In 1972, a 16 acre site on Walmley Road came under serious consideration as it appeared to offer the promised land on which Sutton could build their future. Club officials were invited by the outgoing Sutton Coldfield Borough Council to develop the agricultural land as a sports area on a long term lease in conjunction with Four Oaks Cricket Club. As the plans for the site grew stronger it was decided to form the Sutton Coldfield Recreational Trust, a registered charity which would oversee the development of the site and provide support and protection with considerable financial benefits. The Charitable Trust Deed was granted on 23rd Aug 1974 and although having only limited capital of £10,000 at the outset, the Trust succeeded in negotiating loans to the value of £50,000 and grants of £20,000. These were used so that in September 1977 the Walmley facilities were completed at an initial cost of £95,000.

The grand opening on 2nd October 1977, was an official Ceremony conducted by Sir Anthony Wharton C.B.E., T.D., D.L., a rugby man, who went on to establish the Sir Anthony Wharton Rugby Football Trust providing funds and support to grassroots clubs to this day. Also present in the party was Denis F. Dodd, as Sutton President and together with the Presidents of the Rugby Union and Warwickshire Rugby Union plus a Warwickshire County XV, there was plenty of prestige on show and although the clubhouse needed some final touches, the day went well for all concerned.

All this was achieved by the hard work and dedication, negotiating skills and vision of the Trust and Rugby Club committee members. At the head of it all was the previously mentioned Denis F. Dodd, who had taken on his second term as Club President in 1974 to oversee the move alongside the redoubtable Roger Smoldon.
Roger, who joined the club in 1964 having moved to a teaching post in Birmingham from the Southwest, took on the role of Club Chairman in the 1971/72 season and was one of the main driving forces behind the move to Walmley Road, as well as many other initiatives that saw the club flourish and grow through the 70's and into the 90's. His efforts came to an abrupt end in 1995 as Roger suffered a stroke and whilst luckily he survived, he was confined to a wheelchair which curtailed the sterling work he had undertaken during his 24 year tenure as Chairman.

Sadly, Roger died in 2002 and was greatly missed by the many institutions and individuals he served, not only the rugby club, as player, captain and chairman but also he was Headmaster at Four Dwellings Comprehensive School, Quinton, Chairman of St John's Ambulance in Sutton, Chairman of Sutton Carnival for many years and a Magistrate - no one knows where he found the time or energy to fit in all these well run activities, with a family of three boys and a hardworking wife, Margaret, who managed everything he couldn't, especially doing teas and after-match meals in the kitchen.

In recognition of his many years of dedicated service to the Club, including the instrumental role he played in establishing the Walmley Road site as the new home for SCRFC, the site was renamed the Roger Smoldon Ground in his honour and carries the tribute to this day.

Once the Trust and rugby club took over the Walmley Road ground, they quickly established 5 senior rugby pitches for winter use with two giving way to the cricket pitch for the summer season. Additional work was carried out on the car parks, roadway, lounge bar and upstairs function rooms and kitchen. In 1982, the club was unexpectedly able to purchase land of its own with an additional 6 acres of land adjacent to the cricket pitch and developed to provide two permanent mini rugby pitches plus two additional senior full size rugby pitches at the far end of the ground adjacent to the recently completed housing estate which borders the rugby club site.

A big plus for the Club is the thriving mini & junior section which started in 1971, providing Sunday morning rugby for under 7's through to under 16's, so the club were 'providing rugby for all ages' on a large scale. Sutton were very much to the fore in providing facilities for young rugby players and under the early chairmanship of clubmen like Chris Aulman and Mike Dudley and a strong team of willing parents, coaches and volunteers the mini & junior section had a vibrant spirit and the junior game at Sutton blossomed.
The early investment paid off and the Sunday morning family section is stronger than ever to this present day, giving Sutton the strong player base it needs. Home grown players make up the majority of 1st team players last year and many have progressed to higher ranked clubs.

As Sutton moved through the 60's and 70's and made the significant move to Walmley Road, much better playing conditions and facilities led to an increase in player numbers and the well organised club boasted 6 senior teams each weekend, with a Colts side and an occasional Vet's XV. However, the praise for getting 6 teams out on a Saturday does not go to the Captains of the top teams but to fine clubmen like Pat Carney, who captained the 6th team through the 80's and if he had 18 players on Friday he would be lucky to have 5 left on Saturday due to call-up's from higher teams but Pat used his address book magnificently and always got a team out! More recently Dave Bunn followed by Danny Price, have inspired more locals, either new to the game or returning to it after a few years out, to turn out for the Sutton Casuals who maintain the high standards of social rugby with beer and camaraderie.

During the strong period of growth in membership, the club operated a very well managed selection committee process, which met each Sunday morning to discuss the games from the day before and select the teams for the next weekend. The selection committee was very well supported, first under the chairmanship of Simon Yeo, who was followed by the equally successful Peter Moore. The committee sent a selector to each game and together with the team captain a verbal report was given to the committee on the team's performance and the performance of any individual players of note for advancement into higher teams. The committee was very successful and a great benefit to the club when the playing numbers were high so the process continued for many seasons but gradually the game and social habits started to change.

1987 onwards - The League Structures;

The RFU rugby league structure was introduced in 1987 and based on their fixture list and results, Sutton were placed in the Courage League Midlands 2 West, which seemed about right as they finished mid table in their first season. Two years later however, Sutton went on to win promotion to Midlands 1 when they beat Stafford away to secure promotion in the season 1988/89.

That Promotion was achieved under the 1st XV manager and strong clubman, Dick Harris, who also served as President in his time. On the day the team was led to victory by club captain Ken Lewis but the victory was orchestrated by Sutton's fly half at the time Mike Jenning. As luck would have it, after steering Sutton to Midlands 1 in 1989, Mike stepped up to become club captain the following season (1989/90) guiding Sutton safely through their first season in Midlands 1 but then he had to move to the East Midlands and his services were lost, along with the 1st XV team manger Dick Harris, who had to step down when he started a new career by setting up a very successful driving school, which saw many young rugby players through their driving test.

Qualified coaches were in short supply around this time, however Sutton did have the services of one John Kimberley, a teacher who was pressed into service and brought a new approach to the coaching role transforming the coaching sessions at Sutton and taking a more professional line. Alan Wilkes, a former Sutton player stepped up to become assistant to John and all was going well until John was approached to take up a teaching post down South, which he accepted and was succeeded as 1st XV coach by Alan Wilkes. Alan worked hard with the 1st XV but a lack of resources and time prevented him working with the lower teams, who followed training routines directed by their captains, which was not ideal but was the norm at the time.