DFC 1883 Ltd are excited to announce that the initial plans are now in place for our Community Engagement Model.

http://www.darlofc.co.uk/news.php?NewsID=913

This is where the loss of the Arena will hit us most i fear. With the Arena we had a community facility where rooms could be used for a whole host of things, now we have to go offsite and it starts to become less obvious it's the football club running stuff.

Chester have nailed this in the last couple of years with events for the community at the Exacta (Deva) stadium.

Hmm, very ambitious and presumably at a cost to try these sort of things at this stage. Wouldn't the time, effort and money be best spent on the team and the core fans and put this on the back burner until we're at least relatively stable?

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Words are weapons sharper than knives, makes you wonder how the other half die.

Drop a message in the aptly named ask1883 forum. Unless your just wanting to whinge but if a genuine question then ask, you will get an answer.

Looks like the type of thing the club should have been doing for years, so it's good news that it's happening. It will be interesting to see where some of these events are held at, and also how they are financed (I guess that because we are going to be a CIC, we will be eligible for grants for events like these?). Be good to get DFC involved in the community, and it will only help the club's profile. We all need to get thinking up some ideas which might be good for the club to run!

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Boycott greedy clubs!!

Yeah, the last 9 years when we had the Arena we did nothing with it, it's definitely the way to go as it helps enourmously with grants and positive PR which in turn helps with things like sponsors etc. especially given our poor PR over recent years.

In an ideal world the new ground could house a scaled down version of the arts centre....but that would mean working with the council of course.

This why we must do our best and try to go back to. Dare i mention the name without been shot. it has got to be as near as possible to the centre of town to make it accesable to every member of the community. Other wise we are back to the old chesnut its to far to go, no public transport etc etc. dont give anyone an excuse not to get involved .

This is great news, really looking forward to what this will ring to the local community

Don't agree, look where Chester's stadium is....they haven't done too bad. It's a fallicy and an excuse that people use, people who would find some other excuse once one is eradicated.

You'd think we were living 50 years ago with little personal transport, look at out of town retail - it's booming, the town centre is on it's arse, how can that be if that's where everyone wants to be/can only get to?

it's possible 1883 are starting things like this now to help us gain access to the many grants, CIC's can be awarded, as soon as possible

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Wherever I may roam, Darlo is my home

if you're gonna treat me like a kid, i prefer my ass being slapped with a steel ruler

I immediately thought about disabled people (not "the" disabled") too, a really community club needs to accomodate everyone? Chester is a walk from the town and it's not a lot further than the old Sealand Road ground.

What a load of bollocks. The disabled are generally going to travel by motorised transport anyway, so it makes no odds whether the ground is in town or on the edge.

could it be the disabled isn't part of that list as we always have catered for the needs of our disabled fans and always will?

I understand we need to ensure our disabled fans are not forgotten. but the days of disabled supporters being ''ill-treated'' are long behind us all and they are catered for as a matter of course.

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Wherever I may roam, Darlo is my home

if you're gonna treat me like a kid, i prefer my ass being slapped with a steel ruler

Exactly. Its another case of someone looking for an oversight which doesnt exist.

The Arena was also a walk from the town around 1.5 miles and even closer for those living in the Eastbourne Area/

The Exacta stadium is 2 miles away from the centre with little housing around it.

This distance complaint doesnt hold water. I remember when at Feethams the club tried opening Strikers Bar on evenings to make money but nobody bothered because it was too far from the town centre! Yet the same people wouldnt think twice about walking from Atomic (Harveys) to Mardis Gras (Escapade)!!!

I also suspect disabled people isn't a category because there is legislation to support their needs and they are represented in all of the groups - young, elderly, unemployed, overweight etc etc.

Did you actually read the story?

Did you see this line?
"These plans which will keep the football club at the heart of the community and will bring new fans and supporters."

Do you have a problem with more supporters coming to games?

You also seem very suspicious about being "ambitious".
Do you think that by being unambitious we will actually achieve our twin goals of a return to back to town and a place in the Football League?

What do you think the "cost" actually is?
1883 and the various fans groups are volunteers.
Have you ever heard of the business phrase "speculate to accumulate"?
In other words, a small investment in time or money now to reap greater rewards (profits) in the future.
If this brings in a couple of hundred more fans then we are far better off.

Don't forget just how much the 1883 group have achieved in a very short space of time.

Poor trolling attempt ...

Pretty similar to 99.9% of your posts

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Might be worth getting in contact with clubs that already run this sort of stuff, i.e Liverpool.

They run all sorts of community things. You just need to look at their website once a week to see the extent of it.

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Extremely good idea craig. One club who are pioneer in this sort of activity are Wimbledon. I attach a link to their community programme. The main emphasis is on schools and the young.

- I like the 'respect programme' where coaches go to schools to explain this. As an ex referee concerned about amateur football standards, this is the type of activity where clubs like Darlo are well placed and there is a good social angle.

- links to junior clubs in the town like Spraire lads

- Deans' matchday activities are also an inspiring example of what we can achieve.

- A family fun day (see Wimbledon link below), but perhaps a joined up thing with Shildon to celebrate the ground sharing arrangement and foster relations with our excellent hosts.

http://afcwimbledoncfs.wordpress.com/schools-coaching/

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This empty sanitised shell of a stadium, a cathedral to the vanity and narcissism of one man. It’s very difficult to fall in love with football amongst the rows of empty seats. The notion that a stadium has worth beyond its potential commerical value or it’s proximity to transport links – as a spiritual repository of the hopes,fears and agonies of generations of supporters, or as a physical manifestation of the football club in the community, is a dying one in football (Sam Volkman)

As usual we make a point and get slammed by the usual suspects. I was merely adding my support and suggesting that disabled access and other issues were considered. the Chester comment was not related to this but just an observation. I'd happily walk for half an hour to watch footie-thanks to the google maps expert.

craig i admire you and your group you sould be given freedom of darlington for your achievement but tell me please how are disabled people are one going to get to the bar at dene st and after having a drink how are they going to go to the toilet also have shildon told you why bishop had to leave dene st

second team please post your query in the relevant forum ie 1883

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@Charliejovi on twitter

This is the relevant forum. It's a query about community engagement?

this is annoying. can't you just forward your answer to the Board as Charlie said. I'm past caring now.

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This empty sanitised shell of a stadium, a cathedral to the vanity and narcissism of one man. It’s very difficult to fall in love with football amongst the rows of empty seats. The notion that a stadium has worth beyond its potential commerical value or it’s proximity to transport links – as a spiritual repository of the hopes,fears and agonies of generations of supporters, or as a physical manifestation of the football club in the community, is a dying one in football (Sam Volkman)

To ask questions directly to 1883 they have their own forum on this web site, that is the place to get answers from 1883

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@Charliejovi on twitter

Second team, why don't you post it on both and keep everyone happy? i still think it's okay on here but don't upset the MB police!

He already did post it on another thread. He just keeps on bringing it back up. It was something to do with the referee's changing room not being big enough or something.