By Nathan Jackson
July 5 2010

Darlington moved out of their Feethams Stadium in 2003 and I managed to go to the last game that Lincoln had at that stadium. However, due to no camera the only picture is from a visit a few years later, long after the ground had been closed.

I only visited Feethams, which was more than enough for me. To be fair to the ground though, I was terribly ill that weekend and it was raining in winter so if I hadn't been ill then I probably would have enjoyed this ground more, probably being the main word.

I can't recall having to walk such a long distance to get from the place where the coach parked to get to the ground. This was just a total farce. We got dropped off just outside a supermarket (Spar???) and were told to walk down a path that would apparantly lead to the away end. After about 5 minutes, we came to a tall brick wall with some doors in it so we prosumed these were the turnstiles, we were half right, this is where we brought the ticket but then, after another 2 of 3 minutes walking, we had to hand our tickets into another set of turnstiles and after a total of nearly 10 minutes walk, we were finally at the ground.  

We were in a stand that had been there for a very long time. It was in two sections, one of small terracing that ran the length of the pitch and a seated area that took up around 2/3 of the space above. Looking back on it, I wish I had gone in the seated area as the view from the away end wasn't brilliant. The stand opposite was one of the ugliest things I have ever seen and not just in football. It was a stand of similar size to the CO-OP stand at Sincil Bank but divided into black and white stripes with DARLINGTON written in alternating colours depending on what colour block it was on.

The stand to the right was a large terraced area which was quite empty and very ordinary so there wasn't really much to critcise or praise. The final stand, to the away fans left, was the most popular stand at the ground and was a medium sized terrace holding around 1,500 fans but yet again, this wasn't exactly eye catching, so it suited the ground right down a tea. I'm glad I don't have to go back here again as quite frankly, the colour scheme of the main stand was giving me a really big headache.   As for the atmosphere, It was like being in a church, an empty church, an empty church in the middle of a field, an empty church in the middle of a field on a desserted desert island. During my visit, the Darlo fans didn't sing a single song and how all these north-eastern teams have a great reputation for atmosphere is a complete mystery.  

Funnily enough, during a visit to their new stadium in the 2009/10 season, my sat-nav strangely took me to the site of their old ground.......cheers TomTom.

Darlington's Feethams

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 05/07/2010 13:29

theimps.ka
05/07/2010 13:29

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