Romulus
FC are a non league football club, whose origins come from north Birmingham.
The club were formed in 1979 by Roger Evans, Peter Fleet and Ken Powell along
with several parents for the best youngsters in the area to play Sunday
football at Penns Lane in Sutton Coldfield.
Players
such as Dean Sturridge, Luke Rogers, Darius Vassell and Zat Knight represented
Romulus at junior level, while senior football was introduced to the club. The
youth structure continued to provide players for the men who went on to succeed
in the local Sunday set ups.
A
switch to the Midland Combination and Saturday football was made for the
1999-00 season under player boss Richard Evans. Success continued as promotion
to the Premier Division was sealed at the first attempt, with Romulus being
based at Vale Stadium, in the Castle Vale area of Birmingham.
In
2003-04 ‘The Roms’ were crowned as Midlands Combination champions, earning a
promotion to the Midland Alliance. Around this time, with another promotion on
the horizon, Romulus moved into Coles Lane to share with Sutton Coldfield Town.
 |
| The Roms former Vale Stadium home |
After
finishing runners up in 2006-07, Romulus were promoted to the Southern League
Division One Midlands. After three mid table finishes the club were transferred
to the Northern Premier League Division One South for the 2010-11 campaign.
After
a decent opening season, The Roms struggled in the next two campaigns.
Romulus
FC will play in the Northern Premier League Division One South in the 2013-14
season.
My
visit
Romulus
4 Scarborough Athletic 2 (Saturday 7th September 2013) Northern
Premier League Division One South (att: 171)
After
going up to Scarborough the previous week and seeing them dismantle Ashington
in the FA Cup, I headed for Sutton Coldfield in optimistic mood. I’d only had a
few hours shut eye after night shift, but the sun was shining and the train
ride comfortable.
My
mood darkened at Birmingham New Street station as my scheduled train simply
didn’t turn up, despite the insistence that it had from the platform assistant.
I wasn’t the only mystified customer. Despite this I was at my destination just
gone 2pm with my football accumulator placed on my IPhone.
I
saw a couple of familiar Boro fans at the station, but I went on ahead in
search of the ground. There was something special about wandering through a
town I hadn’t previously visited as I took in the shopping precinct while
following directions closely. Romulus attracted double figure gates and with a
large Seadog following expected in addition to it being Non League Day I
expected a larger crowd, so I wanted to secure a programme.
After
paying my £7 admission along with an extra quid for a very basic programme I
surveyed the scene as I walked around behind the goal to the clubhouse. For a
full description of Coles Lane, please go to the Sutton Coldfield Town page at:
My
old pal Fred Firman was sat inside the bar with several other away fans. We had
a pint of Greene King Revolver, which was of dubious quality, before heading
out as the teams were in readiness for kick off. We decided upon a seat in the
stand. We were amused by the posters around the ground for the game advertising the visit as Boro as a former 'League' club.
The
view was terrific as we looked down on the action. The artificial 3G pitch
appeared to slow the game down, as the ball kept low and held up from through
passes. Romulus had got off to an excellent start to the season and were
obviously used to the surface.
This
was especially noticeable when they took the lead on fifteen minutes. A ball
looked to be heading for a goal kick, but a Roms forward crossed for Luke Keen
to head home. This was a bit harsh on Boro, who were equal to Roms, even if
they were missing the cutting edge that had undone many a defence in the
previous season.
Eventually
Scarborough were rewarded just before the interval when Gary Bradshaw fired
home James Bennett’s wayward effort. The consensus at the break was it was a
fair scoreline and all was to play for. Sustenance by the way of a sensibly
priced hot dog with onions at £1.50 and a quid for a cup of tea were taken on
board as we went down the far side. This is where the majority of the Seadog
fans were assembled. They must have numbered around 130, which was very
impressive for the distance involved.
Romulus
went back into the lead when a scuffed shot was turned in by an even weaker
effort by the impressive Marcus Brown who seemed to wrong foot Jason White in
the Boro net. Despite this, all was to play for. The home keeper
Matt Coton was perhaps lucky that the referee was in generous mood soon
after. He was penalised for holding the ball too long in his hands. As a Boro
player tried to grab it to take a quick free kick, Coton kicked it away. It
could have easily resulted in two yellow cards, but the official settled with a
caution for the relieved custodian.
Boro’s
misery was confounded as Brown walloped in another while on the run with twenty
minutes to go with heavy rain beginning to fall. Roms made it four eight
minutes later as the visiting defence were outdone for pace not for the first
time, leading to an exposed White having to come out to try and thwart another
attack, leaving Tyrone Amory to slot into an empty goal.
Boro
boss Rudy Funk had once again rung the changes to try and get some attacking impetus
for his team who looked one paced and were set up with leading scorer Ryan Blott
stuck out wide. Admittedly, the team were in their relevant infancy together,
but the system was not working. The only discernible tactic appeared to have
midfield maestro Bryan Hughes trying to pick out remote, static and marked
colleagues in forward positions.
In
a show of defiance centre back Paul Foot was sent up front. Roms packed their
defence, but at least Boro panicked them a little at last. Skipper Foot headed
home in the last minute of normal time as Boro continued to press. It was the
urgency that appeared to be missing for long periods of the encounter, but in
the end it was too little too late.
Thankfully
the torrential rain had subsided before the end. While waiting for Fred I stood
below the open window of the away team dressing room. It’s fair to say that it
was hurting the team as much as us fans.
I
said my goodbyes and bumped into a friendly home official outside who was most
gracious in victory and complimentary about the Boro support. As I boarded the
5.20 train I thought my luck was changing. My first six results on my football
bet had all come in. I quickly searched Twitter knowing that a Margate victory
at home to Leiston would net me over £195. In true form the game had ended 1-1.
After
a walk around the much improved Birmingham city centre I boarded the 6.10 back
to London. I saved some time by getting off at Watford Junction to take a train
to Wembley Central and then a bus home. I was indoors by 8pm for some
additional sleep to the one I’d had on the way before my night shift.
It
had been a disappointing day, but I was able to put it into perspective after the
awful news the day before of a friend and former colleague taking his own life
at a tragically young age. I had tomorrow to look forward to. RIP Big Dan.
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