New Zealand Knights Football Club (formed from the Football Kingz Football Club in 2004) were the only professional

association football 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 in

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 ...

before they became defunct. Based in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, they played in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

's premier football competition and have since been replaced by the

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

History

Kingz and the NSL 1999–2004

Football Kingz FC The Football Kingz were New Zealand's first professional football club. They played in the Australian National Soccer League from 1999 until their disestablishment in 2004, when they were replaced by the New Zealand Knights as an inaugural parti ...

(promoted as "Auckland Kingz" within Australia) joined the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

in 1999 and proceeded to play in the last five seasons of the NSL, failing to qualify for the playoffs in every season. The club was originally to use the spelling of "Kings", however this was changed to the Kingz after receiving legal threats from the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

franchise.

Restructuring Football Kingz into New Zealand Knights

The Football Kingz brand was disestablished in 2004 and was restructured into the New Zealand Knights as a new franchise for Australia's new national football competition called the

Market research Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers: know about them, starting with who they are. It is an important component of business strategy and a major factor in maintaining competitiveness. Mark ...

carried out by the club, to determine the viability of a new identity for the team, indicated that 76% of respondents were in favour of a name change. When that research was focused on those aged 35 and under, the percentage in favour of a change rose to 90%. Further to that, the name of "Knights" were polled best of all names suggested in the survey, a clear 30% higher than any other option. The former

General manager Guy Hedderwick was promoted to the role of New Zealand Knights chief executive officer. Alongside him Football Kingz and Waitakere City Chairman, Anthony Lee, became the New Zealand Knights Chairman in the restructuring. Initially Anthony Lee had invested into the New Zealand Knights, with his company's (Total Football Ltd) 20% shareholding second only to majority owner Brian Katzen's Octagon Sport (later included Maurice Cox as partner) with 60%. The other shareholders were Sky Television (5%), Chris Turner (10%), and New Zealand Soccer (non-cash 5%). The only major sponsor the club had was retailer Zero's New Zealand (Sub Sandwiches). They agreed to a deal with the Knights over the first three seasons in a six figure deal as a sleeve sponsor. New Zealand Knights was confirmed as one of the eight founding teams in the

John Adshead John Adshead (born 27 March 1942) is an English-born former head coach of New Zealand's national football team—the All Whites—whom he led to their first FIFA World Cup appearance in the 1982 tournament. Life and work Adshead is one of the ...

, who took the

national side, the

All Whites The New Zealand men's national football team ( mi, Tīma hoka a-motu o Aotearoa) represents New Zealand in men's international football competitions. The team is governed by the governing body for football in New Zealand, New Zealand Footbal ...

to their first ever World Cup finals appearance in 1982 was named their inaugural manager/coach. former New Zealand international,

Danny Hay Daniel John Hay (born 15 May 1975) is a retired New Zealand professional footballer who is currently the manager of the New Zealand national football team, New Zealand U-23, and New Zealand U-20. Hay played as a central defender for Premier ...

, who previously played in the

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

with

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 ...

was named the inaugural captain of the team.

New Zealand Knights A-League seasons 2005–2007

Despite having a squad boasting several players with extensive experience in

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

, many pundits did not rate the Knights as serious contenders for the

title, and they were considered favourites for the

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) ** Australian rugby league wooden spooners ** County Championship Wooden Spoons ** List of Australian Football League wooden spoons ** MLS Wooden Spoon * Wooden Spoon Soci ...

. These predictions turned out to be true, with New Zealand Knights proving to be well out of their depth in their debut

season. In April 2006, after the poor season, manager

resigned from the club.

Paul Nevin Paul Richard Nevin (born 23 June 1969) is a football coach and former player. He is a first team coach at Premier League club West Ham United. Playing career Nevin began his playing career at Shrewsbury Town, before playing college soccer whi ...

was confirmed as manager a month later, having worked as caretaker manager since the position was vacated by Adshead. In late October 2006, as a result of low crowd attendance at

North Harbour Stadium North Harbour Stadium is a stadium situated in Albany, in North Shore City, New Zealand. It was opened in 1997, after nearly a decade of discussion, planning and construction. Rugby union, association football, rugby league, and baseball are a ...

and continual poor on-field performances, rumours began to circulate that

Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only esta ...

