Darlo fan Ryan writes from Australia

By Ray Simpson

Jun 2, 2020

Exile remembers his last trip

I am often asked why someone in Australia supports a small club like Darlington.

My grandfather, Patrick Stabler was born and raised in Darlington. He married Joyce Busby in 1952 and gave birth to my father in 1953. In 1958 they came out to Melbourne, Australia as what were referred to as ‘10 pound Poms’ to help resettle the country after the war.

I was into football from a young age (bucking the trend of Aussie Rules). My dad used to let me stay up and watch the FA CUP in the 80s. As I got older though, Grandad began to talk about going to watch Darlington at Feethams. He also used to reminisce about his final game before moving to Australia, the away trip to Wolverhampton during the 1958 FA Cup.

In the 70s and 80s the only football you could get was the First Division so my father pushed me towards Man United. As I grew up and learned more about my family history I began to follow Darlington through a local soccer newspaper called British Soccer Weekly. Then with the advent of the internet I began to stay up late and listen to Radio coverage – I think through Radio Tees and I’m pretty certain Ray was doing the commentary. I had to buy a subscription through the BBC UK website to get any kind of coverage. I was however even able to watch the 2008 play off disaster!

In 2010 I did what most Aussies do and moved to the UK. My first football game was the pre season friendly vs Sunderland at the Arena at the start of the 2010/2011 season. The plan was to settle up North but work was a challenge. I ended up in Oxford and then Wolverhampton. Whilst I lived there I managed to get to as many games I could including Forest Green, Wimbledon and Bath Away. The obvious highlight was making the FA Trophy final at Wembley. It was a cracking day out and when I arrived at pre match drinks a great bunch of Darlo fans helped me settle in and enjoy the day. The last game I got to see Darlo play was just before Raj pulled the pin - Hinckley away in the cup. Shortly after due to illness in the family I had to return to Australia.

Grandad passed away in 2016. However I was heading back to England for a mate's wedding that year for Christmas. Dave Watson and Richard Cooke helped to sort myself and my partner some tickets to the home match on Boxing Day against Halifax ,which was pretty amazing. The entire place was buzzing and I got to spend some time retracing my Grandfather’s steps in town.

That’s pretty much it! I’ve enclosed a photo of me wearing my Darlo Kit at the World Cup in Russia – this was Spartak Stadium before Tunisia and Belguim. I’ve also got a photo of the programme from Halifax!