Nelson United was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club, based in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

city of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. Their home ground was

Guppy Park The Wood is a suburb of the South Island, New Zealand city of Nelson. It lies just to the north-east of the city centre and adjoins it. The suburb incorporates Botanical Reserve, a section of Nelson's town belt that includes the trigonometrical ...

. The team was founded in 1968 through the amalgamation of Nelson Thistle (founded 1924) and Nelson Rangers (founded 1950 as Settlers, name changed in 1959). Nelson United has since merged with Nelson Metro, Nelson City and Tahuna to form

FC Nelson FC Nelson is a football club, based in the South Island city of Nelson, their home ground is Guppy Park. History The team was founded in 2011 through the amalgamation of Nelson United (founded 1968), Nelson Metro (founded 1975), Nelson City (f ...

. United played in the old

New Zealand National Soccer League The New Zealand National League is the name given to the current New Zealand top football competition. Originally set up as the New Zealand National Soccer League there has been many versions of the competition as well as many different names. Th ...

's top flight 1976–80, 1983–88, and 1991–92. They were winners of the

1977 Chatham Cup The 1977 Chatham Cup was the 50th annual nationwide knockout football competition in New Zealand. Early stages of the competition were run in three regions (northern, central, and southern), with the National League teams receiving a bye until t ...

, and were finalists in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

. Nelson Rangers had previously reached the semi-finals in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

and

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

References

Association football clubs in New Zealand Sport in Nelson, New Zealand 1968 establishments in New Zealand Association football clubs established in 1968 {{NewZealand-footyclub-stub