Darlington will always be our number one rival. Then probably Carlisle. We don’t really have any other teams close by so after that it just comes down to personal opinions really. I would say Mansfield, Lincoln and Chesterfield but they wouldn’t really consider us as rivals I don’t think.

Rivals? The only rivals any team has is those around them when you’re chasing promotion or fighting relegation, the rest is window dressing, Carlisle are the noisy problem family who turn at the camp site and you’re glad to see the back of and Darlo are......Darlo, the offspring of George’s ambition and gullible blind faith.

It is ever changing as Snowy says. The year we went down into oblivion it was Newport County. Last year we had Sutton, Torquay and Stockport.
Traditionally we only ever had one really and that was Darlo but even that has been watered down by lack of games between our two clubs. It is 21 seasons since Darlo last beat us in a league fixture and 15 since we actually last enjoyed a league fixture.
I would say the majority of members of the NWC have never seen a Pools v Darlo match.
Would the passion for that fixture ever be re-ignited to the levels it once was, should we ever find ourselves in the same league again????
That is a good question.

every club we play are our rivals for me. by the time we ever play darlo again i,ll be dead and the rest will have OAP tickets. Think everyone nowadays have their own personal hates which usually relate to the fans they bring to the vic and not that team itself. Cannot get any lower than stevenage myself where the words, no one likes us, is very close to the truth.

Stockport for obvious reasons for me - Darlo but who cares about them now. May get tasty again if they ever get back in the league. Like you say will the spark ever be as it was as the fan base has grown up / changed considerably since our last encounters - just tails from their grandparents in some cases with how the young some of the supporters on the terraces are.

They ain’t so much rivals as grudges, despite what anyone says, people feel affronted and want revenge on the pitch, it’s really about the bragging rights.
Stockport are seen as buggering up our season and the long attrition of back room staff before we even start on Challinor’s Travels, the man whose compass points North West ( well South West from Hartlepool).
It’s the modern football tribal equivalent of the Duel at dawn, or in our cars 3.00 or 7.45pm.

dream of a day when our local rivals can be borer and the mackems...not in my lifetime im araid barring a saudi type take over...will have to make do with all those darlo memories...and worry about spenny and the heed....

in all fairness there is more of a chance that Gateshead/Spenny or York will be playing with us again by the time Darlo ever make it there.

Always thought York was a good day out and as being another close neighbour the rivalry esq atmosphere was there too

You just gave yourself away there pal. As you're an obvious Loid, shouldn't it be Nether Regions or Never Land rather than Netherland?

nethy..."boost the budget scheme" ...total rarf....school hols eh..?

Darlo, Gateshead, Carlisle, Scarborough and York.
The rest are just close cousins.

Is your real name Alf Reton?

Must be awful being a Darlo fan and having Alfreton and Farsley as rivals. I don’t even know where these places are.

Darlo on the edge of the play offs, can't see them getting promoted but it's possibly the best they have done for two years. I wonder if there fans still enjoy playing these sides?

nethy...."Darlo will be back".....ello...eloooooh...darlo r back..darlo r back... ello...elloooooh.....you're probably not old enough to remember ...but your georgie boy used to sing that...dont think its ever likely to be sung again in the remnants of your tin shed......a..ha.. ha.. ha...

especially when they have better grounds than they have. far worse for york having to travel to the village people every other week playing infront of under 1,000 non league oddballs like the mighty brackley.

Darlo on the edge of the playoffs is the football equivalent of lemmings on the edge of a cliff, it never ends well.

The rate the players and backroom staff are jumping ship it will be quicker than 5 years.Mr van der....??

I suspect the word you’re seeking is ....Mr van der Wank.. Blij om te helpen.