North Shields Football Club

Hello and welcome to the official SNAP Sponsorship profile of North Shields FC.

We're delighted to announce that we’ve now partnered with SNAP Sponsorship and we are looking for sponsors who are excited about affiliating themselves with a successful, semi-professional football club in North Shields, Tyne and Wear. We are a club that exists to support the community.

We strive to craft a partnership with our sponsors that meets their specific objectives, whether that be community gifting, social responsibility (CSR), direct sales or brand building.

Off the pitch , our purpose is to improve the mental health and physical wellbeing of our community.

On the pitch our ambition is that all our team plays at the highest level that is appropriate, whilst being sustainable.

Whatever your motivation, find out more below. Thank you for visiting our profile.

Why Sponsor Us?

In order to thrive and to continually improve our facilities for the local community, the club relies on sponsorship from local businesses – and this is where we would like to work alongside you.

Maximise brand awareness for your business through our range of cost-effective sponsorship packages.

Do you want to raise the profile of your business or organisation? North Shields FC is keen to develop new relationships with businesses who can offer beneficial products and services to our local community.

Sponsoring us will raise the profile of your business and benefit you in the following ways: 

Exposure to hundreds in the local area and players and spectators from visiting teams

Increased brand awareness on our website and social media accounts

A quantity of free matchday tickets (selected sponsor packages)

Boardroom hospitality (matchday sponsor)

Tannoy announcements during the match (selected sponsor packages)

Entry in our award-winning matchday programme (selected sponsor packages)

Satisfaction from giving back to the community 

You’re supporting a much-needed local amenity which brings enjoyment to many. 

All revenue raised is returned to the club to improve facilities for our players, spectators our community groups who are passionate about football.

Build long-lasting connections with our growing membership base with the use of social media influence.

North Shields FC is in the heart of community with links to a huge audience base surrounding the club. In addition to our large membership and extensive supporter network, North Shields FC understands the importance and power of the internet and social media. We therefore use our website, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, to regularly and consistently promote our club, fixtures and sponsors. We have a total following of over 10k people on social media alone.

We’re an extremely social club who pride themselves on being warm, friendly and family-orientated. We regularly host events throughout the year and we’d be happy to host a sponsored networking event if desired.

North Shields FC has an array of sponsorship opportunities which can be tailored to meet your objectives. Through sponsorship, our club will promote your company in a wide variety of ways enriching the profile of your business in our community.

Sponsorship of a grassroots sport delivers a much higher return on investment than traditional advertising. This is because sponsorship allows your business to become directly involved in activities that are highly valued by local consumers.

North Shields FC is proud of its strong bonds with the community and enjoys supporting and engaging with local initiatives. Consumers are known to form strong positive associations with sponsors who support the development of grassroots sport and also contribute to the local area and by directly supporting us, you’re helping to remove economic barriers — making football affordable, accessible and inclusive for all in the community.

Contact us now to find out more and explore what North Shields FC can offer you!

The Club Today

North Shields FC are a Step 5 semi-professional club and are members of the Northern Football League.

With over 10,000 paying customers last season, a website achieving 800,000 hits, an X (formerly Twitter) following of over 15,000  we're well placed to maximise the commercial exposure for your business.

Our facilities at Ralph Gardner Park are used all year round for adult and youth football and other community clubs and activities.​

Some of our standard sponsorship packages are listed below and these can be tailored and bespoked to meet your specific requirements:

Pitch side advertising boards

Website advertising

Programme advertising

Matchday sponsorship

Player sponsorship

Match ball sponsorship

Corporate match sponsorship

It’s exciting times for North Shields FC as we continue to grow and develop. Now that we are completely owned by our fans, we really are a club that exists to support our community. We see a bright and successful future ahead and we’d love for you to join us and be a part of that journey.

History of Our Club

North Shields Athletic was originally formed in 1896, and played initially in the South Shields & District league. They progressed through the Northern Combination, Northern Alliance and North Eastern League and became a major force in North East Football, outside the Football League, moving to play at Hawkeys Lane around 1900. At least two players, Alan Grenyer and Harry Chambers went on to play for the full England team after starting their careers with North Shields Athletic.

Preston Colliery F.C. emerged after the Great War becoming North Shields A.F.C. in 1928, and the club won many honours over the years. They enjoyed tremendous local support with a record 12,800 watching the local derby with South Shields in 1936. Shields won the North Eastern League title and numerous cups but their moment of crowning glory came in 1969. 

After joining the Northern league they won the F.A. Amateur cup by beating Sutton United in front of 47,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium. Shields were a goal down after only four minutes but won with second half strikes from Richie Hall and Brian Joicey – both laid on by Orrick, a shipyard worker from Byker. 

The Club, which also won the Northern League Championship and Challenge Cup that same year, were declared joint holders of the European Amateur Cup the following season when the two teams against Italian side Almas resulted in a level aggregate score.

