Giant Blackpool (often abbreviated as Blackpool) were a South African

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club. The club were based in Mohlakeng, a township near

Randfontein Randfontein is a gold mining town in the West Rand, Gauteng, South Africa, west of Johannesburg. With the Witwatersrand gold rush in full swing, mining financier JB Robinson bought the farm Randfontein and, in 1889, floated the Randfontein Est ...

in Gauteng. Former players include Fani Madida, John "Shoes" Moshoeu and Geelbooi Masango who together formed what was known as "the Triple-M combination". Moshoeu began his professional career with the club in 1987. Former

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...

defender Gavin Lane was also once a player at the club. At one time, the former South African national women's football team Sandile Bali was a head coach of the club, as was former Manchester United player

Eddie Lewis Edward Lewis may refer to: Politicians * Edward Lewis (Devizes MP) (1650–1674), British MP for Devizes, 1669–1674 * Edward Lewis (Radnor MP), British MP for Radnor, 1761–1768, 1769–1774 and 1775–1790 * Edward Parke Custis Lewis (1837–1 ...

. The club was owned by NSL executive chairman Coloured Passmore. The club were first promoted to the top tier of South African football in 1986 alongside

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. Their adventures in top flight would come to an end after just the one season as they were relegated. They were promoted in their first season in the

OK League The NSL Second Division (also referred to as the ''OK League'' for sponsorship reasons), was a South African association football league. It was the second tier on the South African football league system, and teams who won the division, were prom ...

. Another club,

Port Elizabeth Blackpool Port Elizabeth Blackpool (often abbreviated as PE Blackpool) were a South African football club from Port Elizabeth, who played their last season in 1991. The club originally played in the Federation Professional League The Federation Profess ...

opted into the National Soccer League structure following their 1990 FPL campaign, they were relegated from the NSL in 1991. In the 1991 edition of the

JPS Knockout Cup JPS may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Jamestown Public Schools (disambiguation) * Japan Pension Service * Japan Photographic Society (19th century) * Japan Photographic Society (1924–) * Japan Professional Photographers Society * J ...

, both Blackpool clubs were beaten by

Dynamos F.C. Dynamos Football Club (also referred to as The Glamour Boys or De-Mbare) is a Zimbabwean professional football club based since 1963 at Rufaro Stadium, Mbare, Harare. The team currently participates in Zimbabwe's top-tier, the Premier Soccer L ...

, Dynamos met PE Blackpool in the first round and Giant Blackpool in the final. John "Shoes" Moshoeu, Samuel Sikhakane and

Jerry Sikhosana Jerry Sikhosana (born 8 June 1969) is a South African former football player. Playing most of his career at Orlando Pirates, he was an assumed Pirates' fierce rival Kaizer Chiefs fan, and also performed for his team at the Soweto derbies. He w ...

all scored over the duration of the two legged final which took place in August but it was not enough and Dynamos won on aggregate. A week after Knock out Cup final, it was announced that the club had bought the rights to the

Highlands Park Highlands Park Football Club was a South African professional soccer club who played in Modderfontein, Johannesburg. They were founded in 2003 as a phoenix club to the earlier Highlands Park F.C. (1959) and Highlands Park F.C. (1990) The c ...

name and merged with the newly formed phoenix club, Highlands Park were a successful club during the 1960s–80s era. It was hoped that the new name would bring in more white-skinned fans, as it had done in the past. The club soon changed its name from Giant Blackpool to Highlands Park. However, after a season, the franchise was sold, relocated to

Welkom Welkom () is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein which is the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The cit ...

, renamed to Welkom Eagles and relegated in 1993. In 1995, South African businessman Peter Rabali purchased a franchise licence for a club and renamed it to Rabali Blackpool. It is not considered to be the same club.

Honours

* JSP Knockout Cup Runner-up: 1991

League history

References

{{reflist Soccer clubs in South Africa Sport in Gauteng 1991 disestablishments in South Africa Rand West City Local Municipality