Blackwell Meadows
National League North
April 7, 2018
Ground No 206
"It is starting to look a lot more like a football ground," Darlington director John Tempest told the Northern Echo after Blackwell Meadows' extended main stand was opened a few weeks earlier.
It's true, it does. But right now Blackwell Meadows still looks very much like a rugby ground too, and a long way from being the home of a Football League club - which of course is what the Quakers aspire to be once more.
The Quakers' ride has been a rocky one in recent years. Moved out of their homely and perfectly adequate Feethams ground by a former safecracker chairman who was, let's say, unrealistic, they found themselves plonked in a new 25,500-capacity stadium that usually attracted crowds of less than a tenth of that and as a result there was more atmosphere on the moon than there was there on matchday.
Financial problems resulted in them being relegated all the way down to the Northern League and groundsharing with Bishop Auckland before a long-awaited upturn in fortunes saw them steamroller through the leagues and back 'home' to Darlington in December 2016.
So the fact that Blackwell Meadows looks like a rugby ground is no surprise because up until just over a year earlier, that's exactly what it was.
It's still home to Darlington RUFC who moved there in 1994, of course, and it's still very much a work in progress as far as the round ball code is concerned and to come this far is to be applauded rather than derided.
The rugby club branding is more predominant and on arrival before you've shelled out a fiver to park your car (I always find this a bit steep for an out-of-town location) you're met with is the big brick-built pavilion/clubhouse.
Once inside it's this building that screams 'oval balls' at you, with it's clock tower, first floor balcony and windows from the clubhouse overlooking the pitch. It couldn't be more 'rugby' if it sprinkled chilli power on your nether regions and challenged you to drink a barrel of beer without taking a breath.
In front of the adjoining changing rooms are three rows of seats - the main seated area before the soccer lads moved in - although some of those seats are as much use as a soft drink in a rugby clubhouse due to the placement of one of the big Perspex dug-outs.
Part-way along the opposite side is the new main stand, now housing just under 600 seats. It currently runs around two thirds of the length of the pitch, but it's a fair bet it'll be extended further to reach the other corner in due course.
Behind the goal at the west end is a flat standing area for away fans and a small out-of-bounds grass bank although there are plans to put up terracing.
Opposite, however, is a 1,000-capacity covered standing area, just like the Tin Shed at Feethams where the Qaukers die-hards would stand, cheer and sign derogatory things about Hartlepool United. In fact some of the steelwork used to make the structure was rescued from the old ground when the bulldozers moved in.
Those halcyon days seem a lifetime ago but bit by bit, Darlo are getting there. I'll drink to that in the rugby club.
