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Newcastle Red Bulls partner with Darlington Mowden Park
Newcastle Red Bulls and Darlington Mowden Park have entered into a long-term, mutually-beneficial partnership.
Aimed at getting Darlington Mowden Park (DMP) from the fourth up to the second tier of English club rugby and providing regular playing opportunities for Newcastle Red Bulls academy players, the deal will see Darren Fearn installed as DMP head coach in a dual role which will further enhance the partnership and player pipeline.
The former head coach of Champ Rugby side Doncaster Knights has recently re-joined Newcastle Red Bulls as transition coach, with his appointment at DMP coming as part of a wider programme which will support the performance development of the club.
Having a Champ side in this region would be really beneficial, and in Darlington Mowden Park we have a club with the right vision, infrastructure and people to make it happen.
Highlighting Newcastle Red Bulls’ continued commitment towards developing rugby across the entire region, the partnership will align rugby philosophies and ensure accelerated development of academy players by exposing them to a higher level of rugby.
Academy and pathways director John Fletcher explained: “Having a Champ side in this region would be really beneficial, and in Darlington Mowden Park we have a club with the right vision, infrastructure and people to make it happen.
“This is a long-term commitment which will benefit all parties, and it’s also important to stress that this isn’t at the expense of our relationship with other clubs in our region. We will absolutely have strong links with the likes of Tynedale, Billingham and others as we have always done, and we want more clubs from our region into the national leagues.
“It’s individual on what is the right environment and opportunity for each of our academy players. Guys need to be playing rugby, and this will help create opportunities for them to do that. They absolutely need to get stuck into the culture and community of these clubs and earn the right to play for them, and I’d like to think we already have a strong track record of working with our local clubs in that way.
“Specifically in relation to Darlington Mowden Park, this new partnership will involve players going on dual-registration and loan, getting players in on trial, and a big factor will be Darren Fearn going there as head coach.
“He will combine that with his role as a transition coach at Newcastle Red Bulls, working with DMP’s director of rugby Neil Young and also Danny Brown, who was their long-time director of rugby and still has an important involvement around their infrastructure.”
It’s a partnership across the board, really, and the big driver from our side is around playing opportunities for guys who are within our academy.
Fletcher added: “It’s a partnership across the board, really, and the big driver from our side is around playing opportunities for guys who are within our academy.
“Not only do we want to raise the roof with our first team and the way we’re building that, but we also want to raise the floor in ensuring our region is a real hotbed of rugby where players have the opportunity to play in good environments at lots of different levels.
“We absolutely want to work with all of the clubs in our area, and within that we’ll have a really close and focused partnership with DMP.
“We’ll have lots of alignment around our playing philosophy and game model which will help smooth that transition for players moving between the two environments, and there will be a rugby committee set up with representatives from both clubs. Obviously Darren will have a big role in that relationship but it’s absolutely not all down to him, and there will be plenty of support from all sides.
“From the Newcastle Red Bulls end that will involve the likes of myself as academy and pathways director, James Ponton as head of academy and Neil McIlroy as sporting general manager, and there will be lots of other ways in which ourselves and DMP can work together in a mutually beneficial way.”
Darlington Mowden Park partnership
© NRB
Photo caption (left to right): John Fletcher (Newcastle Red Bulls academy and pathways director), Kieron Forbes (DMP Player), Neil Young (DMP director of rugby), Liam Checksfield (DMP vice-captain), Darren Fearn (DMP head coach, Newcastle Red Bulls transition coach).
