Rushdon and Diamonds, is a former league club from Irthlingborough a small town on the River Nene in Northamptonshire,which was formed on 21 April 1992 by a merger of Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds. The team gained promotion to the Football Conference after just four years as a club. In 2001 they won promotion to the Football League as champions.  In their first season in the League the Diamonds reached the Division Three Play-Off Final. After overcoming Rochdale 4-3 on aggregate over the two-legged Semi-Final, the club lost to Cheltenham Town in the final, 3-1 at the Millennium Stadium. In 2003, they won the division, pipping Hartlepool United to the Division Three championship on the last day of the season – their third promotion/league title in eight seasons. The club bounced between Division Two and Three during the few seasons before the disastrous  2005-06 season when they finished last in League Two and were relegated back to the Conference. By this time the club were struggling financially and in 2011 they were formally wound up and their ground Nene Park was taken over by neighbours, Kettering Town. Supporters formed a phoenix club in July 2011, AFC Rushden & Diamonds, which was accepted into the Northants Senior Youth League for the 2011-12 season.