The Darlington Arena 4.32

The Northern Echo Darlington Arena is a rugby union and former football stadium, located in Darlington, County Durham. Opened in 2003 as the new arena for Darlington Football Club, the club is currently open to hold matches for Darlington Mowden Park Rugby Football Club.HistoryTenantsPrior to moving to the ground in 2003, Darlington F.C. had been playing at Feethams, located near to the town centre. The current stadium was built on a greenfield site next to Darlington's A66 bypass. Upon completion the arena was originally called the Reynolds Arena, after the club's then owner, George Reynolds. After Reynolds' bankruptcy and arrest on charges of money laundering, the name was changed to the New Stadium in April 2004. Since then the club sold the naming rights for the stadium to various sponsors: Williamson Motors, 96.6 TFM, Balfour Webnet, and in 2009 The Northern Echo. The Arena consists of four equally sided stands. The West Stand, located behind the goal, was generally the more vocal of the two sides used by home supporters.It was the largest Conference National venue with a capacity of 25,000. Attendances for football matches were restricted to 10,000 by local planning regulations, because of poor access roads around the stadium, although the club was allowed to apply for an exception for special occasions.