I know

[footifan]

It's not DFC but see The Arena is to host the All Blacks as a training camp next year during the Rugby World Cup.

mmmm I see a visit to both Rugby clubs happening next season ... When are next seasons fixtures out ? lol

[TDS]

Low bank balance and a large tax bill approaching allegedly.

Probably not true however.

Fair play to them, Rockcliffe are doing well too.

[BlackandwhiteBOB]

Low bank balance and a large tax bill approaching allegedly.

Probably not true however.

Fair play to them, Rockcliffe are doing well too.

I can confirm not true, being a DMPRFC member of many years standing I hope the club really do get to where they want to be. Believe me it's not the same club now as it has been, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The committee are making a really good job of it despite some internal wranglings. It just makes it all the more infuriating that the football club didn't grasp that opportunity when they had it.

[onewayup]

Very true,owners of our football club done us several times due to their incapability to run the stadium commercially successful,there loss and the football club sadly,

[uncovered]

The stadium always had potential, Stewart Davies made it work. Our problem was nobody was interested in making it work, they just wanted the land.
It is still a big facility and long term it will be difficult but fair play to mowden park, renting out to gyms and childcare is ideal. I just don't really see it working as a one sport facility with the fan base they have.
Interesting also the council stance on things these days.

[BlackandwhiteBOB]

Scott, I'll bet you were hungover on Sunday! Did you back any winners?

[m62exile]

Good luck to DMPRFC. I would have loved to have seen the current board in charge when we had it, with a focus on sustainability and community links. Sadly we had GR, who was skint before he even finished the car park, Houghton who was just plain potty, and Singh who was chasing his cash from the beginning after Houghton stiffed him in the first place.

Having a few million cash buffer and without a football club wage bill Mowden have every chance of making it work and I hope they do.

[PaulMJohnson]

Good luck to the rugby club, who never did DFC any harm, and the town as a whole. Having a major sports team preparing in the town is a good thing.

[BlackandwhiteBOB]

Good luck to DMPRFC. I would have loved to have seen the current board in charge when we had it, with a focus on sustainability and community links. Sadly we had GR, who was skint before he even finished the car park, Houghton who was just plain potty, and Singh who was chasing his cash from the beginning after Houghton stiffed him in the first place.

Having a few million cash buffer and without a football club wage bill Mowden have every chance of making it work and I hope they do.

You would be surprised at the wage bill! Senior rugby is an expensive thing to run when you want to do well, but yes it's not a professional football clubs wage bill. I'll bet its comparable to what we have as a budget in the evo-stik though

[Spyman]

The stadium always had potential, Stewart Davies made it work. Our problem was nobody was interested in making it work, they just wanted the land.
It is still a big facility and long term it will be difficult but fair play to mowden park, renting out to gyms and childcare is ideal. I just don't really see it working as a one sport facility with the fan base they have.
Interesting also the council stance on things these days.

I think this hits the nail on the head, we just didn't realise it at the time. I've no doubt that Houghton, Singh, Sotnick etc could've run the stadium better had they wanted to - they were all people who'd been successful in business after all. I just don't think they ever had the desire to.

The rugby club being run by committee on behalf of members has it in their best interests to make the stadium a success - exactly as we do now with everything related to our club.

[Darlogramps]

It's good to see a lot of people wanting the rugby club to be a success.

There are a few people (not necessarily on this thread) who don't.

I find that very sad.

[TDS]

It's good to see a lot of people wanting the rugby club to be a success.

There are a few people (not necessarily on this thread) who don't.

I find that very sad.

There are many old Mowden die hards who have fought for years for the best interests of the club who are now firmly staying away from the current set-up.

I think the change from a bit of an old boys club to a fully integrated, in the spotlight sporting facility has rattled cages and that is a shame. I think the element of darlo fans are just bitter it didn't work when we were there.

[loan_star]

The stadium always had potential, Stewart Davies made it work. Our problem was nobody was interested in making it work, they just wanted the land.
It is still a big facility and long term it will be difficult but fair play to mowden park, renting out to gyms and childcare is ideal. I just don't really see it working as a one sport facility with the fan base they have.
Interesting also the council stance on things these days.

I think this hits the nail on the head, we just didn't realise it at the time. I've no doubt that Houghton, Singh, Sotnick etc could've run the stadium better had they wanted to - they were all people who'd been successful in business after all. I just don't think they ever had the desire to.

The rugby club being run by committee on behalf of members has it in their best interests to make the stadium a success - exactly as we do now with everything related to our club.

Its certainly easier for the rugby club now that most of the restrictions enforced on the football club were lifted. I think DBC realised that if they didnt then they would be left with a major problem. Its just a pity that the football club werent given the same freedom as the rugby club.

[lo36789]

I think both of you are right. I don't believe the rest made the land work because they were so occupied with getting control of the land. They would have happily had the building and not had the burden of there being a football team in there.

