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January 23, 2012 | by Antony Sutton

Meet Darlington Football Club

(Reuters Photo/Michaela Rehle)

Many people reading this will not be aware of Darlington Football Club. There’s no reason why they should of course. Its not famous and is doesn’t play in the English Premier League. In short, it doesn’t exist.

The town of Darlington is famous for its railways. Nothing else. Located in the — cue cliche — footballing hotbed of the north east of England, Darlo has always existed in the shadows of neighbors Newcastle United, Sunderland and Hartlepool United. One of several clubs that plod along, dreaming of a large pay day in a cup tie against a big team but more realistically hoping for survival.

Now, though, they are in deep financial trouble: on the edge of extinction. Should anyone care if a football club has overstretched its limited resources? Why should we feel sympathy, especially in such straightened times as these?

Because a football club is about more than people. It’s a soul that transcends individuals. Indonesian striker Bambang Pamungkas understands this. As far as he is concerned, wherever the fans of his club are, he will be. It shouldn’t matter if the league is official or not. It’s not about officials in suits and their Machiavellian machinations. It’s about the fans who watch the team week in, week out, expecting nothing but effort.

When I heard about Darlo’s woes my first thoughts went out to the fans. I don’t know much about the club, never saw it often. I did go to a game at their old stadium, Feethams, against Chesterfield, a top-of-the-table clash that had the kind of great atmosphere English football enjoyed before it went all-seater and quadrupled prices.

But I do recall one midweek game when they came down to Aldershot. Check the distances on Google maps: it’s a fair trek, one that EPL teams today would fly to or lose the game and whine about the journey. Darlo won the game 6-1! They had one supporter there, wearing a black and white scarf and with each goal his celebrations got louder and longer. At a time when hooliganism was rife, he was never likely to be attacked. Mocked, yes, but there isn’t much of that when your team is being humiliated at home.

Even most hooligans are fans at heart. What he was watching is what most fans go to the football for. It’s why fans follow their team so religiously. To say they were there when they finally got something right; they beat Aldershot 6-1.

Now it is left to the fans to shake empty tin cans to try and collect the pennies needed to save the team. In the dog-eat-dog world of EPL no one cares too much about the Darlos of this world.

Which is a shame. Because if the local teams, the Newcastles, the Sunderlands, were to offer to host a friendly, if Manchester United were to send an XI to Darlo’s extravagant 25,000-seat stadium featuring the likes of Owen and Berbatov, the receipts at the gate would go a long way to paying off the club’s debt and allow their small band of fans to hope, to pray for another 6-1 away victory.

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COMMENTS

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tbilisi

12:19am Jan 30, 2012

Come on... Newcastle, Sunderland and... HARTLEPOOL?? I'm sure you meant Middlesbrough. Darlington and Hartlepool share the record for the most number of successful re-elections to the football league - in the days before automatic relegation to the Conference, so we've never "always" lived in their shadow - only in more recent years :(

Good article though - thanks for spreading the word.

You can catch up with the latest happenings in our ongoing scrap for existence at http://darlo.georgi.co.uk

savedarlo

12:15am Jan 25, 2012

You hit the nail on the head with this article - well done! I'm coordinating the social network campaign on Twitter & Facebook to further raise awareness and seek donations to help save the club. The Darlington FC Rescue Group are putting together a plan that involves the club becoming a Community Interest Company & we need £500,000 to secure that future. Anyone can contribute from anywhere in the world via PayPal or Credit/Debit card. Details of how to donate are here: www.savedarlo.co.uk - we have been touched by the generosity of all those that do care. Thank you so much :-)