Rangers AFC
      Christchurch, New Zealand
      established 1910

Structure of football in New Zealand

Rangers AFC and New Brighton AFC merged in late 2007 to form a joint venture: Coastal Spirit FC.

Current (as at March 2008) Competitions

Wellington Phoenix
Wellington Phoenix is the only New Zealand-based professional club. Phoenix play in the Australian Hyundai A-League over the summer months.

National Leagues / Canterbury United / NZFC
New Zealand has a franchise-based National League (NZ Football Championship - NZFC) in the summer months, with eight teams. Canterbury United is the franchise which represents Canterbury clubs, including Rangers. Canterbury United players are registered with clubs within Canterbury.

A franchise-based National Youth League and a Federation representative-based National Womens League are also played over the summer months. Mainland Pride represent the Mainland federation in the National Womens League.

Club Competitions
The tier below the NZFC comprises the Federation (regional) leagues that play during the winter months. Rangers play in Mainland Football federation - which comprises Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast, Mid-Canterbury and Canterbury. Rangers' mens first team has a place in the 8-club Mainland Premier League.

The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's national club knock-out competition.  The English Cup is the knock-out tournament for Canterbury clubs.  Coastal Spirit FC run a pre-season tournament. This replaces the Rangers AFC run pre-season tournament featuring the top Canterbury clubs.

Below first team
Rangers has had teams in:

• the Player Development League (PDL)
  formerly the Reserve League, the PDL will, from 2007, transition to an age-restricted U23 grade, with dispensation for a number of over-age players;
• the Canterbury mens league (which has Divisions 1-4);
• Presidents grade (effectively Divisions 5-7); and
• Masters (over-35 years / over 45-years);
• We also have teams at U19, youth and junior levels.

These teams compete against clubs based in Canterbury or Mid-Canterbury.

Women

Womens club competition is at federation level with a Canterbury League. Rangers' womens first team has a place at the top club level of Mainland Womens Premier Division and the reserves play in Division 1. The Premier Division is played on Saturdays. The Division 1 competition is played on Sundays. There is a national club knock-out competition, National Womens Knock-out Cup. There is a Mainland club knock-out, the Reta Fitzpatrick Cup. Federation representative teams play in a national league during the summer months. Mainland Pride represent the Mainland federation in the National Womens League.

Past Competitions

From 1920 the Hurley Shield was the Canterbury FA's first division trophy.

In 1968 the Southern League was formed for clubs from the Southern Region (there were also Northern and Central Regional Leagues).  The Hurley Shield eventually became a pre-season tournament run by the Canterbury FA, and in 2007 became a challenge competition (similar to rugby's Ranfurly Shield) among Mainland Premier clubs

For several seasons, Rangers also had a reserve side competing in a lower division (than our first team) of the Southern League. From 1986 to 1992, a Southern League Cup, the Hertz Cup was held. Usually a knock-out, it also had one season with a group stage.

The Air New Zealand Cup was a national pre-season tournament held during the 1970s.

A National League ran from 1970-1992 played during the winter months (the traditional New Zealand season).  From 1993-1995 a Superclub competition was held with the three regions' top clubs playing two rounds of round-robin within their own regions. The top sides qualified for a National round.

In 1996 and 1997, the Southern League was reinstated.

In the summer of 1995-96 a Summer National League (participation by invitation) commenced and ran for three seasons. 

From 1998-99 South Island football was split with a Canterbury Premier League running parallel with a Southern League or South Island League. Despite the leagues being of equal strength, only clubs participating in the South Island League of 1999 were eligible to be invited for the inaugural National Club Championship.

In 2000 and 2001 this National League (NCC) of ten clubs was played during the winter months. In 2002 and 2003 it was played from February to June, and the Canterbury United "club" participated, comprising players who were registered with Federation 6 clubs, including a large contingent of players registered with Rangers.