Tims 92

Stafford RUFC

The County Ground

Sometimes it’s a bit of fun, but more often a source of frustration when going past a ground on the train and spotting a brief glimpse of either a stand or floodlights and trying to work out which club it could possibly be! This was the case having gone through Stafford and noticed a set of floodlights ever so briefly on the left hand side heading north, but after visiting Stafford Town at Rowley Park, then it was heading back up Newport Road after the game that two and two quickly came together!

Stafford RUFC have played at the County Ground since 1949, although it isn’t their first venue having played at several other sites since being founded in 1876. The club compete in the Midlands Division, and the ground, sited down a small tree lined drive off Newport Road is one that whilst perhaps best described as ‘rustic’, is nonetheless characteristic as well. The clubhouse sits at the near end where a car park lies, before another car park, and what looks like once was possibly the site of a building runs along the far side, raised from pitch level atop a small bank, offering a good view of the action. The far end is empty, but in the centre of the near side sits the Grandstand. Sadly it appears to have suffered from a mixture of vandals and the hands of time, looking somewhat dilapidated on closer inspection. A wooden structure, it looks to date from some time just after the war, with four rows of bench seating underneath a cavernous roof built into the banking on this side. It’s sealed off now, presumably unsafe, which is a shame, especially with it being the only cover at the ground.

Apparently 3000 once crammed in here to watch a game against Old Rugby Roma, which Stafford won 6-3. It’s difficult to imagine that many people in nowadays, but on a pleasant summers day then it’s certainly a ground with a fair bit of charm about it.