The Darlington Football Club Community Interest Company hosted the first ‘Meet the Chairman and Manager’ children’s forum at Longfield Academy of Sport last month.Schoolchildren from Darlington and Newton Aycliffe who had taken part in the Community Schools Programme, quizzed DFC chairman Denis Pinnegar and Manager Martin Gray on all things football, both on and off the pitch.
It was a fantastic opportunity for young fans to get to know more about what goes on behind the scenes at the football club and also find out more about the club’s success.
Byerley Park Primary School were joined by Darlington School for Mathematics and Science, Corporation Road Primary School Darlington and Longfield Academy of Sport.
The children from Byerley Park, all in Year 6, asked questions on a wide variety of topics, ranging from the future of the club to who decides which players to buy.
Afterwards they were able to talk with Denis and Martin informally and get autographs. Students included Neave Heaton, Ebony O’Donnell, Aaron Dixon and Harri Lynch, (see photo). Harri said: “They were honest and talked about everything”, and Ebony went on to say, “We were very proud to represent our school and I found the whole event very interesting”. Neave thought Denis and Martin were very open and said, “The experience was brilliant and I’m so happy our school was invited to take part”. Aaron, who was very pleased to be selected to attend, said, “It was simply a fantastic experience and we got good answers to our questions”.
Byerley Park Head Teacher, Mrs Alison Gargan, was delighted when she was asked to send some pupils to the Schools Question Time.
“In October we had 28 of our children visit Darlington Football Club for the match day experience and it was absolutely fantastic for them to meet the players and manager in the dressing room before the match, and then to take part in a penalty shoot-out at half time was really exciting. I was very happy to support the Schools Question Time event and proud of the four children who were given the opportunity to ask questions of the chairman and manager. I’m sure they learned a lot from this experience”, Mrs Gargan said.
Martin Gray, Quakers manager added: “It was great to interact with the schoolchildren from Byerley Park and from their questions I could tell they were passionate about our football club. They are our fans of the future and we look forward to their support for years to come.”
