The season 1998 to 1999 was an almost perfect season for Atherstone. In the previous season they had missed out on promotion by just one point to Harbury. There was no play-off opportunity so the Ratcliffe Road outfit resigned themselves to another season in the lower league and although cast as favourites they still had to cope with the loss of two key players, fly-half Gary Wainwright and speedy three-quarter Jamie Alleyne. At the time the Team Manager for the Club was former Nuneaton player Andy Ellis, with Jamie Dodds, the coach from Newbold, running one training season per week.

The opening match of the season was a friendly against local rivals Manor Park with Atherstone taking the honours 30-10. It is to be hoped that the result is similar when the two meet in a rescheduled league fixture in February 2011. The first league fixture was a home game against Coventrians which Atherstone won 13-0 with points scored by Greg Burns, Pat Skinner and Dean Brookfield who was returning from an ankle injury. Coventry Tech hosted the next match and found themselves losing 68 - 0 with Atherstone running in eleven tries. Andy Stubbs, Atherstone’s current Club Chairman, bagged himself a hat-trick, with new player Richard Spence announcing his arrival with two tries. Current player Danny Cooke scored two tries in the match. Russ Marston, Alan Reffell, Dean Brookfield and Ian Calder scored a try a piece. Calder, also making his debut, added five conversions and one penalty.

Atherstone kept their third successive clean sheet when they met Ford Leamington in a Tetley’s Bitter Vase match which they won 33-0, giving them a definite psychological advantage for the following week’s league encounter. Another massive win, 57-3, enabled Atherstone to clock up the points difference in the league. Former Atherstone fly half Nick Cameron, now player coach at Warwickians, scored 24 points with three penalties, five conversions and one try. Dave Brown scored a hat-trick of tries with Calder, Chris Redman and Phil Clarke all scoring a single try. Old Wheatleyans were the first team to breach Atherstone’s try line scoring seven points against Atherstone’s 33, five tries from Calder (2), Marston, Reffell and Clarke and four conversions from Cameron giving Atherstone the victory.

Old Warwickians managed two penalties in their 65-6 defeat. A hat-trick of tries from Clarke,, a brace from Marston and Cameron and singles from Cooke, Brown, Reffell and Matty Weston piled on the points with Cameron kicking three conversions and Calder kicking two.

The mean machine that was Atherstone firsts played Corby in the next round of the Tetley’s Bitter Vase. Up to that point Corby had not lost a match however the North Warwickshire men soon put paid to that as they defeated them 50-0. The next league fixture was against Rugby Welsh, the team Atherstone should have played on Saturday. Interestingly bad weather also meant that the local Council called off the match, despite the referee considering the pitch to be playable. A subsequently rearranged fixture also failed to go ahead giving Atherstone two easy league points.

Shottery were the next victims of the try scoring juggernaut as the whipping boys of the league, who finished on minus two points having conceded 626 points, lost 61-0. This gave Atherstone eight consecutive victories, 380 points scored and only 16 conceded. Marston and Reffell bagged a hat-trick each with Clarke, Calder, Cooke, Brown and Matt Barnes adding one a piece. Cameron added three conversions.

Standard came next in the Ratcliffe Road Rampage, falling 36-5. Clarke bagged another hat-trick to put him on top of the try scoring table. Weston added two more and Cameron brought his point scored tally for the season to 97 with four conversions and a penalty.

A tasty Tetley’s Bitter Vase match awaited Atherstone the following weekend against Old Salteyans. Old Salts were at the time doing well having been promoted to Midlands West 2, two divisions higher than Atherstone. Although a close game, Atherstone came out victors 17-15 putting them into the fourth round draw.

The next league match saw the top two teams clash and although Rugby St Andrews tested Atherstone defensively, they were no match as they fell 12-23. Cameron kicked thirteen points and Brown scored two tries. Atherstone’s first defeat of the season came at the hands of Wigston in the fourth round of the Tetley’s Bitter Vase losing 22-0.

A 60-0 victory against Coventry Tech meant Atherstone had scored 128 points against them without response in the two encounters. Cameron continued his scoring frenzy with a hat-trick of tries and two conversions. Reffell, Richard Stark and Skinner scored two each and Richard Spencer scoring one. Skinner added three conversions to his point tally. Cameron’s boot scored all fifteen points in the next encounter against Old Wheats in a 15-0 victory pushing the points scored tally for Atherstone over the 500 mark. The following week saw the 600 mark breached with a 68-7 victory over Ford Leamington. Two tries for Marston, Calder and Clarke, a try each for Stark, Refell, Greg Burns and Cameron along with nine conversions provided the points. Shottery managed to score 3 oints in their 78-3 drubbing which saw Atherstone go over the 700 point mark, running in 12 tries and mathematically secure promotion with two remaining matches. Clarke and Cameron, both vying for top try scorer for the season, scored a hat-trick each, with Cameron also adding nine conversions equally George Bartlam’s club record of 33 points scored by an individual in one game. Adrian Barnes bagged a brace with Ian Sarson, Dave Barber, Calder and Marston adding one each.

A 31-0 victory against Standard gave Atherstone their fifteenth League victory and cemented promotion to Staffs/Warwks 1. This match saw Brown score the quickest try in the club history 25 seconds into the game.. Brown added a second with Redman, Calder and Aan Reffell scoring one each. Cameron slotted over three conversions. Reffell had been made captain for the day as this was his last match for the club before being posted to Germany.

With 21 games played and only two lost Atherstone were only one game away from a 100% league record, one of only four Midlands teams with maximum points, Wellingborough, Corby and Oswestry being the other three. It was only Rugby St Andrews that stood in their way. however what should have been a showcase match turned out to be their worst performance of the season as they fell 6-18 to second position St Andrews, Cameron kicking all points.

Although not the best end to what had been a record breaking league season the league table still made an impressive read, 16 league games played, 15 won and 1 lost, 742 point for and only 61 conceded and thirty league points. In terms of who won the battle of Try Scorer of the year between Clarke and Cameron, a friendly at the end of the season against Oadby Wiggstonians put Clarke on 19 tries edging him one ahead of Cameron.