Report Taken From 

Phoenix in merger with Rugby

  An Extraordinary general meeting by the members of Northampton Phoenix Athletic Club has voted to merge with Rugby & District Athletic Club.

  The new club will be known as Rugby & Northampton Athletic Club with effect from April 1.
Rugby AC also held a similar meeting at the same time and, like Northampton , reached a substantial majority decision in favour of the merger.
The merger has come about after an approach by Northampton Phoenix to Rugby AC late last year, and will ensure the viability and success of both clubs for the foreseeable future.
Rugby AC has, in the past few years, developed into one of the top clubs in the Midlands .
It boasts a substantial number of international athletes in its membership, and last season the senior ladies track & field team reached National League Division One status, to rank in the top eight clubs in the UK .
Northampton Phoenix has produced in the past a substantial number of class athletes, but many have moved on to National League sides.
They hope to curtail that drift away by merging with Rugby , who are an emerging National League outfit. The new club will continue to operate from two centres, at Sixfields in Northampton and the Ken Marriott Leisure Centre complex in Rugby .
The new club will have a combined membership of more than 600 athletes ranging in age from eight to 80 years, and more than 50 coaches and 50 officials.
More importantly for the future, the new club will have a catchment area for recruitment from a population of over 300,000, which will enable it to compete on more equal terms with the larger city clubs.
The merger will give greater opportunity for the new club’s athletes to compete at National, Midland and local level. It will also enable the club’s athletes to compete against their athletic peers (age wise), on a regular basis for 12 months of the year. The logistics are enormous, but challenging.
The club will compete during the winter in the Men’s Birmingham Cross-Country League, the Midland Women’s Cross-Country League and the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross-Country League, as well as in a wide range of road relays and individual road races.
For the track & field season the club will compete in the UK Women’s League (Division One), BAL Men’s League (Division Four), Midlands Men’s League (Division One), Midland Women’s League (Division One), National Junior League (men & women), National Young Athletes League (boys & girls), Golden League (all age groups, male & female), Heart of England League (Under-17 male & female), Midland Veterans League (men & women) as well as County, Midland and National Championships.
That is a lot of competition, which should cater more than adequately for the club’s 600 plus membership.
This merger is an integration that reflects the close ties of the two clubs during the past five years, and is a challenge to all the membership for the future.
That challenge is to be ranked in the top 10 clubs in the UK and in the top three in the Midlands in the next three years. This is not an unrealistic target, but it will require the support of all of the new club’s members, athletes, coaches, officials and supporters.
Ted Barton, the County AA Secretary, said the County Association endorsed the merger, but to protect the rights of the members said that it will be recommending that the new club be affiliated to both Northamptonshire and Warwickshire AA.