Behind the scenes – update 16

Here is the latest of the behind the scenes updates of events at Darlington FC.

The Boards of Darlington FC and DFCSG continue to meet regularly via video conference call, to discuss various ongoing relevant matters. They last met on Thursday 16^th July 2020

The next league season:

As you have no doubt seen in the national press, the FA have released guidance for the return of grassroots football and within that the National League System guidance states that fixtures for Steps 1 & 2 will start no earlier than Saturday 5^th September, subject to change due to Government guidance at that time. The full National League System guidance can be found by clicking this link:

http://www.thefa.com/-/media/thefacom-new/files/get-involved/2020/nls-pyramid-guidance.ashx?la=en

The Club will have to undertake a full risk assessment in conjunction with DRFC in order to make Blackwell Meadows Covid-19 Secure, before games can be played. At this time, there is no clear Government guidance on whether spectators will be permitted.

Commercial:

Commercial activity is very busy currently, and we are grateful to all of our current sponsors for the support they are continuing to give to our Club. We are currently reviewing and updating the Commercial Brochure and this will be ready within the next couple of weeks.

We are delighted to inform you that kit sponsorships for all of the current players – including new signings Nicky Hunt and Luke Charman -- plus most of the management team have already sold out! We thank all those who have renewed their kit sponsorship and also those new kit sponsors. The only management staff remaining for sponsorship is Mark Thistlethwaite and we expect this to be snapped up quickly. We will make any further new signings available for sponsorship immediately they join the club. All kit sponsorship enquiries should be made to Dave Watson by contacting him at kitsponsorship@darlingtonfc.org for details.

Community engagement:

The club has continued to be very active through various means:

• Until lockdown came in March, not many in and around DFC had used the Zoom or Teams video conferencing facility, but this is now part of our daily business routines and is likely to remain for some time to come. Much of our internal meetings, contact with sponsors and community partners has been via this method. It has also been used to interview former players for 80s week on the official website. Six former players have been interviewed for 80’s week, and two more have been interviewed for a proposed 90’s week coming soon. The feedback we have received shows that these features are very popular. We have also interviewed new player Luke Charman on Zoom, and hopefully Nicky Hunt in the very near future.
• The partnership with Darlo Radio is going from strength to strength. The town’s local radio station is hosting an 80’s programme using interviews supplied to them by DFC, which coincides with our own 80’s feature. They also carried the news of the new signings, and used an 80s interview with Kevan Smith on Saturday.
• Our community partnership with Darlington Support has also received very positive feedback and we are continuing to work together to support the most vulnerable, isolated and shielded, in and around Darlington. We published an update from Darlington Support last week, you can read it here
•  https://darlingtonfc.co.uk/news/coronavirus-group-expands-community-support

Other news:

• The League has agreed to our request to move our midweek home night from Wednesday to Tuesday. We would also like to thank Darlington Rugby Club for their co-operation with this.

Coming up, we will:

• Keep all our existing and current main sponsors up to date on Club developments.
• Continue the ongoing work on the review of the new 2020-21 Commercial brochure. Hopefully, this will be available in early August.
• Continue the work in progress of existing and new and exciting features for the official website. There has been some excellent feedback on 80s week, and a 90s week is now being put together that will run in August.
• Continue to develop our relationships within the local community

Throughout these very difficult and unprecedented times, we have maintained a very high profile for the club on our official website and social media channels, and we will continue to do so until we resume matches for the benefit of our much-valued volunteers and loyal supporters and sponsors.

Thank you for your continued support, it is very much appreciated.

Remember, follow the guidelines and stay safe.