Darlington 1883

Full name Darlington Football Club
Nickname(s) Darlo, The Quakers
Founded 18 January 2012 (2012-01-18)
Ground Blackwell Meadows, Darlington
Ground Capacity 3,000
Manager Martin Gray
League National League North
2015–16 Northern Premier League Premier Division, 1st (promoted)
Website Club home page

Darlington Football Club is an English football club that plays at Blackwell Meadows, Darlington. The company Darlington 1883 Limited was incorporated on 18 January 2012[1] and went on to purchase the assets of Darlington Football Club on 3 May 2012 when a creditors voluntary agreement (CVA) could not be agreed with creditors.[2] In line with its policy of not allowing clubs that go bust to continue without paying debts, The Football Association decree that when a CVA is not agreed and a club has to be liquidated, any "phoenix club" is considered a new club. This policy had previously been applied to other collapsing clubs, such as Chester City FC and Halifax Town AFC.[3] Despite the FA's decision being consistent with previous clubs' treatment (although the circumstances faced by each club were different), the "new club" ruling is hotly disputed by the fans, who reject the determination of the Football Association and refuse to recognise the enforced name change or the removal of the historic honours of Darlington Football Club.

Name

Darlington applied to join the Northern League as a new club, after the collapse of Darlington F.C.[4] Under FA regulations, new clubs are required to join with a different name from the club that they are replacing, and so the wish of the club to register under the name Darlington F.C. was not allowed. A deadline imposed by the FA meant the board was unable to wait for the results of a poll of supporters, so the name Darlington 1883 (with no "F.C." suffix) was chosen.[5]

History

See also: Darlington F.C.

The company Darlington 1883 Limited was incorporated on 18 Jan 2012[1] by owners of Darlington Football Club. This company then went on to purchase the assets of Darlington F.C. on 3 May 2012 when a CVA could not be agreed with creditors.[2] Being regarded as a new club by the FA meant that Darlington 1883 could not be placed higher than level nine of the football pyramid, four divisions below where Darlington F.C. had been at the end of the 2011–12 season.

Darlington Football Club itself was founded in 1883, and became a professional football club in 1908, joining the North Eastern League.[6] The club became a member of the Football League in 1920, in which it competed until 1989, and again from 1990 to 2010.[7] In the 1989–90 season and from 2010 to 2012, Darlington played in the Football Conference.[6]

Darlington went into administration in 2004, in 2009, and again in October 2011 when enough money was raised by fans' groups to compete for the whole of the 2011–12 season,[8] which ended with Darlington relegated into the Conference North.[9]

The club was eventually taken over by Darlington1883, a group of local fans, with the intention of moving into community ownership. Darlington1883 failed to arrange a CVA,[10] and as such on 21 June 2012 Darlington F.C. ceased to exist. The as-yet unnamed 'phoenix' club were placed into the Northern League Division One, on the recommendation of the Football Association when the club applied to use a ground without the required grading for the Northern Premier League.[11] An appeal against the FA decision was inevitably rejected, confirming that the new club would not be able to play as Darlington F.C.[12] On 25 June 2012 the new board's registration of a new club, under the name of Darlington 1883, was accepted.[13]

People in everyday clothing on football pitch
Fans celebrate winning the 2013 Northern League title.

In March 2013 it was confirmed that the Darlington Football Club Community Interest Company (DFC CIC), which represents around 800 fan-members, had taken a 52% stake in the football club.[14] This made the club 100% fan and community owned, with 26% owned by the Darlington 1883 Supporters' Club and 22% by 22 individual fans.[14] Darlington 1883 announced that three members of the DFC CIC would be added to the board as directors,[15] along with current ones and new chief executive officer, Martin Jesper, head of football operations, Laura Drew and head of club development, Dave Mills.[14]

Following a successful first season in the Northern League Division One, Darlington 1883 were crowned champions with a record haul of 122 points, having scored 145 goals in the process. As a result, Darlington 1883 were promoted to the Northern Premier League Division One North.

