Darlington Mowden Park Sharks

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Darlington Mowden Park Sharks - Wikipedia

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Darlington Mowden Park Sharks
Full name	Darlington Mowden Park Sharks
Union	RFU
Nickname(s)	Sharks
Founded	1996
Ground(s)	The Darlington Arena

Darlington Mowden Park Sharks Ladies Rugby Football Club (commonly shortened to DMP Sharks, also known briefly as DMP Durham Sharks for partnership purposes) is a women's rugby union club in Darlington, County Durham, England founded in 1996. Their top try scorer (42 tries in 68 appearances) Louisa Ramsey became the first player to score over 10 tries for Scotland.^[1] They are the ladies team of Darlington Mowden Park R.F.C. and played in the Allianz Premier 15s until 2023.^[2] They also play their home games at The Darlington Arena.^[3]

History

Darlington Mowden Park Sharks were founded in 1996 in Ripon. The club later moved to Thirsk, North Yorkshire where it was known as Thirsk RFC.^[4] The club then moved to Darlington in 2006 and became affiliated to Darlington Mowden Park and changed its name accordingly.^[1] In 2009, Darlington Mowden Park Sharks were promoted from Championship 1 North to the Women's Premiership after finishing top of the table. They then defeated Championship 1 South team, Bath Rugby Ladies in extra time in the playoffs in order to be promoted.^[5]

Darlingon Mowden Park Sharks Ladies used to play their home matches at Yiewsley Drive. In 2012, Darlington Mowden Park purchased The Darlington Arena after its previous tenants, association football club Darlington F.C. went out of business and its phoenix club, Darlington 1883 F.C. decided to play its home games outside Darlington.^[6] Darlington Mowden Park Sharks Ladies play their home games at The Darlington Arena alongside Darlington Mowden Park's men's team as well as their mini and junior teams.^[3] They started playing at The Darlington Arena in the 2013–14 season.^[7] In 2020, as part of the league re-tender process and formal agreements were confirmed, they changed their name to Darlington Mowden Park Durham Sharks to reflect their enhanced partnership with Durham University, and also played their home games for the latter part of the 2020/21 Allianz Premier 15s season (from February 2021) at Durham's Maiden Castle ground.^[8] In 2022, crowd-funding raised £50,000, which enabled the club to compete in the 2022/23 Allianz Premier 15s season.^[9] The 2022/23 season was the club's last in the Allianz Premier 15s, with the club deciding not to bid for membership in the 2023/24 season as it was felt that "the significant financial commitment required was unsustainable in both the short and long term, particularly for a community rugby club".^[10] The club was accepted into the Championship North for the 2023/24 season but withdrew in August 2023 due to a lack of players, with the stated intention of re-entering the league system in the 2024/25 season.^[11]^[12]