Romulus

Romulus FC is 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 setups.

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 before settling into mid-table positions for several successive seasons. Experienced manager Neil Tooth assisted the side which finished bottom of the table in 2017-18 and relegation to the Premier Division of the Midland League.

This prompted a return to Vale Stadium with Mark Swann being appointed as manager in November 2018. He departed a few months later. Jason Lanns arrived to take over the position in July 2020. He was later succeeded by a returning Tooth to take over a side that finished sixth in the table.

The club announced a return to Coles Lane in Sutton Coldfield for the 2024-25 season, which was rebranded as The Dominos Arena. In September 2024 new joint bosses George Evans and George Ballinger took over after Tooth's resignation.

Romulus FC will play in the Midland League Premier Division in the 2024-25 season.

My visit

Coles Lane, Sutton Coldfield

Romulus 4 Scarborough Athletic 2 (Saturday 7^th 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 an optimistic mood. I’d only had a few hours shut-eye after a night shift, but the sun was shining and the train ride was 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 past 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. Anyone wanting to read a full description of Coles Lane, the Sutton Coldfield Town page will accommodate you. My old pal Fred Firman was sitting 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 was 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 goalkeeper Matt Coton was perhaps lucky that the referee was in a 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 was outdone for pace, not for the first time.

An exposed White had 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.

Frankly, they 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.