The Darlington Arena
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| Darlington Arena | |
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| Full Name | 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena |
| Location | Neasham Road, Darlington, England |
| Opened | 2003 |
| Owner | Darlington F.C. |
| Operator | Darlington F.C. |
| Surface | Grass |
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The Darlington Arena (known as the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in England that plays host to Darlington Football Club's home fixtures. Darlington had been playing at Feethams, located near to the town centre, before moving to their current home in 2003. The Arena was originally called the Reynolds Arena, after the club's then-owner, George Reynolds, but this name was changed to The New Stadium in April 2004, after George Reynolds went bankrupt and was arrested on charges of money laundering, amongst other things. The stadium subsequently changed its name again to the Williamson Motors Stadium. Its current name dates to November 2005. Because of its location there are rumours that the ground can be extended to a capacity of approximately 60-65,000 seats, although this is unlikely as Darlington do not have a big enough catchment area and because of inadequate traffic arrangements around the Neasham Road Ground there is currently a restriction on the club's capacity which is set between 6,000 and 8,000 by the local Council.
The stadium was built on a greenfield site next to Darlington's A66 bypass. With a capacity of 25,033 it is the has the largest number of seats in the English League Two, the stadium being larger than some Premiership stadiums - Portsmouth's Fratton Park has a capacity of only 20,288. Former chairman George Reynolds built a large stadium because he hoped Darlington would be promoted to the Premiership, but the club remains in the bottom tier of the Football League only tending to attract crowds of 2500-3,000; however a crowd of 11,600 watched the first game in the new stadium (a 2-0 defeat to Kidderminster Harriers F.C.) and a crowd of 8,650 was achieved during the game against top of the league Carlisle United F.C. in March 2006, although around 5,000 Carlisle supporters made up this crowd.
[edit] External links
| Football League Two venues, 2006-2007 |
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| Adams Park | Bescot Stadium | Blundell Park | County Ground The Darlington Arena | Edgar Street | Edgeley Park | Field Mill Fraser Eagle Stadium | Gay Meadow | Gigg Lane | London Road Meadow Lane | Memorial Stadium | Moss Rose | National Hockey Stadium Plainmoor | Racecourse Ground | Saunders Honda Stadium | Sincil Bank Spotland Stadium | Underhill Stadium | Victoria Park | York Street |
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