East Coast Bays is a football club located on

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

's North Shore. The club has won 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 ...

and the NRFL Premier Division three times.

History

East Coast Bays were founded following a public meeting held at the Progressive Hall (since demolished and replaced by the Bays Club) in October 1958. The committee formed from this meeting entered four junior teams for the start of the 1959 season. As some of the committee members were supporters of Glasgow Rangers, the colours of Royal Blue shirts, white shorts, and royal Blue sox were adopted. East Coast Bays picked The Maxwell Farm as its ground with the pitch running north to south. The old Progress Hall on the site was adapted to serve as clubrooms. A senior side was entered the next season and with the opening of the

Auckland Harbour Bridge The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane motorway bridge over the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It joins St Marys Bay on the Auckland city side with Northcote on the North Shore side. It is part of State Highway 1 and th ...

, the area boomed and the club grew in size to more than 1000 juniors in the late seventies and early eighties. Senior sides also grew in numbers and the first team slowly made its way through the leagues, and in 1975 when the Northern League was formed they were invited to compete in the first division. Under coach Alan Yates, the club won promotion to the National League in 1981 but was relegated the following year. Player numbers continued to grow and Mairangi Bay simply couldn't cope with the numbers even with an additional ground at Windsor Park. This cause a breakaway of a faction of club members to form the Rangitoto club which also saw a decline in the number of junior teams. Successive administrations lobbied the East Coast Bays Council for more grounds and at the same time new ground criteria for clubs playing in the Northern League Premier Division meant Mairangi Park was no longer suitable for playing top football. This meant that the club spent a couple of seasons using the new ground that was developed behind Rangitoto College. Land off Anderson's Road originally designated but no longer required for a school was acquired by the council and it was agreed that the club would move there once facilities were built and grounds developed. In 1991 the club moved to its new headquarters at the newly named Bays City Park. Since then clubroom facilities have been developed, further grounds have been obtained at Ashley Reserve. Under the direction of Willy Gerdsen, coaching pathways have been developed.

Honours

League * Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Premier (3): 1981, 2010, 2013 * US1 Premiership (1): 2009 * NRFL Division 1 (3): 1978, 1989, 2003 Cup *

(1):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

References

External links

Official website
* East Coast Bays A.F.C. o
NFF website
{{NRFL Division 1 Association football clubs in Auckland 1959 establishments in New Zealand