Balgownie Rangers Football Club is an
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 based in
Balgownie, New South Wales
Balgownie () is a small suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Balgownie lies to the north-west of the Wollongong CBD. It stretches from the lower slopes of Mount Keira along the Illawarra escarpment to the base of the Broker's Nos ...
. They play in the
Illawarra
The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...
District League. Founded in 1883, Balgownie is believed to be the oldest running association football club in
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 ...
.
History
Balgownie Rangers is the oldest running registered association football club in Australia, being formed in 1883.
The club was formed in 1883 where it played against other social clubs and also between Balgownie teams. In 1890, Balgownie Rangers was officially registered to play in the newly formed N.S.W. Football Association.
Balgownie was the 4th club to form in Australia. Wanderers, Arcadian and Granville had formed 1883. Since then all of these clubs have folded, Granville being the last to fold in the early 1980s, making Balgownie Rangers the oldest registered running soccer club in Australia.
The club is full of tradition and has produced many famous football players over the years. Some include
James ‘Judy’ Masters (who is listed in the Football Australia Hall of Fame), Tom Thompson, Dave Ward and Frank Smith in the early 1900s,
George Barlow in the 1950s and more recently
Matt Horsley
Matt Horsley (born 9 June 1972 in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian retired footballer.
Club career
He last played as a right full back for the Australian A-League club Perth Glory in 2005, which he joined in 2001. Hors ...
who went on to captain the Wollongong Wolves, win 4
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 ...
titles and also represent Australia. Matt has recently retired his footballing career after finishing as captain of Perth Glory during December 2005.
Safeway United
In 1974, Balgownie finished second on the league table in
NSW Federation Division Two earning promotion into
NSW Federation Division One for the following year. Another team from the Illawarra was already competition in Division One called Safeway United. The club had previously had good success in Division One winning three minor premierships (1958 as Corrimal United, 1966 and 1969 as South Coast United) and one championship in 1963 (as South Coast United). For the 1975 season it was decided the clubs would pool their resources, merging as a single entity. The merged club would be called Wollongong City.
Seasons
References
{{reflist
External links
Balgownie Rangers FC Website
Soccer clubs in Wollongong
Association football clubs established in 1883
1883 establishments in Australia