DARLINGTON Mowden Park was founded immediately after the Second World War by pupils of Darlington Queen Elizabeth Grammar School.

The club became a member of the RFU in September as Darlington Grammar School Old Boys.

It went from strength to strength and provided one third of the county side on one occasion.

By the early 1970s, the club were able to new headquarters at Yiewsley Drive and became an “open club”.

No longer an Old Boys club, their name changed to Mowden Park and more recently Darlington Mowden Park.

Yiewsley Drive was sold in 2012 and with the proceeds bought the empty Darlington Arena (capacity 25,000) for £2million.

When leagues were introduced in 1987, DMP were placed in 1987 and immediately won promotion. Eventually in the 1990s and 2000s the club made rapid progress through the system and reached National Three North (now National Two North).

In 2014 they qualified for a home play-off against Ampthill and won promotion to National One thanks to a thrilling extra-time victory.

Since then they have maintained their position in that league.

Our clubs had never met until 2019-20 when Rams completed a double, only for DMP to secure a 29-23 home win in October, 2021.

Rams won the return fixture 36-32, and were again successful in both games last season, 40-15 at home and 43-21 on the road.

However, DMP produced a magnificent attacking display to stun the hosts 41-36 back in November.

Details for our travelling supporters on Saturday, including buying tickets, can be found here