DARLINGTON FC 1883 (Blackwell Meadows)

CONFERENCE NORTH, DARLINGTON 1-3 CURZON ASHTON, ATTENDANCE: 1,761

When, in January 2012, after 129 years of history, Darlington FC were placed in administration by their former owner, this ultimately lead to the club going under. The assets of the club were then bought by Darlington 1883 Ltd, but they could not prevent the original club from being dissolved, as an agreement to pay the outstanding debts could not be reached.

Under FA rules this meant that the club were classed as a new entity had to rename itself, in this case Darlington 1883, and were forced to regroup in the lower reaches of the pyramid, in this case the Northern League. This was despite the "new" club reaching agreements with to pay back what owed by the "old" club, which they were now not legally obliged to do.

The dissolution meant Darlington 1883 were now homeless and had no players. All that was left was the club crest. A groundshare agreement was reached with Bishop Auckland, meaning Darlington were now playing their "home" game games twelve miles down the road. Originally Darlington FC played at Feethams from their formation in 1883 until 2003, when they moved to the Darlington Arena. The arena is now used for rugby as it was bought by Darlington Mowden Park.

Heritage Park was "home" until Boxing Day 2016, when the football club finally returned to Darlington. Blackwell Meadows is the home of Darlington Rugby Club and a 20 year groundshare deal was agreed in 2013.

Much work was needed to bring the ground up to Conference North standards, including the enclosing of the pitch (previously it was all open) and the building of a 250 seat stand. There are plans to add another similar sized stand in the very near future.

However the standout feature is the 1,000 capacity "Tin Shed" which was has been reassembled, behind the goal, at the new ground and has been built using the original steel from the "Tin Shed" at Feethams, the framework having been in storage at a local builders for the last 14 years.

The "Tin Shed" from Feethams, resurrected after 14 years in storage

There was a capacity crowd of 3,000 for the grand opening versus FC Halifax Town but crowds have levelled out to a still healthy average of around 1,900 for subsequent home games. That was partly behind my thinking of visiting sooner rather than later as it may prove problematic getting in as the club continues to rise up the pyramid.

It was a good trip up to the North East as the train took the strain. It meant I was able to enjoy some beer in the superb York Tap (whilst waiting for my connection) and also in the excellent clubhouse at the ground.

Whilst walking around the ground pre-match I had a brief chat with ex-Hull and Sunderland goalkeeper Tony Norman. He is from my part of North Wales and seemed genuinely surprised that someone from there would travel all the way up to watch Darlington, especially as they had no affinity to either team.

After three promotions in four seasons the club are now back at the level where they would have been back in 2012 and are in the play-off mix for a possible return to the Conference. The game went against the form book as Curzon Ashton came away with the spoils. Despite Darlington having the majority of the play, Curzon produced a consummate away performance.

The visitors took the lead after 10 minutes when the Darlington defence failed to deal with long clearance and Matthew Warburton crossed the ball for Ryan Hall to fire home from just outside the six yard box. Darlington had plenty of possession but never really troubled Hakan Burton in the Curzon goal.

Curzon doubled their lead after 56 minutes when Warburton was played through one-on-One to fire past Ed Wilczynski, after the goalkeepers initial sliced clearance, admittedly under pressure, led to the move in the first instance.

The points were effectively sealed for Curzon after 67 minutes when Warburton bagged his second goal of the game, side footing home from inside the six yard box after a great run and cross from Hall.

After 70 minutes, Darlington substitute Nathan Cartman headed home from close range to pull one back but, despite late pressure, the homesters could not find a way through and Curzon held on for a deserved victory, sending the small band of travelling Nash supporters into raptures.



Match highlights can be found on Darlington's You Tube channel 

There's life in the old "Tin Shed" yet!

FC UNITED of MANCHESTER (Broadhurst Park)

FA CUP 3rd QUALIFYING ROUND, FC UNITED of MANCHESTER 1-1 BUXTON, ATTENDANCE: 2,357

The second part of my weekend FA Cup double led to me to the Moston area of Manchester, where FCUM's brand new ground, Broadhurst Park, is located.

The story of the club set up in reaction to Malcolm Glazer taking over Manchester United is well documented (click here) so I won't bore you with the details but a decade after the club was set up, and after groundsharing at Bury's Gigg Lane, the red rebels finally have a place to call home.

Broadhurst Park is the first new ground to be built and funded by a supporter owned football club. I have to say I was hugely impressed. The ground cost £6.5m and funding came from a variety of sources, with FC United fans themselves raising £2 million from a Community Share Scheme and a further £1 million from other fundraising. The supporters truly putting their money where their mouths are.

The opening match was a friendly between FC United and Benfica on 29 May 2015. In the first ever competitive game at the ground though, in August 2015, Stockport County beat United 2-1. At the moment the 4,400 capacity ground is effectively two-sided, with the Lightbowne Road end and the North Stand flat standing (these parts of the ground will be developed in the future when funds allow).

