Stockton Town Football Club, nicknamed “The Anchors,” is a non-league football club based in Stockton-on-Tees, Durham.
Established in 1987, they currently compete in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Premier Division, which is part of the seventh tier of English football. The team calls Bishopton Road their home ground.
The club began when youth coach Derrick Small organised five-a-side matches for children at the YMCA. In 1981 an under-12 team entered the Teesside Junior Football Alliance and adopted yellow-and-royal colours worn today. New age groups followed, sponsorship arrived, and a Belgian youth tournament was won 5–0 in 1983.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s team numbers fluctuated but several juniors—Mark Sunley, Ian Hutchinson, Chris Hope, Rob Lake and Lee Roxby—gained professional and national recognition. Peter MacLean became chairman in 1993, succeeded by Maurice Bell in 1998, who oversaw a push into FA coaching schemes. The club secured Charter Standard accreditation in 2002 and, renamed Stockton Town, Community Club status in 2004.
From 2005 the club collected local and FA grassroots awards and saw alumnus Jonathan Franks score twice on his England under-16 debut. A £1.4 million facility upgrade in 2008 enabled wider community links and the launch of a senior team that rose from the Teesside League in 2009 to four successive Wearside League titles. A 3G stadium opened in 2016, promotion to Northern League Division Two followed with an immediate title win, record crowds and further youth honours such as Sonni Coleman’s England under-18 selection.