Dunstable Town Football Club is a football club based in
Dunstable
Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, 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 ...
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 knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
for the first time, eventually losing 3–1 at
Margate
Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook.
The town has been a significan ...
.
In 1961 Dunstable switched to the
United Counties League
The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckinghamshi ...
, 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. A winger, Fry was an apprentice at Manchester United in his youth, and had brief spells with Bolton Wanderers, Luton Town and Leyton Orient, before he reti ...
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 and ...
and
George Best
George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest p ...
, as well as arranging a friendly match against his former club Manchester United.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.
With the formation of the
Conference North
The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...
and South, 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 representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
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 Midland ...
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. It currently has a capacity of 3,500, of which 350 is seated and 1,000 covered.
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 knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
performance: First round, 1956–57
*Best FA Trophy performance: First round, 2004–05
*Best FA Vase performance: Fifth round, 2010–11
*Record attendance: c. 10,000 vs Manchester United, friendly, July 1974
*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 in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...
, 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 letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
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 ...