A RUGBY club has opened the door for talks on a possible future ground-sharing arrangement with Darlington Football Club, while Quakers chiefs are focusing on more immediate priorities.

The board of Darlington FC 1883, which last week completed a deal to buy the club, will step up efforts to secure a temporary home, having ruled out staying at the 25,000-seater Darlington Arena. Fans have expressed a desire that any exile from the town is as short as possible.

Talks about a possible community sports development at Blackwell Meadows, the home of Darlington Rugby Union Football Club (DRFC), took place prior to last week’s announcement that DFC 1883 had taken control of the football club’s assets.

Tony Stowe, secretary of DRFC, stressed any joint project at Blackwell was a long way off and would require the redevelopment of existing facilities.

He said: “We had an exploratory meeting with members of DFC 1883. They had a good look around the facilities and talked about various scenarios. The ball is in their court, it is up to DFC 1883 to approach us. There would need to be a massive amount of development work at Blackwell if a permament sharing arrangement was to go forward.

“We have had one meeting, which was very amicable, and we are ready and willing to talk to them and help as much as we can.”

Craig McKenna, DFC 1883 board member and project manager, said a more pressing concern was finding out which league Quakers will be playing in next season.

The Northern Echo understands an FA meeting on the club’s future could be held as early as next week, with further demotions a likely outcome.

While Blackwell has been mentioned as a potential future home, it now seems certain that Darlington will be playing outside of the borough next season.

Shildon and Bishop Auckland are among the contenders to offer the club a temporary home.

A return to the club’s former home at Feethams is longed for by many fans, but the cost of first acquiring and then redeveloping the now-derelict site is likely to prove prohibitive for a communityrun club.

Mr McKenna said: “Blackwell is one of the venues that is being talked about.

Some of the fans want us to investigate a return to Feethams, but I am not sure whether there is any mileage in that.

“We want to make sure that there is an option for coming back to Darlington before we commit to moving away.

“The three priorities we are looking at are: finalising a groundshare; ensuring that the fans can invest and understand what they are investing in; and finding out from the FA what league we are going to be in next season".