FOR all the sentimentality surrounding Feethams as the former home of Darlington Football Club, the site has to be demolished.

It has been shamefully allowed to become a hazardous eyesore, a blot on the town's landscape, and a target of vandals and arsonists since Darlington Football Club hot-footed it to Neasham Road back in the heady days when George Reynolds was viewed as a saviour instead of a tax-cheating fantasist.

Something had to be done and, as the authority responsible for public safety, Darlington Borough Council has no choice but to send in the bulldozers.

The question is what happens next? The Darlington Cricket Field Trust, which owns the site, says no decisions have been made.

But it is an open secret that the intention is to sell off the land for housing and invest the money in new cricket club facilities. We can understand the cricket club taking that view but we believe it is a narrow one.

We hear so much from national and local politicians about the importance of grass roots sport and its impact on health and anti-social behaviour.

So wouldn't it be in the wider interests of the people of Darlington if that rare expanse of green space could be preserved as a centre for community sport?

We believe that to be the spirit of the trust in which the land was left to the town. And it would be a scandal if this valuable asset, bequeathed to Darlington, was flogged off for another housing estate.