Richmond
Richmond is another of those clubs that reminds you just how much history there is below the top two levels of English rugby. Founded in 1861, Richmond is one of the oldest rugby clubs in the world and has been playing at the Richmond Athletic Ground for many years.
The ground itself is in a rather enviable location, just a short walk from Richmond town centre and surrounded by some of the leafy south-west London landscape that makes this part of the capital so desirable. It is a very different proposition from the increasingly polished stadiums of the Premiership.The Athletic Ground is a proper old-fashioned rugby venue, and that is both its charm and, occasionally, its problem.
The main stand has certainly seen better days. Don't look too closely at it. There are parts which look as though they have been waiting for somebody to come along with a pot of paint, a hammer and possibly a structural engineer for rather longer than they would care to admit. It gives the place character, although perhaps not the sort of character that modern health and safety departments necessarily appreciate.
But that's Richmond. This isn't a club trying to pretend it has a shiny new arena. It is an historic rugby club playing in an historic ground, and there is something rather appealing about that.The club has had some remarkable highs. Richmond were among the leading clubs in England during the professional era and even won the Courage Clubs Championship in 1996, before financial problems saw them effectively disappear from the professional game. They subsequently rebuilt themselves from the lower reaches of the rugby pyramid and eventually returned to the Championship.
That history gives the club a rather unusual place in English rugby. There are few clubs that have been from the top of the game to the bottom and back again.
The ground itself is also home to Richmond's women's team, and the club has a particularly strong connection with women's rugby. The surroundings are shared with other sporting activities, giving the Athletic Ground more of the feel of a community sports club than a dedicated professional stadium.And perhaps that's the best way to approach Richmond. Don't come expecting lavish hospitality suites, acres of corporate seating and a giant video screen. Come for the rugby, enjoy the atmosphere and appreciate the fact that you're watching the game at one of its historic homes.
Just resist the temptation to inspect the stand too carefully.
There are plenty of much grander grounds in English rugby, but Richmond Athletic Ground has something they can't manufacture — history, character and the slightly reassuring feeling that rugby was being played here long before anybody thought of turning it into a business.
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