Shildon AFC

Shildon grew up around the railway wagon works, and it is that trade the football club still carries in its nickname, the Railwaymen. The team traces back to 1890, when it played as Shildon Athletic; the club folded in 1903 over money problems and was rebuilt within the year to take up the place Stockton St John's had held in the Northern League.

The 1930s remain the club's high point: four Northern League Division One titles in a row between 1934 and 1937. Nothing matched it again until Gary Forrest's side ended a 79-year wait for another league championship in 2015–16, a title that also came with the League Cup that year.

Cup football has given Shildon its brightest one-off nights. In 1927–28 they reached the FA Cup First Round Proper for the first time, getting past York City after a replay, and went one better in 1936–37 by reaching the Second Round, still the club's best run in the competition. A return to the First Round in November 2003 ended in a 7–2 defeat to Notts County, and in 2013 the club reached the FA Vase semi-final.

Locally, the fixture that matters most is against West Auckland Town, the West–Shildon derby, with Bishop Auckland as the other old rival.