The club first saw the light of day in 1975 as a humble works outfit when former Chairman, John Thompson, with some of his colleagues at HMSO on the Team Valley Trading Estate, decided to form a football team. The club joined the Newcastle City Amateur League playing at the Civil Service Sports Ground, Longbenton.

Early success inspired the club to progress and a piece of land was leased from Gateshead M.B.C. and the committee began to develop what is now the UTS Stadium.

The club were now gaining much success in the Northern Combination and with aspirations to progress further they approached the Federation Brewery to become the club’s main sponsor. With the Federation Brewery as their main sponsor the club joined the Wearside League in 1987 and after another period of success the club felt a need to seek new opportunities and an application was made to join the prestigious Northern League. The club had now realised one of its main ambitions and entered the National Pyramid of Non League Football. In its second season in the Northern League the club won the Second Division and was promoted to the First Division.

Since joining the Northern League the club has won the Second Division, been First Division Champions twice, League Cup winners on five occasions and JR Cleator Cup winners on five occasions. Included in these successes were back to back First Division title winners and League Cup winners in seasons 2003/2004 and 2004/2005. A magnificent achievement.

Season 2007/2008 had seen the club lose the word Brewery from its name as sadly it lost the main sponsor. After a period of 18 years of continuous sponsorship the Federation Brewery was taken over by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries who continued to sponsor the club for a further two seasons and after a period of twenty years the club had lost its main sponsor and had no association with a brewery. In our hour of need two new companies became involved with the club to partially compensate for the loss of our main sponsor.

Dunston Van and Truck Centre became our home shirt sponsor and Astley Signs became our away shirt sponsor. Both companies are still with us at the present time. Season 2008/2009 a company, UTS Engineering (Utility Technology Services), became involved by sponsoring the player’s travel and training kit and during the close season of 2009/2010 they kindly agreed to become the club’s principal sponsor.

The club name was changed from Dunston Federation F.C. to Dunston UTS F.C, the name of the ground was changed to the UTS Stadium and company owner, Mr. Shaun Sadler became Club President.

The Club enjoyed a momentous season in 2011-2012 when finishing third in the Northern League and earning a visit to Wembley Stadium. The journey began at home in Round 2 when we faced unknown Blackwell Miners Welfare from the East Midlands Counties League. The Derbyshire side didn’t know what hit them as Dunston won 12-1 to record their biggest ever win in the FA Vase.

Next up was Parkgate from Rotherham in Round 3 and another home draw and another fine win by 3-1. Round 4 brought a tough match against Wisbech Town away. The match ended in a 2-2 draw after extra-time. The replay saw the Eastern Counties League side score first but Dunston battled back and won 3-1 in the end.

Round 5 and another home draw against Essex Senior League Bethnal Green United and they were sent back to London on the end of a 3-0 defeat.

Round 6 saw us away at Peterborough Northern Star of the United Counties Premier League and it was a great game for any supporters of non-league football as it swung one way then the other but in the end it was Dunston who won through by 4-3 after extra-time.

Now only 2 matches away from Wembley and a first-leg Semi-Final tie at home to Staveley Miners Welfare who we had defeated in the 98/99 season. The first-leg on a rock hard pitch at home did not suit either side, but it was Dunston who scored the vital goal through a great shot from the edge of the area by Andy Bulford. The second-leg was a nail biting occasion with Staveley twice taking the lead but twice Dunston fought back to draw 2-2 and it was next stop Wembley Stadium. On a warm sunny day Dunston UTS played West Auckland Town and won 2-0 which really flattered West Auckland to take the F.A. Vase back to Gateshead for the first time.

On the 2nd April 2016 Dunston UTS celebrated their 1000th Northern League game. Prior to kick off on behalf of the club Malcolm James received an engraved plate from Northern League President George Courtney.

Building on the new-found momentum, Dunston continued in the same vein in the following season with a great run in the FA Cup, going out in the final Qualifying Round to National League neighbours Gateshead in front of a record crowd of 2,525 at the UTS Stadium.

The Club finished the 2018/2019 season as convincing Champions of the Northern League First Division, seventeen points ahead of their nearest rivals.

Promotion ensued to the BetVictor Northern Premier N/West Division but FA Regulations dictated that the Club Playing Name must not include any reference to a sponsor so the “UTS” was reluctantly dropped from the Club title before the new season.

Over the years the club has always recognised that success on the field must be coupled with success and hard work off the field and the efforts of the people behind the scenes at the UTS Stadium has ensured that the stadium is a credit to the club. Many of the committee of the club have been involved since it was founded in 1975, some as former players and some as management on the playing side.

It is a tribute to their commitment and hard work that the club has become one of the most successful in the North East.

(Pictures by Ken Fitzpatrick)