The name chosen was Darlington 1883, and that club was placed in the Northern League Division One, the ninth tier of English football, for the 2012–13 season.

In July 1883, a meeting was called in Darlington Grammar School to address concerns that so few Darlington-based football clubs were entering the major competition in the region, the Durham Challenge Cup.

Darlington Football Club duly entered the Durham Challenge Cup, reached the final in their first season, and won the trophy in 1885.

[4] Ground improvements begun before the First World War left the club in financial difficulty during it; the chairman of Darlington Forge Albion financed the completion of the East Stand and cleared the debts, allowing them to continue to compete.

[10][B] The 1957–58 season saw the club equal their previous best FA Cup run, reaching the last 16 by defeating Chelsea, Football League champions only three years earlier, in the fourth round.

[13] An immediate return to the Football League as Conference champions preceded the Fourth Division title in 1990–91, but Little's departure for Leicester City was followed by relegation and a succession of short-term managers.

[16] The 1999–2000 season, the first under George Reynolds' chairmanship, was marked by Darlington becoming the first team to lose an FA Cup tie and still qualify for the next round.

After a 3–0 aggregate semi-final win over Hartlepool United, Quakers missed numerous chances and were again undone by a single goal, this time from Andy Clarke.

[18] In 2002, Darlington made unsuccessful approaches to sign international stars Paul Gascoigne and Faustino Asprilla,[19] and moved into their new stadium, named the Reynolds Arena, in summer 2003.

A benefit match, featuring footballers such as Gascoigne, Bryan Robson and Kenny Dalglish, played in front of a crowd of over 14,000, raised £100,000 to help ensure survival in the short term.

[23] At the end of the season, Reynolds was obliged to hand over control to the Sterling Consortium to bring the club out of administration,[24] Stewart Davies taking over as chairman.

He and his staff adopted a fan-friendly approach, in contrast to the abrasive Reynolds, before in 2006, the club was sold to property developer George Houghton.

[21][25] For four consecutive seasons, under Hodgson, sacked in 2006, and then under successor Dave Penney, the Quakers finished in the top half of the table, reaching the play-off semi-final in 2008 only to lose to Rochdale on penalties.

[33][34] The club were eventually relegated to the Conference,[35] and suffered more managerial turmoil during the summer when Simon Davey and successor Ryan Kidd both left within 11 days, to leave Mark Cooper in charge.

[34] He led the club to victory in the 2011 FA Trophy final at Wembley Stadium, defeating Mansfield Town 1–0 with a goal from Chris Senior in the last minute of extra time.

[38] A number of players were released and allowed to join other clubs for nominal fees in January before interim manager Craig Liddle and the remaining playing staff had their contracts terminated by Darlington's administrator.

Because it failed to agree a creditors voluntary agreement,[43] the club was expelled from the Football Association and was eventually wound up in the High Court.

[50] The new ownership were committed to paying off debts incurred under the previous owners; five months later, the club made a final payment on tax owed to HMRC.

[54] However, the club were unable to make it three promotions in a row, as despite finishing in the National League North play-off positions in 2016–17, ground grading issues prevented their participation.

[62] In Armstrong's first season as manager, Darlington qualified for the first round of the FA Cup for the first time since they were reformed in 2012, including wins all away from home against Trafford, Leamington and Tamworth.

[5][63] In the first round, they played away again against League Two side Walsall and the match finished 2–2 with midfielder Joe Wheatley getting a 97th-minute equaliser to get a replay at Blackwell Meadows.

[64] Darlington did then lose the first round replay 1–0 in a record crowd since their first game at Blackwell Meadows with the attendance of 3,106, which was shown in front of the BT Sport cameras.

[66] Josh Gowling replaced Armstrong, but only lasted three months before he was dismissed after only winning three out of sixteen games during his tenure and left the club second bottom in the league.

Across the bottom of the shield is a ribbon bearing the club's nickname, The Quakers, and the whole rests on a bed of oak leaves, symbolic of strength and endurance.

[75] The capacity was restricted to just 10,000 because of county and local planning regulations,[A] but attendances rarely reached 3,000, and in 2011, the club's receivers put it up for sale.

[80] Plans had originally been laid down to groundshare with Shildon,[81] but arrangements were eventually for Darlington to share Bishop Auckland's Heritage Park ground from the start of the 2012/13 season.

[83] In March 2016, it was confirmed that Darlington aimed to relocate by the start of the 2016/17 season, with expansion plans in place to increase the capacity to 3,000, as required for promotion to the National League.

The team's mascots included Mr Q, "a flat-looking cartoon man with a very big hat", Darlo Dog, a Dalmatian who was once ejected from the ground for climbing on the advertising boards in front of television cameras,[94] and a panda named Feethams.

[109] As part of the 2003 "Farewell to Feethams" celebrations, a competition in the club programme selected the following all-time "Dream Team": Mark Prudhoe, Ron Greener, Craig Liddle, Kevan Smith, John Peverell, Andy Toman, David McLean, Alan Sproates, Alan Walsh, Marco Gabbiadini and Colin Sinclair.

^ The Darlington Arena was built to hold 25,000 seated spectators, yet a condition was imposed at the planning stage that "at no time should the owner of the property admit or permit the admission of more than 10,000 people to the new stadium".