A NEW era in rugby has been launched in the North East after a Premiership club teamed up with grassroots players to train and retain talent in the region.
Darlington Mowden Park Rugby Club and Newcastle Red Bulls have joined forces with an ambitious vision to boost player development and make the North East a hotbed for the sport.
The long-term partnership sees newly appointed Mowden head coach Darren ‘Daz’ Fearn become a central figure within the Newcastle Red Bulls coaching and player development pathway, creating closer links between the two clubs and providing enhanced opportunities for emerging talent.
The collaboration is designed to build a stronger regional rugby ecosystem, ensuring talented players can continue their development within the North East while helping both clubs thrive over the coming years.
Director of Rugby Neil Young believes the partnership marks the beginning of a crucial journey for Darlington Mowden Park.
He said: “This is a hugely exciting time for DMP and we are proud to be part of what Newcastle Red Bulls are building. Having Daz Fearn working across both programmes creates a genuine connection between our clubs and gives our players access to an outstanding coaching environment.
“This isn’t about immediate results; it’s about building something sustainable together. We are pulling together as one club, from the U7s upwards, offering aspirations to play at any level, from juniors to Mowden, to Newcastle Red Bulls, to the newly launched women’s and girls’ teams and everyone can feel proud as the club moves together.
“We are a community club at heart and are very keen to push on. This partnership with Red Bulls has come at a good time. We were striving to get back into National 1 any way but this will undoubtedly help that process with greater access to players and resources, which is very exciting.”
Neil believes the initiative will give the clubs fresh impetus to challenge at the highest levels of the English game and keep the best players in the North East.
“By working closely with Newcastle Red Bulls, sharing expertise and aligning our programmes, we are creating an environment where everyone can continue to improve and where our ambitions as a club are matched by the opportunities available to our players and coaches,” he said.
“The ambition is to create an environment where the very best players don’t feel they have to leave the region to fulfil their potential. If we can keep developing local players, local coaches and local clubs together, there’s no reason why the North East can’t become a real rugby hotbed.”
The partnership will see Mowden provide an important bridge, offering ambitious players meaningful senior rugby in an environment closely aligned with Newcastle Red Bulls’ coaching philosophy and long-term performance objectives.
Newcastle Red Bulls academy and pathways director John Fletcher said: “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. We will still have strong links with the likes of Tynedale, Billingham and others and we want more clubs from our region in the national leagues.
“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.
“Darren has a 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.
“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.
“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.”