Darlington F.C. - Stadia

Stadia

Feethams was originally used by Darlington Cricket Club, but began to be used for football in the 1860s. Darlington F.C. began playing there when they formed in 1883. With growing crowd figures, the ground was expanded with the construction of the West stand at the turn of the twentieth century, and the construction of the Polam Lane end in 1905. In 1913, a pair of towers were built at the entrance to the ground, and in 1920, offices and changing rooms were built underneath the East stand. Floodlights were installed in September 1960, but after their first use an electrical fault gutted the West stand in a fire, prompting its rebuilding. In 1997, the East stand was demolished and rebuilt as an all seater stand. The new stand brought the capacity of the stadium up to 8,000. However, the £3 million cost of the stand had a major negative effect on the club, and George Reynolds came in to stabilise the club. He initiated the construction of the 25,000 seat Darlington Arena. The last match played at Feethams was a 2–2 draw with Leyton Orient on 3 May 2003. Following the closure of the ground, the floodlights were sold to Workington A.F.C. and the stadium demolished. A 160-house housing estate was planned for the cleared site.

The all-seater Darlington Arena was opened in 2003, at a cost of £18 million. The first game at the new stadium was a 2–0 loss to Kidderminster Harriers on 16 August 2003. The attendance of 11,600 still stands as a record for the ground. Though the stadium can seat up to 25,000 people, the club is restricted to just 10,000 because of county and local planning regulations. The club struggled to fill the new stadium and entered administration in February 2009.

Although generally known as the Darlington Arena, the ground has had a number of official names due to sponsorship reasons; between 2003 and 2004 it was known as the Reynolds Arena, the Williamson Motors Stadium from 2004 to 2005, the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena from 2005 to 2007, the Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena between 2007 and 2009, and since then it has been known as The Northern Echo Darlington Arena.