Northern Echo Darlington Arena
Darlington, Durham, England
Northern Echo Darlington Arena, Darlington, England — opened summer 2003; first football match was August 2003, 1 rugby league games hosted, home of Darlington FC, a football club, from 2003 to 2012; Darlington Mowden Park RFC, a rugby union club, since 2012.
Ground facts
| Opened | summer 2003; first football match was August 2003 |
| Home club | Darlington FC, a football club, from 2003 to 2012; Darlington Mowden Park RFC, a rugby union club, since 2012 |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1 |
| Top recorded crowd | 929 |
| Capacity | 25,500 all-seated, though football attendances were restricted to 10,000 under local planning conditions |
| Floodlights installed | not confirmed |
| Surface | grass |
| Years used | 2009 |
| Location | Darlington, Durham |
Name history
- Reynolds Arena — 2003-April 2004
- The New Stadium, covering several successive sponsor names — April 2004-2009
- The Northern Echo (Darlington) Arena — since 2009
Rugby league history
Built for Darlington FC, whose finances the stadium's cost is widely reported to have helped wreck ahead of the club's later liquidation, this ground's sole recorded rugby league fixture was a 2009 Challenge Cup Round 5 tie on 9 May 2009, in which Gateshead Thunder beat Oldham 34-16 in front of 929 spectators. Gateshead were the nominal home side, but the match was moved here from Gateshead International Stadium due to a fixture clash; Wikipedia describes it as the first professional rugby league match played in County Durham.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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