In the summer of 1883, a meeting was held at Darlington Grammar School by a number of representatives of the local amateur and part-time football teams, with the agenda of creating one team to represent the town in the local league. Darlington FC was the result of the meeting and was founded in that same year, sharing a ground called Feethams with the local cricket club. It was the football club which prospered and they remained at Feethams for 120 years, moving into their new home in the 2003/04 season. An arena called, The Arena, which holds 25,000. Sadly, since then, Darlington has had a few problems including folding then unfolding. They are now members of the National League North, the sixth tier of English football, and they play at the much smaller Blackwell Meadows with a 3,281 capacity.
One place football teams do not get relegated from are these pages, as too much work goes into research and writing to get rid, so here they stay. I would like to thank, Harry Sams, for being so helpful when I rang the club for help regarding the club’s badge. (PIC 1) Harry pointed me in the right direction for my research into the badge, which is in the club’s home and away colours and consists of a shield separated into red and a smaller white portion. In the white area is a hat and in the red, an old steam engine. A banner under the shield has the club’s nickname of “The Quakers”. The shield itself is surrounded by oak leaves. But what do they mean? Well, the oak leaves are common in heraldry but not in football badges, unless the club use the town coat of arms. The oak is seen as stout and is a symbol of strength and endurance. The nickname on the banner is “The Quakers”, which is also represented by the hat in the white area of the badge.
The town of Darlington used to be known as a Quaker town as many of its population were Quakers. Quakers are a religious group that you may not have heard much about as they are not as prevalent today as they once were, or as their web site says, “We are going through a quietist faze”. Quakers do believe in God and have views on all manner of sins of the world including, abortion, human rights and wrongs, but and I quote the web site, “We do not even treat the Bible as the ultimate authority in these matters”. So, it would seem that although they believe in God they don’t believe in what he says! I quote God’s word at 2 Timothy 3:16: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (King James Bible.) That’s All Scripture, not just the bits we like or agree with. That’s a bit like trying to fix your car by hitting bits of the engine with a hammer and believing you know the workings better that the maker so there is no need to read the Manual. I have a sneaking suspicion that the quietist faze may continue for some time. I do commend anyone however who fills their spiritual need instead of replacing it with crystals and or other forms of man-made ideas. Furthermore, for those who say the bible was written by men, the above scripture tells us they were inspired by God. In the same way, a secretary is inspired by his or her boss to write a letter. When you receive the letter you would never say, “I have a letter from a secretary”. Yet, many feel they can say that about Gods secretaries. Quakers would dress in all black with a hankie for a tie and they would wear hats like those in the badge. They are not unlike the hats worn by the good people of Wales when in national dress. (PIC 2) The majority of us would only ever have heard the word, Quaker, when it came to a once favourite breakfast of the criminally incarcerated, however, we owe a lot more to these people than just porridge.
Famous Quaker families such as the Peases and Backhouses were closely involved in the setting up and running of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world’s first-ever public railway, and therefore Darlington is quite rightly known as the birthplace of the railway. The railway opened on 27th September 1825, and ran from Stockton to Darlington, hence the name of the railway. The engine used was the Stephenson Locomotion No1, and that is the steam engine symbolised in the red part of the badge. The Locomotion No1 can be seen in the local Darlington Railway Centre and Museum and is one of the oldest surviving steam locomotives in the world. (PIC 3) The Darlington badge is another of my favourite badges because of the industrial history it evokes. Unlike their badge of the 1960s which is dull in comparison. During the 1970s and 1980s, many clubs used their initials as a badge on their shirts but I can’t think of any other I’ve found that are directly on a football. You wouldn’t think so but it is unique in my findings. (PIC 4) In 2012 when Darlington FC folded, a new company took over the business and in doing so they changed the name of the business and therefore the club to Darlington 1883. Darlington 1883 is now the official name of the business end of the club and as you will have worked out by now, 1883 was the year the old Darlington FC was formed as mentioned at the outset. The football club itself is still known as Darlington FC to all that love and support the club. Darlington’s name is from the Anglo-Saxon word Dearthington, believed to be the settlement of Deornoth’s people, ing, meaning a family group and ton, meaning farm. So, Darlington was originally, Mr and Mrs Deornoth’s, farm and family. Local rivals are Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. For more history on “The Quakers” just type into your steam, sorry, search engine www.darlingtonfc.co.uk
