New Brighton A.F.C. was a soccer

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

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 ...

. The original New Brighton Association Football Club was founded in 1924 but went into hiatus eight years later. The club was re-founded 27 years later in 1959. In 2007 they merged with Rangers A.F.C. to form Coastal Spirit FC. The team entered the second division of the new Southern League in 1968, winning the league to gain promotion to the top flight. The following season saw their best-ever performance in the

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are 2022 winners Auck ...

, with them reaching the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

only to lose to Auckland's

Eastern Suburbs AFC Eastern Suburbs Association Football Club is a professional Association football club based in the suburb of Kohimarama in Auckland, New Zealand. The club competes in the Northern League (New Zealand), Northern League. Club history Eastern Sub ...

. 1971 saw the team win the championship, gaining them entry to the

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 ...

. The competed in this league for six seasons, spending much of that time in the bottom half of the table. Their best finish was third in 1974. They were relegated from the league in 1977. The club gained new clubrooms in Bexley Road in 1979, but they were demolished after the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

Prominent players

* Ken France * Owen Nuttridge *

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the 2 ...

* Graham Storer

External links

NZ Clubs DatabaseClub website (still under construction)
Association football clubs in Christchurch Association football clubs established in 1960 {{NewZealand-footyclub-stub