At the time, I wondered what the DMN was losing by allowing it's content (linked) on a football forum.
Couple that with, the DMN isn't going after any other site that I've ever even remotely heard of, for links back to their content. It just smells a bit fishy, considering the source.
But on the flip side, why would the owner of a football sight not want DMN articles linked in his forum?
Owner of a football site that is known for forbidding certain topics.... Perhaps there's an axe to grind there, maybe the DMN publishes too many "negative" articles to suit them? Perhaps it's a ban of DMN by them, not DMN going after them at all.
It has two "advantages." First and foremost, there's the "look how important and relevant we are, the big city newspaper READS here!" and, the handy tool for having a convenient excuse to delete content of topics they don't like. "Hey, don't blame us for deleting your thread, we told you links back to and content from the DMN is verboten!"
Totalitarian regime that by all accounts it is, it's not a stretch if they faked the whole thing. Their credibility is long suspect.