football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club based in
Dunstable
Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the fou ...
, Bedfordshire, England. Affiliated with the
Bedfordshire County Football Association
The Bedfordshire Football Association, also simply known as ''Bedfordshire FA'', is the governing body of football in the county of Bedfordshire, England. Founded in 1894, the Bedfordshire FA run a number of cups at different levels for teams a ...
, they are currently members of the and play at Creasey Park.
History
The club was established in October 1883 and were founder members of the Bedfordshire FA the following year.History Dunstable Town F.C. In their first competitive match they lost 4–3 to Luton Montrose in the Bedfordshire Senior Cup after being 3–0 up. However, the following season the club won the competition. In 1950 the club joined the
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 ...
for the first time, eventually losing 3–1 at
Margate
Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...
.
In 1961 Dunstable switched to the
United Counties League
The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''GCE Hire Fleet Ltd. United Counties League'') is an England, English association football, football league covering an area including the English Counties of the United Kingdom, ...
, but left after two seasons to rejoin the Metropolitan League, becoming one of only three first teams playing in Division Two. The following season saw the club moved into Division One, but in 1965 they were admitted to Division One of the Southern League. League restructuring saw them placed in the new Division One North for the 1971–72 season. They were moved into Division One South the following season and finished bottom of the division. Transferred back to Division One North for the 1973–74 season, they finished bottom of the table again.
Barry Fry
Barry Francis Fry (born 7 April 1945) is an English former football player and manager. An inside forward, Fry scored a goal for England Schoolboys in front of nearly 100,000 supporters at Wembley and was seen as the best player in the team. H ...
had become Dunstable manager towards the end of the 1973–74 season, and with chairman Keith Cheeseman providing him with blank cheques, Fry attracted several big name players to the club, most notably
Jeff Astle
Jeffrey Astle (13 May 1942 – 19 January 2002) was an English professional footballer who played the majority of his career as a centre-forward for West Bromwich Albion. Nicknamed "the King" by the club's fans, he played 361 games for them an ...
and
George Best
George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...
, as well as arranging a friendly match against his former club
Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
.They were Best of days but Fry is singing the Blues once again Bedfordshire News, 11 February 2011 Although Best only played in two friendly matches and made no competitive appearances for the club, Astle stayed at the club for that season and scored 34 goals as they finished as Division One North runners-up, earning promotion to the Premier Division. However, huge debts caused the club to fold midway through the 1975–76 season; a new club under the name Dunstable was formed to take over their fixtures. Despite finishing eighth in the league, they were demoted to Division One North.
Dunstable were transferred to Division One South for the 1978–79 season, and the following year league restructuring saw them placed in the Southern Division. They remained in the division until the end of the 1993–94 season, after which they folded. The club was re-established in 1998 and joined Division One of the
Spartan South Midlands League
The Spartan South Midlands Football League is an English football league covering Hertfordshire, northwest Greater London, central Buckinghamshire and southern Bedfordshire. It is a feeder to the Southern Football League or the Isthmian League, ...
. After winning the division in 1999–2000 without losing a match, they were promoted to the Senior Division. The following season saw them finish as Senior Division runners-up, earning promotion to the Premier Division. The club went on to win the Premier Division in 2002–03 and were promoted to Division One North of the
Isthmian League
The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs.
Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...
.
With the formation of the
Conference North
The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...
and
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
, a fifth-place finish in 2003–04 was enough for Dunstable to be promoted, although they were transferred to the Premier Division of the Southern League. However, they were relegated to the Western Division at the end of the 2004–05 season, which saw them finish in the bottom three. The following season saw them finish in the relegation zone, but the club were reprieved due to FA restructuring and moved to Division One Midlands. However, they were relegated back to the Spartan South Midlands League at the end of the 2008–09 season following a 13-point deduction.
In
2012–13
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
Dunstable won the Spartan South Midlands League without losing a match, as well as winning the league's Challenge Trophy and the Bedfordshire Premier Cup. After promotion to Division One Central of the Southern League, they went on to win the division at the first attempt, as well as the league's Champions Trophy, and were promoted to the Premier Division. In 2017–18 the club finished bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated to Division One Central. The following season saw them finish bottom of Division One Central, resulting in relegation to the Premier Division of the Spartan South Midlands League.
Reserve team
The club's reserve team joined Division One of the
South Midlands League
The South Midlands League was a football league covering Bedfordshire and some adjoining counties in England. It was founded in 1922 as the Bedfordshire County League and merged with the Spartan League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands ...
in 1951.South Midlands League 1950–1966 Non-League Matters They finished as runners-up in their first season, earning promotion to the Premier Division. They left the league in 1954, switching to the Hellenic League. They were Premier Division runners-up in 1957–58, after which they switched to the United Counties League. They went on to win back-to-back United Counties League titles in 1958–59 and 1959–60, but were demoted to Division Two in 1961 when the club's first team joined the league. In 1964 they returned to the Hellenic League, and were placed in Division One, but took over from the first team in the Metropolitan League for the 1965–66 season. They rejoined Division One of the United Counties League in 1967, but left at the end of the 1968–69 season.
Ground
From 1950 the club played at Kingsway, until moving to Brewers Hill. The ground was later renamed Creasey Park after Wally Creasey, one of the first directors of the club.
Honours
*Southern League
**Division One Central champions 2013–14
**Champions Cup winners 2013–14
*Spartan South Midlands League
**Premier Division champions 2002–03, 2012–13
**Division One champions 1999–2000
**Challenge Trophy winners 2012–2013
*Bedfordshire Premier Cup:
**Winners 1980–81, 1982–83, 1990–91, 2006–07, 2011–12, 2012–13
*Bedfordshire Senior Cup
**Winners 1895–96, 1956–57, 1959–60, 1979–80, 1982–83, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2008–09
*Bedfordshire Intermediate Cup
**Winners 1999–2000, 2008–09
*Bedfordshire Floodlit Cup
**Winners 2007–08
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: First round, 1956–57
*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 round, 2004–05
*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, 2010–11
*Record attendance: c. 10,000 vs
Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
, friendly, July 1974Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2016) ''Non-League Club Directory 2017'', Tony Williams Publications, p252
*Biggest win: 12–0 vs
Welwyn Garden City
Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second Garden city movement, garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first New towns in the United Kingdom, new towns (designated 1948). It is ...
, Spartan South Midlands League, 2009–10
*Heaviest defeat: 13–0 vs Arsenal 'A', Metropolitan League
*Record transfer fee received: £20,000 from
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
for
Kerry Dixon
Kerry Michael Dixon (born 24 July 1961) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a forward.
His club career was spent most notably at Chelsea, where he won the Second Division twice. His 193 goals for the club across all ...