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Rangers A.F.C.

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This article is about the New Zealand club. For the Scottish club, see Rangers F.C.
"Christchurch Rangers" redirects here. For the former London club of that name, see Queens Park Rangers F.C.

Rangers AFC
logo
Full nameRangers Association Football Club
Nickname(s)n/a
Founded1910
registered with Canterbury FA in 1913
GroundEric Adam Park,
158 McGregors Road, Christchurch
ChairmanGrant Chellew
ManagerHarry McCosh
(men's first team coach)
2006Mainland Premier League, 7th

Rangers AFC is one of the oldest still existing Canterbury football clubs located in Christchurch, New Zealand.

History

Rangers AFC was founded in 1910 by a group of dedicated players who were denied the opportunity to play on Saturday owing to the nature of their employment. All were employed in the retail trade, which in 1910 opened all day Saturday for business and closed on a Thursday afternoon and games were arranged against teams which could play them that particular day.

The club was constituted under the Canterbury Football Association in 1913 when the half-day closing on Saturday was adopted for all retail merchants.

The years 1916 to 1923 were very strong ones for the club. They won their first championship in 1916, the English Cup in 1917 and 1918, the English Cup again in 1921. The Hurley Shield in 1922, the English Cup in 1923.

The highlight of the club's administration came in 1962, when they purchased the 5 acres (2.0 ha) of land in McGregors Road, which was named Rangers Park (now Eric Adam Park).

The first year of the Southern League in 1968 saw the appointment of Terry Haydon as the club's first professional coach, and he soon produced a team that was rated second in the top ten in NZ and narrowly lost the first Southern League competition on goal average. During this period of the late 60's Rangers played a part in the formation of Christchurch United AFC for the proposed forthcoming National League to start in 1970. Rangers provided a quarter of the A class shares in Christchurch United and also several prominent players, including Terry Haydon and Victor Pollard, who were both selected for New Zealand teams while playing for Rangers. Rangers still hold twenty five percent of the A class shares but do not exercise their right to have a director on United's board.

Determined to make National League status on their own, and in their own way, Rangers concentrated again on overcoming the loss of their best players to United and after a slow start, the 70's were the most successful period in the club's history up to that time, culminating in a place in the National League for 1980. The team won the Southern League in 1973, the Northern Division in 1974, the full Southern League again in 1975, runners up in 1976, third in 1977, runners up in 1978 and won it in 1979. In the years 1973 and 1975 they took part in the play-offs for a place in the National League but were unsuccessful.

Rangers eventually won automatic promotion to National League for the 1980 season and finished ninth in the League. At the end of 1981 Rangers were relegated. In 1984 they were second in the Southern League and challenged unsuccessfully for a National League place in the play-off series. As winners of the Southern League in 1985 they again challenged unsuccessfully for a place in the National League. With the introduction of the Winfield Superclub competition in 1993 came an influx of ex Christchurch United players. They finished runners-up in the Southern section and qualified for the national top eight competition and also the Chatham Cup Final, going down 6–0 to Napier City Rovers.

The turn of the century saw Rangers commence a move to be included in the Linfield Sports group, with the possibility of moving to new grounds at Linfield.

Colours and badge

Rangers AFC's colours are white shirts, black shorts and black socks. The colours are based on Derby County Colours, and were finalised in the early 1970s by the club secretary Bert Koppes. The change colours are all sky blue.
The club's 'stylised lion' crest was designed in 1972 by Yaap Koster. It is based on the lion found on the crest of the famous Scottish club, Rangers FC, and chosen because of the similarity in club names.

Stadium

Rangers AFC play their home matches on Eric Adam Park (formerly known as Rangers Park), 158 McGregors Road, Christchurch. The secondary grounds are at Cuthberts Green on Pages Road.

Supporters

Rangers AFC fans have been described as a "hardy lot" (Millmow, 1997). For instance, after the equivalent of 5 hours of watching Rangers fail to score, "they were still cheering them as if they were Southern League champions".

Current squad

As of August 2006
  • (GK) Greg Brand
  • (GK) Leon Taylor]]
  • (GK) Mark Sutcliffe
  • (DF) Mike Harvey
  • (DF) Andy Grant
  • (DF) Andrew Saunders
  • (DF) Symon Beedles
  • (DF) Mike Berry

Noted players

Listed according to when they debuted for Rangers AFC first team (year in parentheses), women in quotes:

Noted coaches

Listed according to when they became coaches for Rangers AFC (year in parentheses):

Achievements

Records

  • League victory: 9–1 v Shamrock AFC, 20 July 1968; 9–0 (Div 2) v Christchurch City AFC Reserves, 13 July 1957; 10–2 (Div 2) v Wigram, 11 May 1963, 9–1 (Div 2) v Hornby, 10 June 1963
  • National League placing: 9th, 1980; 8th place in National round of Superclub 1993
  • Men's First Team Appearances as at end of 2006: 357, Mike Harvey (1991–2006)
  • Men's First Team Goals as at end of 2006: 159, Malcolm Parker (1969–1986), 303 games

Club teams

  • Reserves – 2005 Cup Winner
  • Men's Division 1
  • Men's Division 2 (“Snow’s”)
  • Presidents C (Bees) (“Barry’s”)
  • Presidents C (Dips) (“Dipsticks”)
  • Masters Division 1
  • Masters Division 4 (“Spikes”) – winner of 2004 NZSMA Publication of the Year
  • Women's Premier Division
  • Women's Division 1
  • 21 Junior / Youth teams (both boys teams and girls teams)

See also

References

  • Clayton, P. (22 May 2003). “Rangers AFC”, FootballCrests.com. Retrieved 24 January 2006.
  • Hawkey, J. (2005). "Rangers AFC Yearbook and Statistics 2005". Christchurch, New Zealand: Rangers AFC.
  • Millmow, J. (28 July 1997). Rangers hold leader to draw. “The Press”, Christchurch, New Zealand, p. 32.
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