Are you proud of your local club?

Looking at your reformation you won the Isthmian by 18 points in 1992, I can relate to that, in the 2012/13 season when Darlo were punished to the Northern League (9th Tier) we had 1 player on the books and no ground. We ended up winning 40 out of 46 games finishing on 122 points, the funny thing is this was the year Spennymoor were going to take promotion after winning and refusing it for years, they ended up on 109 points in 2nd place and missed out, you'd be gutted wouldn't you? :laugh:

Then again their sugar daddy has bank rolled them to the edge of the National league since then (beaten by Chorley in the playoffs)

The joys of the jumpers for goalposts leagues

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I wouldn't mind doing a feature on the Darlington story for my blog.

We;ll be lucky to get 22 points at the moment let alone 122. Some fantastic names in that table; Merske United, Celtic Nation, Norton and Stockton Ancients! Do these teams still exist? :D

Do your fans see your club as THE Aldershot FC that went bust?

Great question. I sstill feel a bit alienated with ATFC, I think us older fans do. In the sense that we remember the glory days an our junior fans haven't a clue who John Dungworth or Murray Brodie are. Home games I stand on the East Bank where I grew up and because I'm like a journo doing the match reports, second half occasionally I go round to the South Stand to chat with a lot of folk I know who are fifty-somethings also.

To me it'll always be Aldershot (I never ever say Aldershot Town if I am asked who I support) but we are two clubs in essence, the one that folded and then in 1992 the Phoenix rose again, we're red and blue, you know it's true!

I love feature writing and usually knock out one football or non-football related story per day so with an avid interest on Darlo I shall begin knitting one together tbis morning. I will link it once it is on air and perhaps, when you have time, you can say anything that isn't quite correct (copy and paste world we live in).

I would have seen the home fixture I mentioned from 1980 (I think it was 1-0 to Darlington up there but I'll check) but don't remember it. What I do have is a bundle of programmes I bought from eBay around that time, home ones (and 10p each) but I've not read any of them yet; maybe there's an Aldershot v Darlington one among them.
 
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At least the club lived on in some respect, it won't feel the same but it goes on. Darlo were forced to be called Darlington 1883 until they were allowed to drop the 1883 after a few years, lost a lot of fans along the way. A complete new team and playing out of town didn't help.

From that table Marske Utd are playing a league higher these days and doing ok

Celtic Nation were short lived and went bust, had a cash injection and big plans which never took off and the money dried up.

Norton & Stockton currently play Wearside league Div 2 (12th Tier)

Note South Shields, they're ripping it up and will undoubtedly be playing NLN next season

I'll check out your feature now :lesson:
 
The feature is now up online @arenaman though this tablet refuses to copy and paste from the address bar so, just click on my signature and you will see it on the homepage.

Great little article there , one glaring error at the end, they don't play at the Northern Echo Arena, they haven't since being bumped down to the Northern League in 2012. The arena was bought by Darlington Mowden Park rugby Club for only £2m.

Darlington ground shared with Bishop Auckland at Heritage Park for a few seasons then struck a deal with Darlington Rugby Club to ground share at Blackwell Meadows in the town and have redeveloped the ground up to National League standard since. They actually qualified for the playoffs the year before last but couldn't take part as the ground was sub standard for the next level at the time
 
Great little article there , one glaring error at the end, they don't play at the Northern Echo Arena, they haven't since being bumped down to the Northern League in 2012. The arena was bought by Darlington Mowden Park rugby Club for only £2m.

Darlington ground shared with Bishop Auckland at Heritage Park for a few seasons then struck a deal with Darlington Rugby Club to ground share at Blackwell Meadows in the town and have redeveloped the ground up to National League standard since. They actually qualified for the playoffs the year before last but couldn't take part as the ground was sub standard for the next level at the time

Thank you... on It!

I've actually used your words in bold in the edit.
 
Reading this with great interest, top stuff fellas
 
What glory hunters who follow the big boys will never understand is that following your local club will never be about winning cups - it's deeper than that.
It's about community. It's tribal.
Our geographical rivals are Millwall. I despise them.
They're less than 6 miles away from us and yet the fanbase is a world apart. We're generally a decent bunch in our corner of South East London but they ain't.
And if you've ever been to The Old Den and, to a lesser extent, The New Den then you'll know what I mean.
 
It's about community. It's tribal.
Our geographical rivals are Millwall. I despise them.

Totally this. I choose to live 80 miles from my roots. But when every home game is an away game it still doesn't matter, you still go. Sure, there are people who follow their EPL teams all over and pay considerably more doing so. That is loyalty. But the culture in grass roots is different. Fans generally grew up in or live in the town or city of their club. When I retire or become a multi-millionaire, I would move back there like a shot (pun intended) but the latter would see me buy the club outright and give it the best future possible. When you consider where Bournemouth are now, anything is possible. Whoever your alliance is with, be proud and keep the faith.
 
@When In Rome I found this posted up on a Darlo fan FB page yesterday when we played you at your place, name the year and result, I've got the team sheet too but that would give it away

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Can't beat a 120th minute winner at Wembley, got to be my best moment, what a day

 
What I did want to add to @Don Rogers Tash is how we've clearly copied the Palace songs along the way, That's if they were theirs in the first place. We have "In 1992 the Phoenix rose again" and "you know It's true, we're red and blue" and "follow follow follow" - all of which were heard continuously yesterday in the televised game. This made for great viewing as it sounded like a Shots home game. Minus 24,000 fans of course. :rotfl:
 
Interesting thread fellas!
I’ve always been a United fan since the late 70s mainly due to being coached by John Connelly(RIP) at primary school. Since then I’ve never really paid any attention to my local club wherever I’ve been living apart from avoiding the traffic on match days! Currently it’s Charlton.
 

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