Rushden Town began their footballing life playing their home games by sharing a ground with Rushden Town Cricket Club. For a short period the club entered a team in the United League and in 1898 one visiting team was Tottenham Hotspurs second team, who left the town beaten 5-2. The return game would have been played at the Spurs old ground at Northumberland Park, which is very close to the present ground at White Hart Lane.
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Cartoon of Gordon
by George Boston
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At the conclusion of the First World War what is now the present football pitch was purchased by the Rushden Sports Ltd which to the present day still controls both football and cricket grounds.
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Rushden Town Football Club Stand c1950
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The first stand was built in 1922 and opened with a friendly against first division Aston Villa, and the ground was popularly known as Newton Road as Hayden Road was still an unadopted road until the late 1960s. The concrete terracing on the three sides of the ground was added after player Gordon Inwood was sold to West Bromwich Albion for an undisclosed fee. The Clubhouse which was a Nissen hut from Chelveston Air Base was purchased and erected at the ground in 1963 and has been enlarged and upgraded in later years. The floodlights were added in the late 1970s and Rushden Town started an under 18 team in the newly formed Northants Senior Youth League which played matches under lights in midweek.
The club was promoted to the Southern League and reached the dizzy heights of the Premier Division but were relegated after finishing very respectable in mid table because their facilities at Hayden Road did not reach the required standard. The club tried to update their facilities, or find another site but this proved unsuccessful and the club merged with Irthlingborough Diamonds and went to play at Nene Park in Irthlingborough. The last ever match that Rushden played at Hayden Road was a South Midlands Floodlight Cup Final against Leighton Town.
Hayden Road was taken over by junior side Rushden Rangers and they amalgamated with Higham Town in 2007 to form Rushden & Higham United and brought United Counties league football back to Hayden Road and the town of Rushden.
The old stand seating area was closed on Health and Safety grounds and the present tenants have upgraded the floodlights and added a seating area on the Cricket side of the ground and vastly improved the playing surface.
Hayden Road has a long and distinguished history and hopefully it will continue to be so in the future.
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