The Main Stand has a mix of standing and seating whilst the large St Mary's Road terrace behind the goal was once the Dane Bank terrace at both of Northwich Victoria's old grounds, which FC United bought (with the blessing of the Northwich Supporters) when the Victoria Stadium was demolished in 2013.

The ground is easily reached by bus from Piccadilly and, as luck would have, the 81 bus to Moston Lane stops right outside the Marble Arch pub on Rochdale Road. It would have been incredibly rude not to pop in for a couple of halves!




A fellow groundhopper visited Broadhurst Park a few weeks ago and remarked that it was the closest he had come to a German football experience in England. After my visit I got exactly what he meant.

The entrance fee was £9, which is amongst the cheapest in the division, the beer was £2.60 a pint and there was bottle bar underneath the terrace, meaning there was time for a pint of Holt's at the interval, and there was a vast array of food on sale, but being a traditionalist I stuck to my pie, peas and gravy, despite the temptations of proper sausages and chilli.

Then there is the fans. I find the majority good natured and the banter/chanting is amusing. The banners are superb with lots of references to some of my favourite bands. The Megastall (a pun on 'big' United's Megastore) even has a fantastic champions t-shirt in the style of the New Order 'Substance' album cover. 

The aforementioned champions t-shirt refers to the Northern Premier League, which FC United won last season to reach the promised land of the Conference, sorry, National League North (this does beg the question that if they were ultimately to go up, what will happen regards the shifting of games for television?)

Today though was all about the FA Cup and the road to Wembley. FC United's best performance came in 2010 when, after beating Rochdale in the first round proper, the lost to Brighton & Hove Albion in the second round, after a replay

United were hosting Buxton, who my mate informed me are a bit of a bogey side for the reds, especially at home.

After FC United had dominated the first half they got sucker punched right on the stroke of half time when Warren Burrell gave Buxton the lead.

Despite the pressure being ramped up further in the second half, the Buxton defence held firm. With 11 minutes remaining Tom Greaves prodded the ball home to draw the reds level. It appeared that would be the point in which United went on to win.

When Buxton’s Glenn Belezika was shown a second yellow card for a foul and then almost immediately went down to nine men when Alistair Taylor limped off, after Buxton had used all their substitutes, United piled forward but still could not force a winner and Buxton managed to hold on for a lucrative, and I would say deserved, replay.


I stayed behind after the game and headed to the clubhouse at the top of the main stand where there was 'Broadhurst Park' real ale on sale (produced by Red Willow Brewery, it was top stuff) before catching the bus back to Piccadilly in order to get my train home. A most enjoyable way to spend a Sunday.

Supporters of HFC Falke had made the trip over
for today's game. Falke, based in Hamburg,
are another fans owned club

with thanks to Jim for the guided tour and information

WORCESTER CITY (St George's Lane)

CONFERENCE NORTH, WORCESTER CITY 0-1 CHESTER FC, ATTENDANCE: 4,072

Today saw the final ever league game at Worcester City's iconic St George's Lane. The ground has been Worcester's home for the past 108 years but today saw it's last hurrah as it prepared to be bulldozed for housing, a fate that has befallen too many a classic ground.

I had previously visited here in 2005 for Worcester's live TV game with Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup, which they narrowly lost 1-0, and I just had to come back one more time.

Next season Worcester City will be exiled in Kidderminster as they attempt to try and build a ground back in the city. The chairman's programme notes were upbeat about survival eventually returning to Worcester, but some of the supporters in the ground were rather more sceptical.

There are plans in place to build a new ground on Nunnery Way, close to the M5 but, at this moment in time, those plans appear no further forward. The City Supporters Trust have therefore submitted their own plans to the council for a new ground next to a Leisure Centre in Perdiswell.

Whatever the outcome, for the time being it just hoped that the club can survive in exile at Aggborough. The club are hoping initiatives such as £100 season tickets will help them to do so.

Going back to today's programme, I must commend the club for for a superb 108 page issue. I'm not a Worcester fan but reading the tales from old players and life long fans about classic games at the ground, such as dumping Liverpool out of the FA Cup 2-1 in 1959, made an old cynic like me feel desperately sad. Most of the snippets of information in this blog come from the programme and I can certainly recommend it's purchase (click here).

I suppose the romantic in me would like to say the ground, which was packed to the rafters, went out with a bang as the homesters responded by beating the champions Chester, however it wasn't to be.

A George Horan header after just 8 minutes sealed the win for Chester, and in the process gave them a Conference North record 107 points. Worcester responded well and dominated possession, their cause helped by Chester's Matty McGinn recieving a straight red card just before half time, but they could not find a way past John Danby in the Chester goal. The closest they came to an equaliser was a shot from Ethan Moore which hit the post and then fell into the grateful arms of Danby.

Today though was all about bidding farewell to St George's Lane, sadly, in this modern age, we won't see the likes of it again. There was a Dylan Thomas poem quoted in the programme and I will end on those words "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light"

The final walk to the ground



These famous gates will be held in storage by George Goode's son and

returned to the club when the new ground is built

 

A packed Brookside terrace

Blue skies over the Main Stand

 

The emotion of the occasion proves too much for one supporter