Southfield/Libero Academy (Kettering)
- Thomas Becket Football Academy (Northampton)
- Tresham College (Kettering)
They will play games in this competition on Wednesdays, and home games are expected to be played at the Dog & Duck, with kick-off times to be confirmed.
The league season starts on the 10th September, when Manor School Sports College are due to visit the Dog & Duck. Note that the AFC R&D U18 side has also been entered into the FA Youth Cup, with their first tie due to be played in that same week – details here, so exact arrangements will be confirmed in due course.
As mentioned the League is an English Colleges Category 2 League, and is described thus “We see category 2 as our aspirational league, always aiming to become the best of the best and play in our Category 1 league, showing the pinnacle of professionalism, respect and ability. We encourage this aspiring mentality from all of our category 2 teams and hope that they can all learn and develop through playing in our league.”
You can find details of fixtures / stats etc on the ECFA Website here.
Details of the Academy and recent news stories can be found in the U18 News section of this website, and their fixtures are also on the website here.