Even though Darlington 1883 are a new club, they are committed to paying the former club's debt including a recent payment of £53,000 to HMRC.[16]

Darlington played in the Northern Premier League Division One North for the 2013–14 season, having won the Northern League Division One championship the previous season. In the 2013–14 season, Darlington finished 2nd and qualified for the playoffs, where they were beaten in the semifinal by Ramsbottom United. Ramsbottom went on to win the final and achieve promotion. In the 2014–15 season, Darlington again finished 2nd and on 2 May 2015 they won the playoff final 2–0 against Bamber Bridge to win promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Division. In the 2015–16 season, Darlington clinched the Northern Premier League Premier Division title on 21 April 2016 after beating Whitby Town 7–1 to seal promotion to the National League North.

Reserve Team

In October 2016 it was announced that Horden C.W. would move 30 miles to Darlington to become the reserve team of Darlington;[17] they will change their name to Darlington 1883 Reserves and play on the brand new 4G Surface at Eastbourne Sports Complex in Darlington. Horden Chairman Norman Stephens said 'If the move had not have happened, Horden would have been dead by Xmas'. Norman Stephens and some of the playing staff were retained by Darlington who took Horden's place in the Wearside League. They played their first game under the new name on 6 October in a 1–0 away defeat to Boldon C.A.[18]

Stadium

While the previous club had occupied the Darlington Arena, arrangements were made with local side Bishop Auckland F.C. for Darlington to share their Heritage Park ground from the start of the 2012–13 season.[19] Plans had originally been laid down to move to Shildon Football Club,[20] but Heritage Park was eventually chosen as Darlington's first official home.

Heritage Park is south-west of Bishop Auckland. Its opening ceremony took place on 24 October 2010 in front of an invitation-only audience including local entrepreneur Sir John Hall and the Bishop Auckland F.C. affiliated youth team.

On 13 December 2013, it was announced that Darlington and Darlington Rugby Football Club had reached a deal to allow the football team to share their Blackwell Meadows ground, and move back into the town of Darlington.[21]

On 18 March 2016, it was confirmed that Darlington were to be relocating to Blackwell Meadows at the start of the 2016–17 season (sharing with Darlington RFC), with expansion plans in place which would expand Blackwell Meadows to hold 3,000 fans, which are the regulations in order to be promoted to the National League North

Rivalries

In the 2012–13 season, Darlington's first season as a renamed club, its main rivals were Spennymoor Town owing to the hotly contested title for the Northern League. Spennymoor Town had won the league for the three previous years, but had not applied for promotion until the 2012–13 season[22] when Darlington entered the league. Spennymoor Town were the only club to contend with Darlington for the title towards the end of the season. To a lesser extent, landlords Bishop Auckland were also rivals owing to their shared home ground.

In the 2014–15 season, Darlington once again locked horns with Spennymoor Town after they achieved promotion from the Northern League in 2014. Again, they contested Darlington for promotion in a semi-final playoff match that Darlington won 3–2.[23]

In the eyes of most Darlington fans, while they may be two divisions apart, Hartlepool United will always remain Darlington's largest rivals.

Players

Current squad

As of 16 September 2016.[24]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
England GK Mark Bell (player-coach)
England GK Pete Jameson
England GK Jack McLaren
England DF Gary Brown
England DF Kevin Burgess (captain)
England DF Chris Hunter
England DF Matthew Lovegreen
England DF Liam Marrs
Republic of Ireland DF Jordan Watson
England MF Josh Falkingham
England MF Terry Galbraith
No. Position Player
England MF Adam Nowakowski
England MF Tom Portas
England MF Harvey Saunders
England MF Leon Scott
England MF Phil Turnbull
England MF Arran Wearmouth
Scotland FW Mark Beck
England FW Nathan Cartman
England FW Josh Gillies
England FW Liam Hardy
England FW Stephen Thompson

Staff

As of 24 August 2016.[25]

Boardroom

Position Name
Shareholders' Director Darlington Football Club Community Interest Company
DirectorJohn Tempest
DirectorRichard Cook

Football

Position Name
ManagerMartin Gray
Assistant ManagerBrian Atkinson
Goalkeeping Player-CoachMark Bell
CoachSean Gregan
Chief ScoutHarry Dunn
PsychologistDarren Sutton
PhysioGeorgios Bellos
PhysioJimmy Nesbitt
Kit ManagerBradley Blythe
Assistant Kit ManagerGary Smith

