New Brighton A.F.C. was a soccer club in Christchurch, New Zealand. 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. Rangers AFC was one of the oldest football teams in New Zealand and was located in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 2007 they merged with New Brighton A.F.C., New Brighton to form Coastal Spirit FC, Coastal Spirit History Rangers AFC was foun ...

to form

Coastal Spirit FC Coastal Spirit FC is an association football club in Christchurch, New Zealand. Their Premier Men's team currently competes in the Mainland Premier League. Their Premier Women's team competes in the Mainland Women's Premier League and were the 2 ...

. 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, with them reaching the final only to lose to Auckland's Eastern Suburbs AFC. 1971 saw the team win the championship, gaining them entry to the New Zealand National Soccer League. 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 Kenneth France (22 February 1941 – 30 August 2019) was an association football player who represented New Zealand at international level. France made his full All Whites debut as a substitute in a 3–1 win over Singapore on 8 November 1967 ...

Owen Nuttridge Owen Nuttridge is a former association football goalkeeper who represented New Zealand at international level. Having already represented New Zealand at U-23 level, Nuttridge played two official A-international matches for the New Zealand, mak ...

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 20 ...

Graham Storer Graham Storer is a former footballer who represented New Zealand at international level. Storer represented New Zealand at under 20 level before making his full All Whites debut in a 2–1 win over China on 20 May 1975 and ended his internat ...

External links

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