We finish our short series on black Darlington players by remembering a random selection.

We will pay tribute to all our black players with a minute's applause before Saturday's home game with Warrington.

The club is also proud members of Kick It Out

https://www.kickitout.org/

Lloyd Maitland

Lloyd Maitland was our first black player in the Football League when he signed for us from Huddersfield Town in August 1977.

He’d come through the ranks at Huddersfield – he played for their youth team in the 1974 FA Youth Cup final against Tottenham -- and when he made his debut for their first team in 1975, in doing so he was their first black player.

He made 79 appearances for us, scoring six goals, one of which was a goal against his previous club. He was part of the team that reached the third round of the Football League Cup in October 1978, narrowly going down 1-0 at First Division Everton.

Alan Kamara

After playing ten games for York City, Alan Kamara joined us in the summer of 1980.

After finishing 22^nd the previous season, Alan had a positive effect on our defence and we finished eighth in season 1980-81. He was never renowned for his goalscoring, and he scored only one goal for us in his time here in 144 matches, and that was in his 141^st, a 2-2 away draw at Bristol City in May 1983

Ater leaving us in 1983, Alan went on to play for Burton Albion, Scarborough and Halifax Town

Steve Mardenborough

Steve Mardenborough was the first black Darlington player to win two promotions with the club.

He joined us in January 1990 after playing for several clubs including Wolves, for whom he scored the winner at Liverpool once. He also won the Fourth Division with Cardiff in 1988.

A fast, exciting winger, he added energy to Brian Little’s side, and he helped us to win the GM Vauxhall Conference and Fourth Division titles in 1990 and 1991. He made 136 appearances for us, scoring 21 times, his most important goal probably being the winner against Stockport in March 1991.

He left the club in 1993 for Lincoln City and went on to play for twelve more clubs before he stopped playing in 2003.

Akpo Sodje

Akpo Sodje was the first black player to score a hat trick for the club, and still didn’t finish on the winning side.

He originally came to us on loan from Huddersfield in March 2005, and played eight games for us, scoring against Cheltenham. His move was made permanent that summer, and in our third away league game of that season, he scored a hat trick at Chester in our 4-4 draw. He scored eight goals in total for us in season 2005-06, before moving on to Port Vale and Sheffield Wednesday.

Carlos Logan

Carlos Logan signed for us after he was released by Manchester City in the summer of 2005.

He became a regular in the team, and scored four times for us in his two seasons with us – and he celebrated by doing a spectacular backflip!

Aaron Brown

Aaron Brown was the first black player to appear for us in a game at Wembley in May 2011.

He’d played for several clubs in the Football League after starting his career at Bristol City, and he joined us from Wrexham, who were then in the National League, in August 2010. He soon became our first choice left back, playing a key role in getting us through to the Trophy final at Wembley in May 2011.

He contributed to one of the most memorable goals in the club’s history at Wembley, when his long throw was helped on by Tommy Wright for Chris Senior to head the winner in the Trophy final against Mansfield.

When the club was facing extinction in 2011-12 season, Aaron almost left the club for Bath City, but remained loyal to the end of the season, an act which many Darlington fans greatly respected him for.

Clyde Wijnhard

Clyde Wijnhard was one of our “Galactico” signings in September 2005. He was an instant hit, scoring on his debut in the 4-0 home win over Southend, and he went on to score four times in his first five matches. Near the end of that season, he scored in four successive matches to give him 15 goals for the season as we just missed out on the play offs. He moved to Macclesfield a month into the following season.

Simon Johnson

Winger Simon Johnson joined us after he was released by Leeds United in the summer of 2005. He scored seven goals for us in his first season, including the match winners against Barnet and Macclesfield. He went on to make 76 appearances for us, scoring ten times, before moving to Hereford.

Luke Trotman

Full back Luke Trotman became a big celebrity on television programme Love Island while he was a Darlington player.

He joined us in November 2017 from Nuneaton whilst he was studying at Loughborough University, and in 2019, joined up with the England C squad for matches against Wales and Estonia.

However, he suffered a cruciate ligament injury in 2019 in his second game of the season, and he successfully applied to go on ITV’s Love Island. He left the club at the end of the 2019-20 season after making 59 appearances for us.

Osagi Bascome

Osagi Bascome signed for us in March 2019, and although he wasn’t a regular in the team, will always be remembered for the stoppage time free kick at Walsall that led to Joe Wheatley scoring a dramatic equaliser in the FA Cup.

Osagi left the club at the end of the 2019-20 season, but then sadly lost his life in an incident in Bermuda in 2021.