Jermaine Darlington

Football player infobox
playername = Jermaine Darlington


fullname = Jermaine Christopher Darlington
height = height|ft=5|in=9
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1974|4|11
cityofbirth = Hackney, London
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = Unattached
clubnumber =
position = Defender, Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1992-1993 1993-1994 1996-1997 1998-1999 1999-2001 2001-2004 2004 2004-2006 2006-2007
clubs = Charlton Athletic Dover Athletic Hendon Aylesbury United Queens Park Rangers Wimbledon Watford Cardiff City
AFC Wimbledon
caps(goals) = 002 (0) 00? (?) 00? (?) 040 (2) 079 (2) 113 (3) 035 (0) 009 (0) 031 (1)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 08-05-2006
ntupdate =

Jermaine Darlington (born 11 April 1974 in Hackney, London) is a former English football player who played as a left-sided midfielder or full-back.

Darlington began his career as a trainee at Charlton Athletic, where he played two first-team games near the end of the 1991-92 season. He was released a year later and dropped out of the professional game, continuing his career on a semi-professional basis. He got a second chance at league football in 1999, when he was signed by Queens Park Rangers from non-league club Aylesbury United [ [http://62.232.35.140/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=3429 Jermaine Darlington - Queens Park Rangers FC - Football-Heroes.net] ] for £25,000.

Darlington went on to make over 80 professional appearances for the R's before then First Division side Wimbledon bought him for £200,000 in 2001. He made over 100 appearances for The Dons, before being released at the end of the 2003-04 season.

Brief stints at Watford [ [http://www.bsad.org/gone/darlington.html Gone but not forgotten: Jermaine Darlington] ] and Cardiff City [ [http://www.football.co.uk/cardiff/players/jermaine_darlington_9617.shtml Jermaine Darlington Cardiff City FC player profile from football.co.uk] ] followed in 2004-05 and 2005-06 however with a knee injury restricting his first-team chances Darlington left Cardiff in the summer of 2006, effectively retiring from professional football.

Following a trial with AFC Wimbledon, Darlington agreed terms with the Dons in time for the game against Tonbridge Angels on 18 November, 2006, [ [http://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/news.php?Psection_id=2&Psub_section_id=2&op=archive&monthID=10&yearID=2006 AFC Wimbledon Official Site: Jermaine agrees terms] ] making him the first ex-Wimbledon FC player to play competitively for AFC Wimbledon ["NB:" While Darlington was the first ex-Wimbledon FC player to play competitively for AFC Wimbledon he was actually the second ex-Wimbledon FC player to join the club. The first was Roger Joseph who was at the club briefly at the start of the efs|2005-06 season but left after playing a just handful of pre-season friendly fixtures.] .

This move would prove costly for the Dons however as, due to an administrative error by the club in signing him, Darlington was initially ineligible to play for the club ["NB:" When Darlington signed for AFC Wimbledon his previous club was Cardiff City. Cardiff play in the English League structure, which is administered by The FA of England. However, as with other Welsh clubs competing in the English leagues, the players of Cardiff City are actually registerred to the FA of Wales. As a result of this, when Darlington signed for AFC Wimbledon, his registration was not held by the FA but by the FAW and as such he was regarded as an 'international' signing and the club was therefore required to seek 'international clearance' for his registration to be transferred from one FA to the other. AFC Wimbledon were not aware of this and as a result Darlington was considerred to be ineligible for competitive fixtures.] . The penalties the club received for this mistake were severe. The Dons were expelled from two cup competitions, the Surrey Senior Cup and the FA Trophy, for which the club was ordered to repay £12,000 in prize money, and also received a hefty penalty in the Isthmian League with 18 league points being docked [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/6339377.stm BBC: AFC Wimbledon deducted 18 points] ] in addition to a £400 fine & costs. This 18 point penalty was later reduced to just 3 points, after an appeal to The FA [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/6496543.stm: FA cuts AFC Wimbledon punishment] ] . Darlington was released at the end of the season by new Dons boss Terry Brown. [ [http://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/news.php?Psection_id=2&Psub_section_id=1&Open=2757 AFC Wimbledon Official Site: Terry Moves Close To Finalising Squad] ]

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