Over the past couple of weeks, Darlington Football Club has limped and stammered around having received a stab to the heart through administration. Upsettingly, it seems that time has run out and The Quakers are rushing headlong into the hard, cold dustbin of non-existence.
You may be saying “So what?” (in your head). Well that’s very despicable of you (even though you only thought it). Any football club going out of business is a depressing event, and I’d argue that the story becomes even more harrowing when it’s a smaller club involved. All I imagine during an event like this is the 65-year old lifelong supporter who has had the same seat for 40 seasons and harboured dreams of seeing the club in the FA Cup Final. It’s alright if a team had that moment, but for a club like Darlington they never enjoyed the grand day out I’m sure many of their supporters dreamed about. When a club that never reaches its ambitions is obliterated, you can’t help but feel people’s hopes ended up wasted.
There’s nothing to smile about when a club goes out of business, even if said club happens to be your nearest and most reviled rivals. Jobs are lost, years of footballing history are blown away like dust, fans end up feeling betrayed and disillusioned with the sport in general and everyone involved with the team is just generally unhappy. Even through a competitive eye, outliving a club is nowhere near as satisfying as actually beating it. It’s like being the victor of a boxing match because your opponent suffered a fatal heart attack as he climbed into the ring – it’s not a good spectacle, it’s not an enjoyable victory and it leaves fans baying for blood.
It is perhaps an inevitability that in the economic struggles this unlucky generation suffers, a team in the Conference that has a 25,000 capacity stadium and only fills 8% of it is destined for bankruptcy. The more unshaken of you may argue that a football club has to operate like any other business, and if it lives beyond its means or dives into financial catastrophe it should be left to deal with the consequences. However, if you believe that football clubs are simply a business, then I’m sorry, but you really are missing out on the true beauty of the game.
Football clubs are an endless amount more than just a business. They are a community. After all, what other business would you keep returning to over and over again despite the fact that they eternally disappoint you? What other business would you indoctrinate your own children to support from birth? What other business would you give decades of faith towards in the hope that things will get better? What other business would be content with you turning up and bellowing offensive songs? Certainly not Posh Windows and Conservatories or anything like that, anyway.
I believe this sort of attitude is most common in those who have never seen their club face the abyss and yelped in terror over the prospect of their team being destroyed. Nothing in football is worse than the utter helplessness you feel when your team is constantly undergoing the threat of liquidation. You, as a fan, have done nothing wrong and yet it’s you who bears the brunt of the mistakes that emanate from the board. Nevertheless, people tell you that the fanbase doesn’t deserve sympathy because “you enjoyed the good times”, which is probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
In truth, football should be united when events like this occur. We should all pull together and keep teams from going under, because in the end it will be hugely beneficial to the sport. Fans would feel reinvigorated by the justice of their team being kept alive, new life would be exhaled into grass-roots football, and people would continue to attend matches as a result. I mean, just imagine if Manchester City donated enough money to save Darlington Football Club. It would cost barely a fraction of their routine transfers, and yet Man City would be seen by many as a hugely positive force in football.
It’s not fair to throw the obligation upon them. Really, it should be the FAs job to prevent things like this from happening through the ‘stringent’ examinations of the Fit and Proper Persons’ test and the division of prize money across competitions. The point is, though, that there’s enough money in football today to keep a club like Darlington in business, for the good of their fans. Whether or not you want to set a precedent is irrelevant, when a club goes bye-byes, it is the local area, the fans and the employees of the club that suffer. Not the owners.
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