Flying from Katowice the group were collected from Doncaster/Sheffield airport and arrived at the Central Premier Inn Darlington late on Wednesday 2nd May.
From 2nd to 7th May 19 young footballers and 6 adults from Niepolomice were in Darlington. On Thursday at 1000 they were invited to the Town Hall where they met the Mayor Councillor Jan Taylor and learned about the history of the Town. They then spent free time around Darlington before meeting Hummersknott Badminton Club at the Dolphin Centre, where they had 2 hours of 5 a side football and badminton, followed by an excellent buffet.
On Friday they visited the Head of Steam Railway Museum and then the new Arthur Wharton Football Museum, (not yet officialy open, so they were the first visitors.), where they were given a talk on Arthur's achievements by Shaun Campbell. Later that day they played against Carmel College, a game which players and spectators alike enjoyed. This was followed by a meal in the Town and an early night as they were all very tired.
Saturday was the big friendly football competition at the excellent Eastbourne Sports Complex. This had been well organised by Les Hughes of Middleton Rangers, and other boys teams were from York and Teesside, and girls teams from Boldon and Peterlee. Matches were of half an hour length, but as everyone played against all the other teams it was very tiring for the youngsters. They really enjoyed the day and all players received medals and special trophies were presented to Middleton Rangers and our Polish Guests.
On Sunday 27 of us went to the Stadium of Light for the Sunderland v Wolves match. First stop was Seaburn because most of the group had never seen the sea as they are landlocked in their home town. It was a beautiful day and the first smell of the sea air brought delight to their faces, and they really enjoyed an hour on the beach before being driven to the Stadium. Sunderland FC had been great - good seats all at only £10 each, photos on the pitch, signed photos of the players, meeting some of the players for further photos and finally visiting the shop were there was a sale with it being the final game of the season. The game was really exciting with a 3-0 win for Sunderland, and the youngsters joined in the singing and applause with the rest of the 28400 crowd.
Monday thay packed their cases on the bus early and left for a tour of the Newcastle United stadium. I boarded the coach to say goodbye, as they were going straight from Newcastle to the Airport at Doncaster, and my last memory was of them singing "Sunderland till I die" > Great to have 25 new supporters!!
DTTIA would like to thank Darlington Building Society, the Rotary Club of Darlington and the Premier Inn for their great support in this venture.
Report by Tom Nutt
Participants from KS Dab Zabierzow Bochenski, Niepolomice;
Stanislaw Losinski Chairman, Bartlomiej Knapczyk Coach, Magdalena Knapczyk Medical staff, Piotr Nowak Councillor, Marek Bartozek Press and media officer, Grzegorz Samek Senior player Wiktoria Samek Supporter.
Young players; Piotr Kubik Filip Nowak Patryk Styczen Jakub Kasprzyk Mateusz Niedziela Dominik Mazur Jakub Mech Kacper Lasek Krysztof Warecki Jakub Knapczyk Mikolaj Solarz Bartlomiej Solga Kacper Kowacki Kacper Nowak Michal Gorycki Alan Duda Adam Sendor.
Darlington; Lukasz Samek Les Hughes Philip Boyle Dominica Samek Simon Hannaford Andrew Summers Paul Soderman Tom Nutt.
Photos to follow.