Darlington Mowden Park are delighted to announce that Ralph Appleby has re-signed with the club ahead of the 2019/20 National One season. The Mowden front rower has made over 200 appearances in the blue and white shirt across a decade at the club, making him the 1st XVs longest serving player. After extending his stay at the club, Appleby commented: “It’s been great to be part of the club for the last 10 years seeing players and the club grow. I am excited to see what happens in the future! The progression has been huge, I have seen a lot of players come and go!”

The DMP prop made his debut in 2008 against Fylde, a game that still stuck in the memory: “I came on for Danny Brown and then we started to get dominate the scrum and continued to do so the game after that. The crowd was so much bigger than I had played in front of before, amazing atmosphere!”

The 29 year-old has since gone on to make over 200 appearances for the club, and will be going into his 12th season with the 1st XV in 2019/20. Asked about his highlight from his time with the club so far, he said: “Getting promoted to National One, I think the game was the complete performance against Ampthill and the crowd was amazing.”

The current season has seen Appleby make 24 appearances, missing only a handful of games through injury in February and March. The prop also opened Mowden’s account for the season, scoring their first try of the season against Bishop’s Stortford in September. Looking ahead to another season at the Arena, Appleby added: “The aim is to progress the next generation of players into the first team; it’s been class watch players like Alfie grow this year. I’m looking forward to taking a leadership role and hopefully leading from the front!”

Ralph has signed up for 2019/20 – Have you? You can now join the Mowden Family and purchase your Mowden Memberships online by clicking here.