Football Kingz FC

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Football Kingz FC
Kingz.png
Full name Football Kingz Football Club Ltd
Nickname(s) Kingz
Kingz FC
Auckland Kingz
Founded 1999 (as Auckland Kingz Football Club)
Dissolved 2004
Ground Mt Smart Stadium North Harbour Stadium
League NSL

This page details the history of New Zealand's first professional football club The Football Kingz FC through to their disestablishment in 2004, making way for the creation of the New Zealand Knights as an inaugural participant in the newly established Australian A-League .

History

Football Kingz FC (promoted as Auckland Kingz within Australia) joined the Australian National Soccer League in 1999 and proceeded to play in the last five seasons of the NSL, failing to qualify for the play-offs 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 another Australian sporting franchise.

The first season – 1999–2000

Their inaugural coach was OFC Player of the Century and former New Zealand international Wynton Rufer in a player-coach role, with his brother Shane as assistant coach. Playing their inaugural game on the evening of 1 October 1999 at North Harbour Stadium in front of then the largest crowd to watch a club game in New Zealand. The game was played against Carlton FC and even though it resulted in a 0–3 was an enthralling start to the professional era in New Zealand. This first season would end up being the club's most successful, finishing 8th, winning 15 games.

Season Two – 2000–2001

After an encouraging first season the club set out to improve its performance on and off the park. There were a number of foreign signings, mostly from Brazil that seemed good on paper but flopped on the park. One of these imports though immediately became a fan favourite, Dennis Ibrahim. The German went on to become the club's top scorer during the season, managing two hat-tricks (his first in a 3–2 win over the Brisbane Strikers at home on 30 March 2001 and the second against Sydney United in a 4–2 away win on 29 April 2001). The team's best result proved to be a 5–1 home win over the Newcastle Breakers on 27 October 2000. again the team finished in 8th place, winning 12 games.

Season Three – 2001–2002

Seasons One and Two showed the potential of the team (they would turn out to be the most successful seasons from a professional New Zealand football team until the Wellington Phoenix FC made the play-offs in 2009) and so Sky Television New Zealand became involved in the club. Their first move was to remove Wynton Rufer as coach while still wanting him to remain a player. Rufer's desire, however, was to remain as coach and to retire slowly as a player thus he immediately retired from playing. Mike Petersen was signed as the new Manager and he brought with him a number of players including a young goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos to be part of the squad. His tenure lasted just five games. He started the season with a loss away to the Brisbane Strikers and three games later presided over an embarrassing 2–7 home loss to Perth Glory. The following game, a 2–2 draw away to Wollongong Wolves on 2 November 2001 was his last, walking out after it. A number of Australian players soon following him. The club then set about replacing him. In the interim Shane Rufer stepped in to become the club's Caretaker Manager. This tenure only lasted for two games but he achieved a win and draw from these games. Kevin Fallon was announced as the new Manager but the damage to the club had already been down and it ended up finishing with the "wooden spoon" in 13th place, this costing Fallon his job.

Season Four – 2002–2003

After the previous season's poor form, the club's owners drastically slashed the club's budget. Ken Dugdale was signed as the new coach. He had just finished a very successful stint as the manager of the All Whites, having won the Oceania Nations Cup and managed the team through their first involvement in the Confederations Cup where the All Whites performed very well. As he had a reduced budget he recruited from around New Zealand introducing to the team Raf de Gregorio and Jeremy Christie. While the club had some very talented young players it struggled to compete but managed to achieve a better final position in the National Soccer League then the season before, finishing 11 out of 13.

