Berwick Rangers F.C.
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| Berwick Rangers F.C. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Berwick Rangers Football Club |
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| Nickname(s) | The Borderers The Wee gers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1881 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Shielfield Park, Berwick-upon-Tweed |
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| Capacity | 4,131 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Robert Wilson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | John Coughlin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Scottish Third Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Scottish Third Division, 2nd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the English Border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, currently playing in the Scottish Football League. They are currently managed by John Coughlin.
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[edit] History
Officially formed in 1881, though some think it may be 1884 [1], the club had a nomadic existence before eventually settling down at Shielfield Park in 1954. Having initially gained admittance to the Scottish Border League in 1905, they were finally elected member of the Scottish Football League in 1955, where they have played ever since, despite low attendances and frequent financial problems. A notable early success was a 3-0 win over Dundee F.C. in the Scottish Cup in 1954 in a run which saw them reach the quarter final, only to lose to Rangers 4-0. Ten years later they reached the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup losing to Rangers 3-1.
Arguably their greatest success came in 1967, when they beat Rangers 1-0 in the Scottish Cup under the management of player manager Jock Wallace. It was the highlight of a memorable cup run, which had seen them break a club record in beating Vale of Leithen 8-1 in the first round. The result sent shockwaves around Scottish football and led to a number of the Rangers players leaving Ibrox; it was also the club's greatest home attendance of 13,365. They were paired with Hibs in the following round but lost narrowly 1-0 in front of a crowd of nearly 30,000.
The following years saw little progress until the late 1970's, when under the management of Dave Smith they won the Second Division title in 1979. Despite that success they were unable to build and suffered a slow decline through the 1980's. The nadir coming in season 1988-89 when they were nearly bankrupted and the club were locked out of Shielfield, having to play their games elsewhere. In 1988 Jim Jefferies took over as manager and led the team to a club record unbeaten 21 game run.
The club weathered this and other crises in the early 1990's, narrowly avoiding going into administration in 1994. Later in the decade Berwick enjoyed a bit more in the way of success only missing out on promotion to Scottish League Division One due to league relocation in 1994. They were relegated to the Third Division in 1997 but under the management of Paul Smith regained promotion in 2000. Under Smith's stewardship they took both Rangers and Hearts to replays in the Scottish Cup. However they were relegated again to the Third Division in 2005, and narrowly missed out on an instant return to the Second Division the following season, this time losing to Alloa in the league promotion play-offs.
[edit] Status
They are one of a handful of teams in the world to play in a national football league other than their own country's, where both countries have their own fully professional competitions. Although three Welsh clubs (Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City) play in the English Football League, the League of Wales is mainly a semi-professional competition.Wellington Phoenix based in Wellington will take the place of the defunct Auckland-based New Zealand Knights as the only New Zealand professional team in the Australian A-League, but the recently-founded New Zealand Football Championship is semi-professional. A similar situation pertains with Toronto FC, which participates in Major League Soccer in the USA, while the Canadian Soccer League is semi-professional. The only other team that meets these criteria is Derry City of Northern Ireland, which played in the Football League of Ireland, the former league of the Republic of Ireland, from 1985 to 2006, and will play in the Republic's new FAI National League from 2007.
The town of Berwick-upon-Tweed is near to the Scottish border and is closer to Edinburgh than to Newcastle upon Tyne. The time (and expense) involved in travelling to away matches against English opposition would be prohibitive for the club. The club also formerly played in the East of Scotland League, which contains other nearby Borders teams, prior to joining the Scottish League. The aim to field a reserve side in this competition from next season. There is also some controversy over Berwick's identity [2]
[edit] Honours
Second Division:(1) 1978/79
[edit] Club records
- Record league win: 8-2 .v. Dundee United F.C., Division II February 21 1958
- Record league win: 8-1 .v. Forfar Athletic F.C., Division II December 25 1965
- Record cup win: 8-1 .v. Vale of Leithen F.C., Scottish Cup First Round December 1966
- Record league loss: 1-9 .v. Hamilton F.C. Scottish First Division August 9 1980
- Record home attendance: 13,365 .v. Rangers F.C. Scottish Cup Third Round, January 28 1967
- Most goals in a season: 38 by Ken Bowran 1963/64
- Consecutive league wins: 8, Scottish Third Division Season 2006-2007.
- Longest unbeaten league run: 21, Scottish Second Division Season 1988-89.
