Darlo Uncovered

I was playing football sunday night and a lad who also played goes and watches mowden alot, he told me that he had been talking to friend who is envoled with the rugby club & the council and he said to me that mowden have a spare bit of land where there training pitches are and that is going to be used for darlo a new ground just a basic tin shed type of stand to start off with

No offence but I find this friend of a friend gossip a load of bollocks...

If what you say is true, then:

1. Why would the board not have mentioned it by now?
2. We would need more than a tinshed to start off with

Im just going off what he said i didnt say it was 100% true only time will tell i suppose

seems very unlikely

Apart from darlington rugby club & eastbourne where else is there to build a ground

I heard this also a few months ago from someone who is involved with the rugby club

This can't be true as Sean Campbell posted a photo recently of Fabrice Muamba with a "Save Feethams" top on.

If Muamba wearing a t-shirt isn't the biggest indication yet that we're going back to Feethams, I don't know what is.

I believe the Mowden Committee members scuppered any chance of a return to the Arena site.

I could always ask a guy who comes in my work what the crack is, he is a coach with the 1st team at mowden and seems to be pretty much involed with a lot of the stuff up there

Craig09 wrote:I could always ask a guy who comes in my work what the crack is, he is a coach with the 1st team at mowden and seems to be pretty much involed with a lot of the stuff up there

Who is it?

i think alot of people are just nosey and gossips

Craig09 wrote:Apart from darlington rugby club & eastbourne where else is there to build a ground

This

Only other places are
Feethams .....would love it but it aint gonna happen
Arena ......We just aint wanted by the rugby club

There is at least one other option

Surely the time for "options" is up? How long are we going to be looking at options before we can settle on a site and try and raise funds?

Is there any possible way we could use some of the land near Faverdale/West Park?

Quakerz wrote:Surely the time for "options" is up? How long are we going to be looking at options before we can settle on a site and try and raise funds?

It's certainly getting to that point. I do believe those involved are getting closer and have continued working on it in the last few months. Be good to get an update at the forum.

Those running things haven't done badly so far. We know they have no self interests to promote, so why not a little trust in those that are working so hard for our club?

Lawman3 wrote:I believe the Mowden Committee members scuppered any chance of a return to the Arena site.

Lawman3 is totally
right that the majority of the Rugby Club voted not to have us back at a smaller stadium on the Arena site using the Arena facilities on the match day.

The only way forward for darlo is to work with the council and use council land and create a sports hub, unfortunately the council is making massive cuts at the min so I can't see this happening for a long time

carver30 wrote:

Lawman3 wrote:I believe the Mowden Committee members scuppered any chance of a return to the Arena site.

Lawman3 is totally
right that the majority of the Rugby Club voted not to have us back at a smaller stadium on the Arena site using the Arena facilities on the match day.

That issue has not been voted on.

Sorry lads there's been a mix up the lad who told me said its darlington rugby club were the spare bit of land is not mowden

So they are vacating Blackwell Meadows then?

Edit, I've misread that, thought you were saying DRFC were moving to the Arena. So the rumour now is that we will move to a new ground at Blackwell?

Being the miserable and cynical old sod that I am, I will believe it when I see it laid out in front of me in black and white

Marxista Fozz

Makka Pakka wrote:So they are vacating Blackwell Meadows then?

Edit, I've misread that, thought you were saying DRFC were moving to the Arena. So the rumour now is that we will move to a new ground at Blackwell?

Yes mate they have a spare bit of land and supposedly its for our new ground

Just confirm DRFC have no land it is all council owned.

Mowden are changing the inside of the North Stand into changing rooms with the pitches just over the boundary at that side. With this in mind we would not be close enough to the arena to use it facilities for half time pints, changing rooms etc. but I wouldn't be surprised (although I have nothing to back this up) if they allowed our fans to park (for a minimal cost) if our stadium was within walking distance of the arena.

Blackwell/Eastbourne. I think they are the two at the moment if rumours are to be believed. In complete honesty that is exactly where we were a year ago.

Feethams & The Arena were bandied about, but realistically weren't going to happen when it came to having a 'new' ground of our own.

Given this I'd think we are further along than people realise, but NDA's are quite restrictive.

lo36789 wrote:Blackwell/Eastbourne. I think they are the two at the moment if rumours are to be believed. In complete honesty that is exactly where we were a year ago.

Feethams & The Arena were bandied about, but realistically weren't going to happen when it came to having a 'new' ground of our own.

Given this I'd think we are further along than people realise, but NDA's are quite restrictive.

Agree we are defintely further on but until any actual plot of land info is announced it will be hard to believe for many. Hopefully we can pull in Supporters Direct to help/advise in terms of funding help.

I think the fact there are a lot of supposed agreements in place over where we are looking in to means this sort of speculation of "mates" and other important people are to be rendered pointless.

Divas and the other people who are lucky enough to be privy to the inside dealings are the only people worth taking seriously.

I stated on here earlier in the week the longer this issue is allowed to drag on the more damaging it could well be in the future as regards to not be in a position to take future promotions.

The more i look at it i just can't ever see us being in a position to build our own ground and then further develop it. And i only expect the bare minimum when it comes to assistance of the council.

We really do need to bring this issue to the fore. And we could really be looking for a reality check here. The conference north looks a long way off here let a lone the football league and not just on the playing front. As much as i hate saying it renting the playing surface at the arena and associated facilities really looks like our better option to assist a rapid rise through the leagues.

My fear is that once we get to a position where we can't take a promotion we will lose the fans. Hope i am wrong but our un-elected board needs to start talking to us fans/shareholders about this matter sooner rather than later and the implications need to be out in the open.