You could probably have made this argument about Stockton Town not so long ago. But even ignoring the fact that there is currently no such page in their programme, doing so now would require ignoring their recent meteoric rise. Plus, even though their history may be relatively short, there is definitely a noteworthy past to some of the previous clubs that have had a home in the town. I can assure you I have definitely come to a place with a real footballing pedigree - and that’s even ignoring the EFL Championship side that sits 7 miles away in the town next door.
The North Eastern town of Stockton-on-Tees sits beside Middlesbrough along the River Tees and is definitely the lesser-known sibling of the two in both a footballing and none footballing sense. Stockton is arguably to Middlesbrough what Salford is to Manchester.
Teesside has traditionally had a lot of heavy industry, and the smoke or smog from its many factories, including the famous ICI plant, gave rise to the phrase Smoggie, a derogatory term for people from the area. Whether or not this reputation is still justified is perhaps debatable, however, as this is a metropolis that has changed a lot over the years, with regeneration having transformed many parts of Middlesbrough and Stockton. This includes Stockton’s Northshore development on the banks of the Tees and the accompanying rather impressive Infinity footbridge that crosses the river. Very different from Middlesbrough’s iconic Transporter Bridge, which formed part of the areas industrial past.
On the other hand, there has recently been a lot of negative media coverage from Teesside stemming from an incident on the A66 which passes through the area. Joyriders driving the wrong way down the road crashed into a police car, causing seven fatalities, including the deaths of two police officers. This has led to plenty of stories about local disorder and county lines drug gangs. Bearing all this in mind, I am a little unsure what to expect when I alight the train at Stockton station on a warm August bank holiday, ready to watch their local football team in action.
Initially I find myself at a small terminus tucked out of the way by sheltered accommodation - all a bit inconspicuous. The station is only a short walk from the town centre, but I head in the opposite direction towards Stockton Town Football Club and their MAP Group UK Stadium home. It is roughly a 25 minute walk, and along the way I walk past bungalows with neat front gardens, a couple of smart looking churches, and much larger houses hidden behind big gates. All very gentile and in places perhaps even a little opulent. It could be that this is the well to do part of town, but either way, the Stockton I see certainly does not fit all those stereotypes.
I am also unsure what to expect when I arrive at the stadium, which is, for a club of this stature, unusually situated at a local sixth form college. This is next to a Sainsbury’s supermarket. Nicknamed the Anchors due to the town’s seafaring and shipbuilding heritage, Stockton Town, the team that plays here at the college, are currently members of the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League, the seventh tier of English football, or step 3 of the non-league pyramid. This is the club’s third season playing at this level, having had four promotions in the previous nine years to get here and comes having only been playing senior football since 2009, when they joined the Teesside League.
For a team that has seemingly come from nowhere, however, attendances are more than respectable. Last season they averaged 724, albeit down from 879 the previous one. Having said that, Stockton Town may have only been around for five minutes, but the town itself does have some real footballing heritage,
Formed in 1882 and nicknamed the Ancients, Stockton FC were the original pioneers of football in the town and three times winners of the once prestigious, now long gone, FA Amateur Cup. They also finished runners-up in the same competition a further five times. Those Amateur Cup final victories came in 1899, 1903, and 1912.
Stockton lost their first two finals to Old Carthusians and, interestingly, the first came two years after their current EFL Championship neighbours Middlesbrough took home the trophy in 1895, whilst the second came a year before Middlesbrough’s second and final triumph in the competition. The Boro, as they are also known, would soon turn professional and join the Football League, where they eventually became the big name we know today.
20,479 spectators turned up at Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park ground for the 1912 final against fellow Teesiders Eston United, who would sadly fold in 1929. A 0-0 draw was followed by a replay at the same venue on a Thursday afternoon, and although many would have been at work, 12,531 were still in attendance to watch Stockton hold on for a 1-0 win after taking a fifth minute lead.
Stockton reached the final for the last time in 1933, when they lost to Kingstonian in a replay at Darlington’s old Feethams ground in front of a crowd of 16,492, after having seen over 20,000 at the initial game at Champion Hill, Dulwich.
Five times winners of the Northern League, then a top amateur division, the club later joined the professional (and semi-perofessional) game where they won the old North Eastern League in 1951, finishing a point ahead of Middlesbrough Reserves who played in the division at the time. The following season they reached the third round of the FA Cup where they lost at Notts County.
Stockton FC’s Victoria Ground is now long gone, demolished in 1975, but in another part of town sits the Norton Sports Complex, home of Norton & Stockton Ancients. The club were originally founded in 1959 as Norton Cricket Club Trust by members of a local cricket team who had wanted a sport to play in the winter after the cricket season ended. In 1980, however, they became Norton & Stockton Ancients when the original Stockton FC were wound up and their remaining assets transferred to the cricket club. Stockton had struggled after the North Eastern League disbanded in 1958, moving between several leagues after being denied re-entry into the Northern League.
