Feethams was originally used by Darlington Cricket Club, but began to be used for football in the 1860s. Darlington F.C. began playing there when they formed in 1883. With growing crowd figures, the ground was expanded with the construction of the West stand at the turn of the century and the Polam Lane end in 1905. In 1913, a pair of towers were built at the entrance to the ground, and in 1920, offices and changing rooms were built underneath the East stand. Floodlights were installed in September 1960, but after their first use an electrical fault gutted the West stand in a fire, prompting its rebuilding. In 1997, the East stand was demolished and rebuilt as an all-seater stand, but its cost had a major negative effect on the club's finances. George Reynolds came in to the club, paid its debts and initiated construction of a new stadium. The last match played at Feethams was a 2–2 draw with Leyton Orient on 3 May 2003.[3][69] Following the closure of the ground, the floodlights were sold to Workington A.F.C. and the stadium demolished.[70] A housing estate was planned for the cleared site.[71]
The 25,000-seat Reynolds Arena was opened in 2003, at a cost of £18 million. The first match at the new stadium was a 2–0 loss to Kidderminster Harriers on 16 August 2003. The attendance of 11,600 still stands as a record for the ground.[72] After Reynolds left the club, the stadium had a variety of sponsored names, but it is generally known as the Darlington Arena.[73] The capacity was restricted to just 10,000 because of county and local planning regulations,[A] but attendances rarely reached 3,000, and in 2011, the club's receivers put it up for sale.[74] In May 2012, Darlington confirmed they would no longer play at the Arena.[75] Later that year, it was bought by Darlington Mowden Park R.F.C.[76] Plans had originally been laid down to groundshare with Shildon,[77] but arrangements were eventually for Darlington to share Bishop Auckland's Heritage Park ground from the start of the 2012–13 season.[78] In December 2013, it was confirmed that a deal had been reached in principle for the football team to share Darlington RFC's ground at Blackwell Meadows ground, and thus return to the town of Darlington.[79] In March 2016, it was confirmed that Darlington aimed to relocate by the start of the 2016–17 season, with expansion plans in place to increase the capacity to 3,000, as required for promotion to the National League.[80] In the event, they played their first match at Blackwell Meadows on 26 December 2016, a 3–2 National League North win against F.C. Halifax Town in front of 3,000 spectators.[81] Darlington expanded the seated stand at Blackwell Meadows to seat 588 in 2018, after a successful funding drive by their fans, allowing for the club to be promoted to the Conference National. This was built following the 2016-17 season, where Darlington finished the season in the playoff, but were disqualified from playing due to the inadequate number of seats at Blackwell Meadows. [82] The club continues to explore further ways to improve Blackwell Meadows, including a stand at the currently empty west end of the ground. [83]