Honours

As Darlington 1883

Northern Premier League Premier Division (Level 7):

Northern Premier League Division One North (Level 8):

Northern Football League Division One (Level 9):

League

1924–25
Runners-up: 1921–22
Runners-up: 1965–66
1989–90
1895–96, 1899–1900
Runners-up: 1896–97, 1898–99
1912–13, 1920–21
Runners-up: 1919–20

Cup

2010–11
1933–34
Runners-up: 1935–36
1884–85, 1890–91, 1892–93, 1896–97, 1919–20, 1999–2000

Records

As Darlington 1883

As Darlington

2010–11
1933–34
Runners-up: 1935–36
1884–85, 1890–91, 1892–93, 1896–97, 1919–20, 1999–2000

Seasons

Season Division Tier Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts League position Average League
attendance		 Source
2012–13 Northern Football League
Division One		 9 46 40 2 4 145 35 +110 122 1st of 24
Promoted		 1,319* [26]
2013–14 Northern Premier League
Division One North		 8 42 28 6 8 101 37 +64 90 2nd of 22
Lost in Play-Off Semi-Final		1,409* [27]
2014–15 Northern Premier League
Division One North		 8 42 28 7 7 99 37 +62 91 2nd of 22
Promoted; Won Play-Off Final		 1,040*

[28]

2015–16 Northern Premier League
Premier Division		 7 46 33 5 8 106 42 +64 104 1st of 24
Promoted 		1,205** [29]
2016–17 National League North 6 16 11 3 2 43 22 +21 36 2nd of 22
Currently

References

  1. 1 2 Darlington 1883 Limited www.duedil.com, accessed 31 May 2013
  2. 1 2 "Darlington fail in appeal to overturn FA demotion". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  3. ↑ Fa Explain Decision www.darlofc.co.uk, 18 June 2012
  4. ↑ "FA Explain Decision". Darlington 1883. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  5. ↑ "Darlington 1883". Darlington F.C. 25 June 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  6. 1 2 "History in brief". Darlington F.C. 7 July 2009. Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  7. ↑ "Division 3 1920/21". footballsite.co.uk. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  8. ↑ "Fans group given time to raise Darlington rescue funds". BBC Sport. 15 February 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  9. ↑ Stoddart, Craig (14 April 2012). "Darlington relegated after 2–2 draw with Bath City". The Northern Echo. Darlington. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "DFC 1883 Limited group complete purchase of Darlington". BBC Sport. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  11. ↑ "Darlington relegated four divisions after FA recommendation". BBC Sport. 25 May 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  12. ↑ Wilson, Scott (21 April 2012). "Darlington's appeal hopes dashed – and FA claims club will have to change its name". The Northern Echo. Darlington. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  13. ↑ "Darlington 1883 replaces former club name after FA ruling". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  14. 1 2 3 "Club Fan and Community Owned". Darlington F.C. 3 March 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  15. ↑ "Darlington Finalise Supporters' Trust Partnership". Darlington F.C. 11 March 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  16. ↑ "Quakers set 2014 target for return to Darlington". The Northern Echo. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  17. ↑ Hartlepool Mail. "Horden CW name dies as club becomes Darlington 1883 Reserves". Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  18. ↑ Connor Lamb. "Boldon CA v Darlington 1883 Reserves". Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  19. ↑ Willis, Joe (2012-05-30). "QUAKERS LATEST: Darlington to play at Bishop Auckland, not Shildon". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 2013-08-12.
  20. ↑ Darlington FC to ground share with Shildon next season
  21. ↑ "The Northern Echo". Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  22. ↑ Application for Promotion Statement
  23. ↑ "Darlington 3 – 2 Spennymoor Town".
  24. ↑ "Player Profiles". Darlington 1883. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  25. ↑ "Who's who?". Darlington 1883. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  26. ↑ "2012–13 Darlington 1883 Season". David Forster. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  27. ↑ "2013–14 Darlington 1883 Season". David Forster. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  28. ↑ "2014–15 Darlington 1883 Season". Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  29. ↑ "2015–16 Darlington 1883 Season". Retrieved 24 April 2016.

External links

Coordinates: 54°38′16.868″N 1°41′33.749″W / 54.63801889°N 1.69270806°W / 54.63801889; -1.69270806

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