(FFA) was considering the possibility of revoking the Knights'

licence and granting it to a new team that would be set to enter the competition in the 2007–08 season. On 15 November and nearing the end of the November transfer window New Zealand Knights board and management decided to relieve Paul Nevin of his coaching duties due to a string of poor performances. On 13 December 2006, strong rumours resurfaced that the FFA was considering the revocation of the Knights' licence to compete in the A-League. It quickly became clear that, with five weeks remaining in the current season, the FFA fully intended to reclaim the licence from the Knights. The FFA had continued to express angst at low attendance numbers, poor on-field performance and the lack of domestically developed players. Late on 14 December, the FFA announced that it had revoked the competition licence held by the Knights' owners. An arrangement with NZ Soccer would see the national body step in to manage the club for the remaining five weeks of the regular season, with former

player

Ricki Herbert Ricki Lloyd Herbert (born 10 April 1961) is a New Zealand former footballer and manager. He is the current technical director at Cambridge FC. Herbert was formerly head coach of the New Zealand national team, stepping down after the side faile ...

to fill the role of head coach. Effectively, the Knights dissolved on 21 January, when the final match of the season was played against

Perth Glory FC Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 199 ...

. On 19 March 2007 after several delays,

was selected as the successor to the New Zealand Knights.

A-League Seasonal Results

Future

There has been recent speculation on a possible return for the New Zealand Knights, or another Auckland-based team, to re-join the

. Encouraging crowds of 20,078 in November 2011 when

played

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

and 11,566 in January 2013 when

played

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

, both held at

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

, have added to the push for the addition of a second New Zealand team in the A-League .

Stadium

is a rectangular stadium situated in Albany on Auckland's North Shore in New Zealand. It was opened in 1997 after nearly a decade of discussion, planning and construction. North Harbour Stadium has four main seating areas with an official capacity of 25,000. 19,000 (76%) of this capacity is seated, and the other 6,000 are on grass embankments. *Main Grandstand — A futuristic looking structure with a distinctive arched roof. It has three main tiers of seating, as well as a row of corporate boxes and several corporate lounges. A total of 12,000 can be seated, mostly under the roof. This is on the southern side of the ground. *Open Stand — A single uncovered tier opposite the Main Grandstand that can seat 7,000. *Embankments — At either end (East/West) of the ground, there is a single-tier grass embankment with a capacity of 3,000 people. The scoreboard is at the Western End, while the replay screen is directly opposite. The stadium is lit with four 45 m tall light towers.

Colours and badge

The Knights played in all-black strips, with a silver left sleeve. The change strip was white, with black shorts and white socks. The badge was designed for the inaugural 2005–06 season and launched at the January 2005 press conference which highlighted the club name change.

Supporters

The New Zealand Knights supporter base was known as Bloc 5.

Players

Former players

''see

List of New Zealand Knights FC players New Zealand Knights FC, New Zealand Knights Football Club was a New Zealand professional Association football, football club based in Auckland. The club was formed in 2004, and played their first competitive match in July 2005 when they participa ...

Club Captains

* 2005

* 2006

Darren Bazeley Darren Shaun Bazeley (born 5 October 1972) is an English-New Zealand football coach and former player. He played as either a right full back or right-sided midfielder. He is currently head coach of the New Zealand U20 team and interim head co ...

Manager history

All Time League records

*Record Victory: 3–1 vs

Queensland Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record ...

(H), 29 December 2006 *Record Defeat: 0–5 vs

(A), 15 September 2006 *Highest League Crowd: 9,827 vs

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

, 2 September 2005 *Lowest League Crowd: 1,632 vs

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

, 28 September 2006 *Winning Streak: 2 games (29 December 2006 – 7 January 2007) *Undefeated Streak: 4 games (29 December 2006 – 21 January 2007) *Losing Streak: 11 games (18 September 2005 – 1 December 2005) *Winless Streak: 18 games (18 September 2005 – 2 September 2006) *Goals in a game: 2 –

Jeremy Brockie Jeremy Russell Brockie (born 7 October 1987) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a forward. He has represented New Zealand at senior international level, including the 2010 FIFA World Cup and at the 2008 Olympic Games, and wa ...

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

(H), 4 November 2005 *Goals in a season: 4 –

, Simon Yeo, 2005/06 *Most Assists in a season: 3 –

Sean Devine Sean Thomas Devine (born 6 September 1972) is a retired professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. Biography He began his career with Millwall F.C., Millwall. Having spent ti ...

, 2005/06 *All-time most Appearances: 41 –

*All-time Top Scorer: 4 –

and Simon Yeo

Notes

^d Caretaker manager after Paul Nevin was removed of coaching duties. ^e Caretaker manager for the remainder of the season before the club was to be defunct.

References

External links

{{AUS fb general Former A-League Men teams

Knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

Association football clubs established in 2004 Association football clubs disestablished in 2007 Association football clubs in Auckland 2004 establishments in New Zealand 2007 disestablishments in New Zealand Expatriated football clubs