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ROCESTER FOOTBALL CLUB - A BRIEF HISTORY

Rocester Football Club’s lengthy history dates back to 1876 when they played a number of friendly matches against teams from the surrounding area.

In 1913 the Ashbourne News Cup provided the club with its first ever trophy, and more honours came their way during the 1920s and 1930s before the club disbanded in 1939 due to the outbreak of World War II.

Reformed in 1946, Rocester were soon among the honours and in 1953 a move into the Stafford Amateur League proved highly successful when eight trophies were won in just three seasons.

The club then looked for a bigger challenge and in 1957 they joined the Staffs County League (North), where they remained with varying degrees of success until the formation of the Staffs Senior league in 1984.

The appointment of retired Black Country businessman Don Hill as Chairman quickly led to Rocester establishing themselves among the county’s leading teams.

Under the guidance of former player Alan Beaman, the club won their first senior honours when they became champions of the Senior League and winners of the Staffs F.A. Vase in 1986.

More success followed in 1987 when the Senior League title was retained, and only a penalty shoot-out defeat in the final of the Staffordshire F.A. Vase prevented a repeat of the double achieved twelve months earlier.

1986-87 was also a particularly memorable season in the F.A. Vase, which Rocester had entered for the first time. Starting their run in the Extra Preliminary, they reached the last 16, knocking out the holders and hot favourites Halesowen Town along the way before a club record attendance of 1,026 at Leek Town.

During the summer of 1987 Rocester moved from their old home, in truth no more than a field with wooden changing rooms, to the present ground, named at the time as Riversfield. The new ground was built on the site of an ancient Roman fort, which led to them adopting their nickname of ‘The Romans’.

At the same time the club joined the West Midlands League where they remained unbeaten in their first 22 games before going on to claim the Division One title with some ease. They also won the League Cup and the Staffordshire F.A. Vase to complete a magnificent treble.

Rocester took their place in the Premier Division and following a mid-table finish in 1989 they made their first serious challenge for the Premier Division title only to be edged into second place by Hinckley Town on goal-difference.

In 1994 Rocester became founder members of the Midland Alliance, and in 1998 they claimed second place behind Bloxwich Town. However the following season under the management of Terry Greer, Rocester achieved promotion to the Southern League as MFA Champions. The ground, now renamed ‘Hillsfield’ in memory of Don Hill who died in 1997, had already met the required grade.

Despite reaching the Staffs Senior Cup final for the first time in 2001, Rocester found life difficult in the Southern League. The appointment of Warren Campbell as manager during 2002-03 gave the team some impetus, but it still wasn’t enough to avoid relegation back into the Midland Alliance after four seasons away.

The disappointment of relegation was quickly forgotten when the Midland Alliance title was won at the first attempt, earning Rocester promotion into the Northern Premier League. The move north, however, signalled a big downturn in fortunes and the Romans went through a complete season without a league victory in 2004-05.

Relegated back into the Midland Alliance, Rocester appointed former Chasetown manager Michael Rowe in September 2005 and, although performances improved, it wasn't until January that the team finally recorded its first league win, a 3-1 success at Quorn, to end a run of 67 league games without a win. After finishing bottom, a second successive relegation was only avoided due to league restructuring.

The 2006-07 season began with former player Damian Grocott as manager, and he soon introduced Andy O’Connor as his Joint Manager. After two disastrous years Rocester began to move forward again and a respectable 12th place finish was attained along with a fine run to the 3rd Qualifying Round of the F.A. Cup where they lost narrowly at Kettering Town in front of over 1000 spectators.

The Romans continued to improve during 2007-08 when they reached the fringes of the title race. However there was drama behind the scenes when Reserve team boss Steve Swanwick took over the first team in January following the shock resignations of Grocott and O’Connor. Swanwick then led the team to victory in the Staffs Senior Cup when Kidsgrove Athletic were well-beaten 3-0 in the Vale Park final – the first time Rocester have ever won the prestigious trophy.

However, the joy at winning the Senior Cup was soured somewhat when, within weeks of the final, the vast majority of the squad departed for pastures new with many linking up with former managers Grocott and O’Connor at Leek Town.

Swanwick set about the difficult task of rebuilding the team but a series of poor results and performances led to another change of manager in October 2008 when former boss Alan Beaman took over the reins after 16 years away from the club.