In 1982 “The Robins” won 1-0 at Halifax Town in the F.A. Cup 1st Round, Bede McCaffrey scoring the all important goal that year. Walsall were the visitors to Appleby Park in the next round and left with a 3-0 victory.
Having moved into the national pyramid by joining the Northern Counties East League, North Shields earned promotion to the Nothern Premier League by winning the title, but financial problems resulted in the club losing the Appleby Park Ground and then reforming to play in the VAUX Wearside League.

Since then “The Robins” have enjoyed considerable success, winning the treble of League, Shipowners Cup and Northumberland Senior Bowl in 1998/99. In 2000/01 they finished runners-up to Nissan but won the Monkwearmouth Cup and the Senior Bowl for the second time. They won the Wearside league by eight points in 2002 and the Monkwearmouth Cup again in 2003.

“The Robins” finally gained promotion back into the Northern League in 2004 and were promoted to Division 1 in 2014 under the guidance of Graham Fenton.

The club won the FA Vase Final in 2015 as the attacking and never-say-die team assembled beat Glossop North End at Wembley 2-1 after extra time after falling behind early in the second half. Bainbridge’s header evened things up and Adam Forster wrote himself into the clubs history with the winner. The team was once more the pride of the town and didn’t the supporters love it!​

The following season 2015-6 Shields finished fifth in the league whilst lifting the Northumberland Senior Cup beating Blyth Spartans 4-3 in a thrilling Final at St James Park.

Gary Ormston opened the scoring followed by a Gareth Bainbridge brace with Ryan Carr notching a dramatic last minute winner. Manager Graham Fenton left the club in September 2016 to join South Shields, with Jon McDonald replacing him as manager. McDonald kept North Shields at the top until early April, losing out to South Shields in the title race. North Shields also lost the Senior Cup to Blyth and the League Cup to South Shields after which Jon McDonald left the club.

Shields moved to appoint Assistant Manager, Brian Smith as the new Manager, with Gary Ormston stepping up as Assistant and Andy Gowans joining the coaching set up alongside Wilf Keilty. Brian Smith left the club in February 2018 to be replaced by ex Whitley Bay boss Marc Nash.

Nash brought with him Anthony Woodhouse who was welcomed back to his old stamping ground as assistant. The duo marked their debut in charge with a sensational 6-5 victory over Jarrow Roofing after the Robins were trailing 5-2 late in the game. With Steve Swinyard coming in as coach the new management team guided the club to a final 8th position as the season closed.

The campaign of 2019-2020 before halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the side saw an impressive 4th placed finish with games in hand on the teams above. The team scored 56 goals only conceding 37.

The following season (20-21) was another curtailed with the Shieldsmen again in a strong 4th position with 26 points from 11 games having lost only once as well as enjoying a decent FA Vase run including a penalty shoot-out success at Bridlington Town.

Ultimately 3 clubs were promoted that year on a points per game basis combined over 2 seasons -the Robins missing out by the narrowest of margins.

However Marc Nash’s men were to make no mistake in an unforgettable 2021-2 campaign cruising to the Northern League First Division title by 9 points -their first such triumph since 1969.

The management team challenged the players to respond after the disappointment of a quarter -final loss in the Vase after a marathon 8 match adventure featuring 3 penalty shoot-out victories.

The Robins’ clinched the Championship and promotion to the Northern Premier League East with a 3-1 triumph at Whitley Bay sparking emotional celebrations.

Shields won 25 and drew 9 of their 38 games -overcoming an 11 point deficit

behind Consett at one stage and having to play their last 6 matches all away.

Centre forward Dan Wilson ended the season as the League’s joint top scorer with 29 goals plus 11 in cup ties.

“There’s so much pride in what we have achieved as a club” commented a beaming boss Marc Nash.

North Shields started the 2022/23 season in fine form with a great overall performance finishing 7th in the Northern Premier League: East division. Disappointment hit North Shields after the club was relegated from Step 4 due to failing to have the required ground improvements. Manager Marc Nash and his management team announced their resignation at the end of the 22/23 season.

North Shields announced the new management team led by Daniel Iredale as they return to The Northern League for the 2023/24 season. A core group of players stayed with the club showing faithful tendencies as well as a host of brand new and exciting signings for the club.

In December 2023, Sean Mulligan and Sean Redford took the reins as Co-Chairmen. All of the management team and the majority of players left the club leaving a near impossible task. Brian Smith was appointed as first team manager as he returned to the club. Brian and the club have built a brand new team with some great experience and a great link up with South Shields FC, North Shields Juniors as well as New Hartley Juniors. With the club in a much better position it was decided to begin a new chapter of the club with the partnership with North Shields Juniors to create a 1 town, 1 club vision ensuring a clear pathway from youngsters to seniors has been developed and cementing a strong foundation for the security and longevity of North Shields Football Club.

Aspirations

With membership and crowd attendances rising, we have ambitious plans to continue to develop the infrastructure at the club, grow our team and further develop our community initiatives. 

Naturally, we want to support our sponsors and build them in to our club on a strategic level — allowing all of our partners to benefit from our ever-improving facilities, expanding audience and our community involvement.