- Rushall Olympic F.C.
Football club infobox
clubname = Rushall Olympic
fullname = Rushall Olympic Football Club
nickname = The Pics
founded = c.1893
ground = Dales Lane, RushallWalsall
capacity = tbc
chairman = Bob Hubble
manager = Paul Holleran |league=Northern Premier League
Division One South
season = 2007–08
position = Southern League
Division One Midlands, 5th
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leftarm2=ffffff|body2=ffffff|rightarm2=ffffff|shorts2=ffffff|socks2=ffffffRushall Olympic are an English football club based in Rushall, a former mining village now forming part of the northern suburbs of
Walsall . They play in theNorthern Premier League . They are notable for having soldZat Knight to Fulham in exchange for 30Adidas tracksuits. Knight is now a Premiership regular with Aston Villa and England international.History
Early years
Although football had been played in the village for at least 20 years previously, the earliest known reference to Rushall Olympic Football Club is in local newspaper reports on matches from the 1893-94 season. The club joined the Cannock & District League in 1895, finishing as runners-up in their first season and later joined the Junior (where they were champions in 1903-04), Amateur, Parks and Senior sections of the Walsall & District League.
During the inter-war years the team won a number of local honours. At this time the team comprised mainly local colliery workers and played on a field behind the Miners Arms pub in Rushall and changed in the pub itself. However, some time prior to
World War II the club disbanded.Post World War II
In 1951, a group of local young men decided to reform the club. They approached the proprietor of a local fish and chip shop for permission to use his premises as their headquarters and secured the use of Rowley Place as a home ground. The club joined the Walsall & District Amateur League, where the team won the Second Division championship in 1952-53, and later the First Division championship in 1955-56, after which they gained promotion to the Staffordshire County League (South) where they won the Second Division title at the first attempt.
Following promotion to the First Division, the club won four championship titles between 1960 and 1965. In 1975, in a bid to gain a higher league status, the club decided to move three miles away to the
Aston University Sports Ground, just off the main A34Walsall toBirmingham road. Meanwhile, the club obtained the lease on some land in Daw End, Rushall, and the new Dales Lane ground was officially opened on Sunday 14th August 1977.The club were accepted into the
West Midlands (Regional) League in 1978, and won the First Division title in 1980. The club enjoyed fourteen seasons of moderate success in the Premier Division, with a highest finish of fifth place achieved in season 1988-89. In 1994 the Pics became founder members of the newMidland Football Alliance . Although the late 90s brought only mid-table performances in the league, the Pics did defeat the then Southern League club Rocester at theBescot Stadium , home ofWalsall F.C. in a penalty shoot-out to lift theWalsall Senior Cup in 2000.After finishing in second place in both 2000-01 and 2002-03, the Pics finally claimed the league title in 2004-05 and with it promotion to the Southern League, the highest level at which the club has ever played.
Players
Current Squad
Club records
*Best league performance: 5th in Southern Football League Division One Midlands, 2007-08
*BestFA Cup performance: 4th Round Qualifying, 2007-08
*BestFA Trophy performance: 3rd qualifying round, 2007-08
*BestFA Vase performance: 5th round, 2000-01Former players
Zat Knight played for Rushall in 1999 and has now gone on to play Premiership football with Fulham & Aston Villa and gained two caps for England.ources
*fchd|name=Rushall Olympic|id=RUSHALLO
External links
* [http://www.rofc.co.uk Rushall Olympic unofficial site]
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