The Darlington Arena

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Northern Echo Darlington Arena
The Darlington Arena
The Darlington Arena
Data
place United KingdomUnited Kingdom Darlington , UK
Coordinates 54 ° 30 '30.3 "  N , 1 ° 32' 3.8"  W Coordinates: 54 ° 30 '30.3 "  N , 1 ° 32' 3.8"  W.
owner Darlington Mowden Park RFC
opening 2003
surface Natural grass
capacity 25,000 places
Limited to 10,000 places due to requirements
playing area 101 × 68 m
Societies)
Events
  • Darlington FC games (2003-2012)
  • Games of the Darlington Mowden Park RFC (since 2012)

The Darlington Arena (sponsor name: The Northern Echo Darlington Arena ) is a rugby and football stadium in the English city ​​of Darlington and was the home stadium of Darlington FC , which played in Conference National , until the game was closed in 2012 . It was the largest stadium in the Conference National with a capacity of 25,000, but is limited to 10,000 due to local planning laws.

Since 2012 the stadium has been owned by the rugby union club Darlington Mowden Park RFC .

history

Darlington FC played 120 years (1883 to 2003) at Feethams , which was near the city center, until the Darlington Arena was built on the green field in the Darlington area in 2003.

The stadium had previously had numerous other names and was originally named Reynolds Arena after George Reynolds, the club's owner at the time. After his bankruptcy and arrest, the stadium was renamed The New Stadium in April 2004 . Since then, the club has sold the naming rights to various sponsors, including Williamson Motors (Williamson Motors Stadium), 96.6 TFM (96.6 TFM Darlington Arena) and Balfour Webnet (Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena). Since February 2009 the stadium has been named after the local newspaper The Northern Echo and is now officially called The Northern Echo Darlington Arena .

The first game took place on August 15, 2003 between Darlington FC and the Kidderminster Harriers , which had an audience of 11,600 and Darlington lost 2-0. Since then, the stadium has been visited by an average of 3,000 to 4,000 spectators. Exceptions include derbies like in March 2007 against local rivals Hartlepool United , which was attended by 10,121 spectators.

During the 2009/10 season, the average attendance fell below 2,000, which was the second-lowest in the league. This happened because of a very weak season for the club after which Darlington FC was relegated to the Football Conference . The highest number of viewers this season was only 2,744 with the lowest being 1,296. In the 2010-11 season, Darlington had the largest stadium in the Football Conference with a maximum capacity of 25,000.

Further uses

The outer facade of the Darlington Arena

Darlington intended to use the stadium for music concerts to increase revenue for the club. The first concert was supposed to take place in June 2007, but it was canceled three months earlier by the association itself. This made Elton John the first artist in the arena on July 5, 2008.

Further use was uncertain, as the new club Darlington 1883 has been playing at Dean Street Stadium in Shildon, ten miles away, since the 2012/2013 season . In December 2012, the Darlington Mowden Park RFC was found as owner and subsequent user.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.emfootball.co.uk/attend.html
  2. ^ The Northern Echo: What next for the Darlington Arena? . Retrieved May 19, 2012.
  3. ^ The Northern Echo: Deal agreed for Darlington to play at Shildon next season . Retrieved May 19, 2012.
  4. ↑ bbc.com: Darlington Mowden Park: Rugby team buy The Arena article from December 6, 2012 (English)