Craig Skelton (born 14 September 1980) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a striker in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

and in

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

for a large number of clubs, mostly in the north east of England.

Football career

Darlington

As a youngster with

, the

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

-born Skelton was a regular goalscorer for the junior teams. Celtic's city rivals Rangers also showed an interest, but an ankle injury prevented further progress. He returned to Scotland for further trials after his recovery, but no move ensued. In February 2000, Skelton signed on loan for

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

club

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

: his debut, playing in midfield in a home defeat to the division's bottom club,

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

, was described in the local newspaper as "a baptism of fire for Skelton, who could add nothing to an ineffective Robins attack, and found himself in referee Clattenburg's book for an over-zealous challenge". He appeared in four Conference matches without scoring. In October, his improved scoring form for Darlington's reserves earned him inclusion in the first-team squad for the visit to

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the ...

. With Cardiff a goal up, Skelton came on for his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debut as an 82nd-minute substitute, but Darlington were unable to prevent the home side increasing their lead. He made no more first-team appearances for the club and, to the reported surprise of supporters, was released at the end of November when his latest monthly contract expired.

Non-league football

He signed for Whitby Town of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

, with whom he spent what remained of the season. He moved on to

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is a football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secretary before fo ...

, also of the Northern Premier League, for 2001–02, but by March 2002 was back with Whitby. In November 2002, he signed for Northern League club Billingham Town, and scored 19 goals to help them reach the highest league finish in their history, third in the Northern League First Division. Early the next season, he returned to the Northern Premier with

Spennymoor United Spennymoor United Association Football Club was an association football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, England. History Spennymoor United Association Football Club was formed in 1904 as an amalgamation of Spennymoor Town and Weardale ...

, newly promoted to the First Division, but he stayed there only a month before being released back to Billingham. In his first game back, away at Durham City, he scored what was believed to be the fastest Northern League goal ever, after no more than eight seconds, and he was a member of the team that beat

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surro ...

to win the 2004

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

, the first major trophy in the Billingham club's history. Skelton began the 2004–05 season with Billingham, but soon moved on to fellow Northern League side

Thornaby Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Tees's southern bank. It is in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 24,74 ...

, and in January 2005, dropped down a division to join Northallerton Town, for whom he scored twice on his debut in a 3–1 win at

Marske United Marske United Football Club is a football club based in Marske-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mount Pleasant. History The club was established in 1956 by members of Marske Cricket Club.

and scored 14 goals as they came close to achieving promotion. He broke his ankle in the following pre-season, and was only able to return in the last few weeks of the campaign as Northallerton clinched promotion to the First Division. Skelton missed much of the season with injuries, and returned to the Northern League second tier with Guisborough Town in the 2007 close season. He moved to Marske United for 2008–09, helping them reach the quarter-finals of the 2009

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

fifth place in Northern League Division Two in 2008–09 and fourth in 2009–10. After a first foray into the

Wearside League The Wearside Football League is a non-league football competition based in northern England. It consists of three divisions which sits at steps 7 to 9 (or levels 11 to 13) of the National League System and is a feeder to the Northern League Di ...

with Redcar Athletic for 2010–11, Skelton rejoined Marske United, newly promoted to the first tier of the Northern League, for 2011–12. He soon left for the second tier with former club Thornaby, but returned to Marske United in March 2012. He started the next season back with Redcar Athletic in the Wearside League.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skelton, Craig 1980 births Living people Footballers from Middlesbrough English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Darlington F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Whitby Town F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players Billingham Town F.C. players Spennymoor United A.F.C. players Northallerton Town F.C. players Guisborough Town F.C. players Marske United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Northern Football League players Thornaby F.C. players