Darlington Football Club will return to the town

Blackwell Meadows - home of Darlington FC Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

Darlington Football Club and Darlington Rugby Club have announced that Blackwell Meadows has passed its inspection by the Football Association.

It means that Darlington FC’s home game in the Vanarama National League North with Halifax Town will go ahead at Blackwell Meadows on Boxing Day.

The FA inspectors spent two hours on Monday (19th December) afternoon at Blackwell Meadows, and after expressing their satisfaction with the facilities, gave the green light for Boxing Day’s all ticket game with Halifax to go ahead.

  • The ground includes a new 1,000 capacity Tin Shed, which is named after the iconic stand behind one of the goals at Darlington’s old ground, Feethams.

  • A new 250 seater stand has also been built, and with other standing areas, the ground will hold approximately 3,000 people.

  • Darlington 1883 were forcibly relegated from Step 1 to Step 5 of the national non-league system in 2012, and since then, under manager Martin Gray, the fan-owned club has won three promotions in four seasons.