I don't believe the Rugby Club have done anything we couldn't so far. If there are restrictions lifted it will be because the aims of the Rugby Club are clear. I think our owners agendas were often a bit cloudy. This doesn't make a council want to play ball.

Interesting fact I didn't realise. Darlington has the second biggest rugby union stadium in England outside of Twickenham. I am not sure if that is discounting shared facilities.

I was out with players from Darlo Rugby Club on Saturday night and although I am biased towards football if Darlo becomes a 'rugby town' is it the worst thing in the world? The more interest there is in any sport then at least kids will be playing it!

[dickdarlington]

I think there could be concerns that if the rugby club become a success and play at the higher end that this might take potential footy fans to the rugby on a matchday.

I don't begrudge DMP making a success of the ground. It just hurts (still) that the football club failed there due to many reasons stated above.

One positive I think we can take from this is that the council are it seems on board with DMP. This bodes well as ourselves and DRFC seek to evolve Blackwell as a precedence has now been set.

[QuakerPete]

The stadium always had potential, Stewart Davies made it work. Our problem was nobody was interested in making it work, they just wanted the land.
It is still a big facility and long term it will be difficult but fair play to mowden park, renting out to gyms and childcare is ideal. I just don't really see it working as a one sport facility with the fan base they have.
Interesting also the council stance on things these days.

I think this hits the nail on the head, we just didn't realise it at the time. I've no doubt that Houghton, Singh, Sotnick etc could've run the stadium better had they wanted to - they were all people who'd been successful in business after all. I just don't think they ever had the desire to.

The rugby club being run by committee on behalf of members has it in their best interests to make the stadium a success - exactly as we do now with everything related to our club.

Its certainly easier for the rugby club now that most of the restrictions enforced on the football club were lifted. I think DBC realised that if they didnt then they would be left with a major problem. Its just a pity that the football club werent given the same freedom as the rugby club.

I'm not sure which restrictions (apart from car park charges) are different from when the football club was in residence - genuinely would like to know. As far as I remember, there were plans in place for training pitches, new facilities, etc., etc., because I remember querying who was going to pay for them all and who would benefit from any revenue stream and would it actually make any money over and above the huge outlay they were talking about at the time. Also talk of restaurants, hotel and various other facilities - all of which came to nought.

I don't villify the council as I think they had the club's best interests at heart, the covenant on the land profit being the primary protection for the club - remember, they sold the land cheaply to Reynolds to help him on his way with the Arena. If that hadn't been in place we would have been ripe for asset stripping, ie, separate club from stadium / land (that happened). In addition, there are new planning regs in place as the stadium use has materially changed - perhaps the rugby club made better partners with the council than our football club ever did.

The quote I heard from a senior council officer at the time was that more often than not they hadn't turned down anything for the club as they hadn't actually been approached to discuss plans or proposals. But you have to remember the kind of people they were dealing with - a set of chairman who were interested in making money or protecting their personal assets, not sure the football club was anywhere near the top of their priorities.

Good luck to the rugby club, but a nice multi-million pound pot to play with helps an awful lot in the grand scheme of things.

PS - Was always interested in the "Stewart Davies made it work" angle, anyone know this for sure? Again, genuine query.

[BlackandwhiteBOB]

It's good to see a lot of people wanting the rugby club to be a success.

There are a few people (not necessarily on this thread) who don't.

I find that very sad.

There are many old Mowden die hards who have fought for years for the best interests of the club who are now firmly staying away from the current set-up.

I think the change from a bit of an old boys club to a fully integrated, in the spotlight sporting facility has rattled cages and that is a shame. I think the element of darlo fans are just bitter it didn't work when we were there.

I do sort of understand your comment, but I struggle to think of any of the old boys who are missing, I genuinely can't think of one old school committee man who isn't taking an active interest in the rugby club still. Although I do agree completely that the club isn't the social being that it once was.

[TDS]

It's good to see a lot of people wanting the rugby club to be a success.

There are a few people (not necessarily on this thread) who don't.

I find that very sad.

There are many old Mowden die hards who have fought for years for the best interests of the club who are now firmly staying away from the current set-up.

I think the change from a bit of an old boys club to a fully integrated, in the spotlight sporting facility has rattled cages and that is a shame. I think the element of darlo fans are just bitter it didn't work when we were there.

I do sort of understand your comment, but I struggle to think of any of the old boys who are missing, I genuinely can't think of one old school committee man who isn't taking an active interest in the rugby club still. Although I do agree completely that the club isn't the social being that it once was.

As you say, the set-up has changed and this doesn't appeal to certain people, it's miles away from Mowden, that might have lost a few of the locals. I'm sure you've more than made up for that elsewhere though.

What I'm referring to is a couple of people who were sick of the wranglings and power struggle that went on. Bound to happen where money is involved and I'm sure Mowden have been there before. The model t seems to get a few more burly lads in than it used to!