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Darlington


Feethams
George Reynolds Industrial Estate,
Darlington Road,
Shildon,
County Durham,
DL4 2RB.

Contacts
Commercial 01388 770800
Ground 01325 240 240

Capacity  officially 9,000
Away fans  500

Ticket Prices

Every club aspires to play under the Twin Towers. Some teams, like Hartlepool United, never make it. Other clubs, such as Manchester United, are regular visitors.

Granted, not the more famous Wembley ones (we've been there twice and lost both times so it's probably a good thing we don't!), but our very own ones.For the entrance to Fortress Feethams, home of the Quakers, has two towers with little flags on, just like Wembley.

But that's about the only comparison you can make between Feethams and Wembley. For while Wembley is old, crap and with poor facilities, Feethams is... erm, exactly the same, come to think of it. Well in three sides of the ground anyway. The 3,000 all-seater Carlsberg stand, built two years ago, is one of the best stands in the division. Unfortunately, the rest of the ground isn't up to the same standard.

The away end is a small wooden affair which holds about 500 people and I seem to remember that the toilets are fairly appalling, although they may have been sorted out since I last watched a game from there. The Polam Lane end is a large, uncovered terrace which comes with the guarantee of helping to freeze your b*llocks off on a cold night. However, it's reserved for Darlo fans only nowadays, although in the past it was allocated to away fans. Finally, the Tin Shed is exactly what it says on the... tin. Yep, it's a terrace made out of extremely flimsy metal. It's also where all the vocal Darlo fans hang out, and they're usually fairly noisy.

But despite it's shortcomings, Feethams is a really nice little ground, and we love it really. Sadly, plans are afoot to move to a new out-of-town 25,000 all-seater stadium, although many cynical Darlo fans don't think it'll go ahead. But if we do leave Feethams, we'll miss it a great deal, and I think most away fans would too if they're honest.

Most away fans seem to enjoy their visit to Darlo, not least because we usually give them three points. But there are several good pubs and eateries near the ground, and Feethams is nicely situated. We share the ground with the local Cricket Club, so if the footy's crap, you can always go and watch that.

The best pub is probably 'The Falchion' in Blackwellgate, although 'Hogans', just next to the train station serves the cheapest beer in the known Universe.

99% of Darlo fans are friendly, too, and are usually more than happy to chat with opposing fans. We do have a few knobheads who attach themselves to the club when we're doing well, as any Shrewsbury fans could testify, but they're only a very small number.

If you're after a few pies, or indeed any other type of food to eat, you'll have no problems. There's a great chippy called 'Scottie's' on Victoria Road, and there's a cafe on the same street called 'Cafe 81' which is apparently very good, although I've never been in. Inside the ground, we sell quite nice pies, although they're not as good as they used to be, and are probably the only club in the league to sell mushy peas, which you should certainly try. Also available is chocolate, crisps and non-alcoholic drinks like tea and pop.

Parking is usually fairly easy near the ground. You should have no problem parking on a street somewhere, but if you do experience difficulties with that, there's a car park almost directly in line with the ground, although you usually have to pay.

Finally, one thing that Feethams certainly doesn't share with Wembley is the prices. Last year they were the cheapest in the entire Football League, and despite a fairly steep increase this year, they're still amongst the lowest around.

Oh yeah, and our pitch is crap, a far cry from the lush turf of Wembley

Daniel King
http://www.madasafish.com/wtmg/

 

Honours 99/00

Premiership

Manchester United

Division One

Charlton Athletic

Division Two
Preston North End

Division Three

Swansea City

Conference
Kidderminster

Scottish Premier
Rangers

FA Cup
Chelsea

Worthington Cup
Leicester City

Auto Windscreens Shield
Stoke City

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