The new club would actually join the Northern League themselves but resigned midway through the 2016-17 season. From 2019, they did briefly field a team in the Wearside League, but currently, they only field a senior team in the women’s game, something Stockton Town also do, I should add.
The men’s team had a fairly uneventful history but did draw a club record crowd of 1,526 when they faced FC United of Manchester in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup in 2010. Stockton Town are due to start their own FA Cup campaign the following Saturday after today’s bank holiday Monday fixture I am here to attend, but today is a league affair and local derby to boot! Nearby Redcar Athletic are the visitors.
For those of you familiar with non-league and grassroots football, you will know that more often than not, turning up to a school for a match means a 3G cage at step 7 or below, somewhere I personally wouldn’t go out of my way to visit. You certainly wouldn’t expect to find a step 3 Northern Premier League ground, unless, of course, you came to Stockton.
It is a bit surreal walking through the school gates at Stockton Sixth Form College knowing that you are heading to an actual proper football ground on site. But walking past picnic tables, the college buildings right in front of me, I turn left and head towards the stadium, where I pay a £14 entry fee and, once inside, £2.50 for a matchday programme.
The ground has two seated stands on the near side of the pitch with a total seating capacity of 600. The seats in the larger of the two stands look far less faded in colour, so perhaps that stand is newer, unless of course the seats have recently been replaced. It is funny what things stand out to you, though.
Aside from two small and very basic covered standing sections at one end, it is a case of standing around the pitch at ground level for most spectators. In between the two seated stands is a wooden hospitality building, whilst at the far end past those stands are portakadbin type buildings which house changing rooms, toilets and a refreshments kiosk for food and drink. Another ‘can bar’ is situated further along beyond the hospitality structure. The ground has a 3G pitch, which means it can handle a lot of use, and no doubt students at the college have access to it outside matchdays.
With the college buildings sat in the background behind the stands, the stadium actually feels a little more homely than one might think given what it is. This is a straightforward, simple but efficient affair, clearly of a team that has had to build a lot in a short space of time to meet the growing demands of each new promotion. However you feel about the aesthetics, though, it more than does the job.
Today’s opponents are Redcar Athletic, who themselves have had a meteoric rise similar to that of Stockton Town. Redcar have had four promotions in the last eight years and two consecutive ones before this season. Sitting two divisions lower, cross-town neighbours Redcar Town have also had two promotions in the last five years. But it is today’s opponents Stockton, who sit 13 miles west, that are their closest rivals in the league this season for what should, hopefully, be two hotly contested Teesside derbies starting with today’s Bank Holiday affair.
Redcar currently sit third in the table with 15 points from their opening seven games whilst Stockton have just four. Stockton will need big improvements in their league form to repeat the previous two seasons' feats of reaching the play-offs. They were losing semi-finalists in both of those two play-off campaigns, but three seasons ago Stockton were actually promoted via the play-offs when a record home crowd of 1,800 saw them defeat Dunston UTS in a final on home soil.
Before that most recent promotion to English football’s seventh tier, Stockton had spent three seasons in the Northern Premier League’s East Division, which forms part of its second and bottom tier. This came after moving up from Division One of the EBAC Northern League in 2021, when they were awarded promotion based on combined results from two unfinished COVID-19 seasons.
Their two prior promotions came in 2015-16 and 2016-17, the latter of which was followed by a trip to Wembley the subsequent year for the FA Vase final. That final sadly ended in a 1-0 defeat to Thatcham Town, with roughly 4,500 fans having travelled down from Stockton for the match.
For today’s match, there are 1316 paying spectators in attendance, including what feels like a healthy number of away fans. The most vociferous home fans congregate under one of the two small covered standing sections that sit at one end of the stadium. Interestingly, there are signs by this small section of the stadium stating ‘home supporters only’. Does that mean the other well over three quarters of the stadium is the away end? I guess not, but in no other completely unsegregated non-league stadium have I ever seen a home fans only area like this.
Before kick-off, there is an impeccably observed minute of silence for those deceased police officers I mentioned earlier. Once the game gets underway, there is not much to shout about in the first half, with the most notable chance coming bang on half-time when the visitors hit the post. The second-half is a different story, however, and Stockton are completely outclassed by a rampant Redcar side who surprisingly only score twice. Goals in the 66th and 77th minutes settle the game and give the visitors a comfortable 2-0 win.
Despite events on the pitch, the home fans seem in a rather playful mood and chants of “We are going down!” follow Redcar’s second goal. This is soon replaced by “The only way is Up!” Sometimes you just have to make light of a bad situation.
Back at the train station after the game, a group of young Redcar fans are in high spirits. The Stockton support, meanwhile, will most probably be drowning their sorrows. But despite today’s result, those locals in attendance can still be proud of what their club has achieved in a short space of time. Those amateur glory days of clubs past may be long gone but, despite today’s on-field setback, football, it seems, is still alive and well in this town.
