A walk down Wembley Way

While I was in London last weekend, I didn't just visit the Emirates. My dad and I went to Wembley for the FA Trophy final. My Dad, you see is a massive Darlington fan and when I was a kid I used to go to all the matches with him. And when they got into the division three (its called league two now) playoffs about ten years ago we went to watch them at Wembley together then. So it was pretty special to go to the new Wembley to watch Darlington together again.

The match itself was pretty exciting, end to end stuff with both teams pretty much evenly matched. It even went into extra time with Darlo having the better of the play and some agonisingly close chances; a free kick came of the post and a shot cleared off the line. We were all getting pretty nervous in the Darlington section, terrified at the prospect of penalties when literally a minute from time Chris Senior stepped up. A first header was clawed off the line and then off the rebound it finally happened, the wondergoal. The first goal Darlington have ever scored at Wembley. It was such a magical moment to be part of. The flood of joy that poured out across the entire section of the stadium was incredible. The emotion at the final whistle was unbelievable; more than a little bit of relief but mostly just sheer, unadulterated happiness. I definitely had a tear in my eye when I saw the team climb the step and then proudly hoist the trophy aloft. The whole game restored my faith in the fairness of football. Let me explain; my Dad has been a Darlington fan pretty much forever and no football fan has endured as much heartache and difficulty from his team as my Dad. They've nearly been out of business three times, been relegated more than once and he's been heartbroken by devastating losses at Wembley twice before. So in my opinion, no football fan in the world deserves this moment of glory as much as my Dad does. It just proves that if you wait long enough and deserve something enough and loyally endure enough your reward will finally come. So a heartfelt congratualtions and a massive thank you to Darlington FC.



The darlington shirt in this picture is a wonderfully vintage ten years old and visited the original Wembley for playoffs

 


This is my Dad. With his lucky scarf