Princes Park Special: A stadium where families can watch the Darts - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

A capacity crowd of 4,097 witnessed Dartford win their first game back in the town following their 14-year exile, beating plucky Horsham YMCA 4-2 in an entertaining game yesterday.

“What an absolutely fantastic day,” Burgess said EXCLUISVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“I arrived at the ground at 11:45am and saw the odd regular and board members with huge smiles on their faces and the odd one shedding a tear.

“When the gates opened at approximately 12pm, the little kids faces started glowing and hearing them say “wow!” was just something you can normally only dream about at a Dartford FC game.

“To see every inch of the terracing well and truly filled to cramming point come kick off and to hear the volume from the singing Darts fans - both new and old - really was unbelievable.”

Mr Burgess revealed the Dartford public were very well behaved as football finally came back home to the town in style.

“With plenty of drink flowing all day there wasn’t a single piece of trouble as it really was a family day,” he said.

“As far as I could tell by looking at people’s expressions and hearing a few comments everybody seemed to thoroughly enjoy the whole day.

“We can only hope as a club that a lot of those new supporters will start to come back again and again, week after week, and they bring the kids along as well because this is a family club and the kids of today are our fans of the future.”

Mr Burgess enjoyed the event which was organised by Dartford Borough Council before and after the game, and thanked Cllr Jeremy Kite, leader of the council, for bringing his beloved club back home.

He said: "After a great performance by the lads on the pitch ending in an excellent 4-2 win, the day finished off with a fantastic firework display before most attendee’s made their way home.

“A lot of the regulars headed for a celebratory drink in the function suite and supporters bar.

“Can I just say a very, very big thank you to everyone connected with Dartford Football Club and at Dartford Borough Council for bringing us back home to where we belong, for giving us a fantastic stadium, and for giving us all one hell of a day to remember.

“I’ve been a Darts supporter for nearly 29 years now with my first game being at 18 months old and my dad following the team for over 53 years.

“Yesterday really does have to be one of the best days of our lives since being Darts fans!”

Don’t forget that the Darts will be playing their first midweek game at Princes Park on Tuesday night, when Boreham Wood visit in the fourth round of the Westview Cup.

Kick off is at 7:45pm and fans can turn up and pay at the turnstiles.

Fans can send in their views of opening day - please click on Contact Us.

Visit Dartford's websites:  www.dartfordfc.co.uk & www.dartfordfootballclub.co.uk