Darlington
Railway Athletic
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and tomorrow night is the big test when we play our first
game. Our performances in friendlies have been mixed and
somewhat disappointing against weaker teams but excellent
against First Division opposition.
“Our first ambition this season is to avoid relegation. We want
to finish as high up the League as we can and have a modicum
of success in the Cup competitions, particularly the FA Vase.
“Youth football is very important to us. We currently have
an U18 team who are reasonably successful and have fed a
number of players through to our first team in the last three
seasons. We try to have a clear link between the two sides with
the Manager of the U18 team, Steve Grocott, watching a good
number of our games and recently joining our Management
Committee.
“We are a community club. We used to also have a ladies
team but they folded a season and a half ago because of the
travelling involved. There is also a thriving junior section with
teams from 8 to 18 but they are run separately to ourselves but
are called Darlington RA and use the Social Club’s facilities.
“Our biggest challenge in the coming years will be finance
and our ambition is to continue as playing members of the
Northern League, hopefully continuing to raise our profile
and finance.”
There is clearly much to admire about the fine set up that
Darlington RA currently has in place and they appear well
positioned to enjoy a bright and successful future.
30 Issue 65
“Our first ambition this
season is to avoid relegation.
We want to finish as high up
the League as we can and
have a modicum of success
in the Cup competitions,
particularly the FA Vase.”