Billingham Town Football Club is a football club based in

Billingham Billingham is a List of towns in England, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in County Durham, England. The town is on the north side of the River Tees and is governed as part of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees unitary authority ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. They are currently members of the and play at Bedford Terrace.

History

The club was established by Tom Donnelly and Robbie Cushley in 1967 as Billingham Social.History of the Club
Billingham Town F.C. They joined Division Two of the Stockton & District League in 1968 and went on to win it in their first season. After promotion to Division A, they went on to win the league title three seasons in a row and win the League Cup twice. In 1974 Billingham joined the Teesside League, which they won in 1978–79. After winning a second title in 1981–82,Teesside League since 1978
Non-League Matters the club was promoted to the new Division Two of the Northern League and adopted its current name, A fourth-place finish in 1984–85 saw them promoted to Division One, but they were relegated at the end of the following season after finishing bottom of the table. Following a fourth-place finish in 1987–88, Billingham were promoted back to Division One. Despite finishing fifth in their first season in the new division, they were relegated back to Division Two in 1989–90 after finishing second-from-bottom. They remained in Division Two until promotion back to Division One at the end of the 1996–97 season, which saw them finish as runners-up. In 2003–04 they won the

Durham Challenge Cup The Durham County Challenge Cup (commonly known as the Durham Challenge Cup) is an annual association football, football competition held between the clubs of the Durham County Football Association which was first played in 1884. It is the seni ...

, beating

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...

2–0 in the final. The 2006–07 season saw them finish as Division One runners-up, with

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It was formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around ...

winning the title on goal difference. The following season they won the League Cup, beating

Shildon Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...

2–1 in the final. In 2013–14 the club finished bottom of Division One and were relegated to Division Two. They were Division Two champions in 2018–19, earning promotion back to Division One. They lasted just three years in Division One, the first two of which were ended early due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

before being relegated back to Division Two at the end of the 2021–22 season. In 2023–23 season the club finished fourth in Division Two, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Bedlington Terriers 3–2 on penalties in the semi-finals (after a 2–2 draw), they lost the final 5–4 on penalties to Birtley Town following another 2–2 draw. Financial Misconduct Incident In December 2020, the former manager of Billingham Town Football Club was involved in a VAT scam, using approximately £80,000 to pay the club's playe
Manager used £80,000 VAT scam to pay Billingham Town Football Club players
Darlington and Stockton Times.. The manager narrowly avoided prison after being found guilty of defrauding the fun
Ex-Billingham Town manager wrongly used VAT scam funds
Gazette Live.. This incident highlighted significant financial misconduct within the club's manageme
Ex-Billingham Town manager wrongly used VAT scam funds
Gazette Live..

Ground

The club initially played at Mill Lane, which had sloped to the extent that the crossbar was level with the top of one of the corner flags. They moved to Bedford Terrace in 1981, with floodlights installed in 1992–93.

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

funded the laying of a new pitch in 2007 in order to play their reserve matches at the ground. The ground has a capacity of 3,000, of which 176 is seated and 600 covered. The record attendance of 1,500 was set for an

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

game against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

match in 1985.

Honours

*Northern League **Division Two champions 2018–19 **League Cup winners 2007–08 *Teesside League **Champions 1978–79, 1981–82 *Stockton & District League **Division Two champions 1968–69 *Durham Challenge Cup **Winners 2003–04 *Durham Amateur Cup **Winners 1975–76

Records

*Best

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

performance: Fourth qualifying round, 2000–01 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

performance: First qualifying round, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1989–90 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

performance: Fifth round, 1997–98 *Record attendance: 1,500 vs

, 1985 *Most appearances: Paul Rowntree, 505 *Most goals: Paul Rowntree, 396

References

External links