The Darlington FC Head of Youth, Warren Newall, yesterday sent out this message to all of the club's youth team players regarding lockdown 2.

It is with great regret that the club is suspending all grassroots football as per the Government and FA Lockdown guidelines. This will include all training, friendlies and matches.

As a parent and committee member I know how disappointed the players will be, but unfortunately this has been taken out of our hands and we hope that you can all respect this decision and adhere to it.

The period of close down will be from midnight November 4th until 00.01 hours on Thursday December 2nd. During this period all club subscriptions will be suspended and will recommence when we restart Grassroots activities in December. If you have any questions in regard to this, please speak to your coaches who will answer any queries.

Any member who has paid their subscription for November will be placed into credit for December's subscription fee payment.

During this period will be encouraging all the teams and players to get involved in a number of online challenges. These challenges will be sent out on a weekly basis and will be a mixture of skills and fitness. We hope that all the players and coaches will engage with this and we will publicise the challenges as we go along.

The initial club challenge will be a whole club event to try and run the length of the country and back in a week. Full details will be posted online shortly.

We hope during this time of uncertainty that all the players, parents, coaches and your families stay safe and well.  We cannot wait to get restarted and if there are any changes we will update you as soon as possible.