The final season – 2003–2004

The National Soccer League was in a very bad financial state and fans were losing interest across the competition. This led the Australian Government to commission a report in to Soccer Australia and the NSL. Its recommendation was to abolish both Soccer Australia and the NSL and replace them with a new governing body and a new competition (Soccer Australia was broke and the NSL was unable to break away from its Euro Ethnic roots in parts of Australia). Knowing that this was going to be the last NSL season very little was spent on improving the squad and rumours spread that the club was struggling financially. Ken Dugdale remained manager but the season started the way the last one had finished. The club struggled on the playing field. Mid season an announcement was made that the club was being brought out and its debts cleared. This was to cost Ken Dugdale his job and he was replaced on a temporary basis by his assistant Tommy Mason. Mason was soon confirmed as the club's permanent manager, even though many felt that he was not up to the role. The new owners felt that the playing squad needed strengthening and brought Danny Hay in, making him the new captain at the same time. Even with this new impetus the club again finished bottom of the league having only won four games. The club's very last game was on Sunday 29 February 2004 winning 4–3 at home to the Brisbane Strikers.

All time records

  • Record Victory: 5–1 vs Newcastle United (H), 26 October 2000
  • Record Defeat: 0–7 vs Parramatta Power (A), 14 February 2003
  • Highest Scoring: 9 Goals: (2 games, both losses)
i) 2–7 vs Perth Glory (H), 25 October 2001
ii) 4–5 vs South Melbourne (H), 15 March 2003
Home attendance figures for final season not included so potential exists for a lower crowd.
  • Winning Streak: 3 games (15 November 2002 – 6 December 2002)
  • Undefeated Streak: 7 games (23 February 2001 – 6 April 2001)
  • Losing Streak: 7 games (15 March 2003 – 7 November 2003)
  • Winless Streak: 9 games (29 November 2003 – 10 January 2004)
  • Goals in a game: 4 – Harry Ngata vs Northern Spirit (H), 27 September 2002
  • Goals in a season: 12 – Dennis Ibrahim 2001–2002
  • Most Assists in a season: ?
  • All-time most Appearances: 129 – Harry Ngata
  • All-time Top Scorer: 29 – Harry Ngata

National Soccer League

NSL seasonal results

Season Position GP W D L GF GA GD Pts Best Result Worst Result
1999–2000 8 (of 16) 34 15 5 14 57 59 -2 50 4–0 against Parramatta Power
19 April 2000		 0–4 to Melbourne Knights
26 April 2000
2000–2001 8 (of 15) 30 12 7 11 52 52 0 43 5–1 against Newcastle United
27 October 2000		 1–6 to South Melbourne FC
25 April 2001
2001–2002 13 (of 13) 24 3 5 16 28 58 -30 15 2–1 against Sydney United
9 November 2001		 1–7 to Parramatta Power
15 March 2002
2002–2003 11 (of 13) 24 6 6 12 26 45 -19 24 4–1 against Northern Spirit
27 September 2002		 0–7 to Parramatta Power
15 February 2003
2003–2004 13 (of 13) 24 4 3 17 25 51 -16 15 3–1 against Marconi Stallions
23 November 2003		 0–6 to South Melbourne FC
30 November 2003

All-time NSL Win/Loss

Club Pld Wins Draw Loss Goals For Goals Against Goal Diff
Adelaide Force 10 8 1 1 6 20 −14
Adelaide United FC 2 0 0 2 1 4 −3
Brisbane Strikers 10 4 2 4 16 18 −2
Canberra Cosmos 4 2 0 2 8 6 2
Carlton S.C. 4 2 1 1 7 4 3
Eastern Pride / Gippsland Falcons 2/2 2/1 0/1 0/0 5/3 2/1 3/2
Marconi Stallions 10 5 1 4 17 14 3
Melbourne Knights 10 1 4 5 14 21 −7
Newcastle Breakers 2 0 1 1 1 2 −1
Newcastle United 8 3 1 4 12 11 1
Northern Spirit 10 2 0 8 16 23 −7
Parramatta Power 10 4 1 5 16 26 −10
Perth Glory 10 1 1 8 12 33 −21
South Melbourne 10 3 1 6 12 26 −14
Sydney Olympic 10 4 2 4 15 18 −3
Sydney United 10 3 2 5 10 13 −3
Wollongong Wolves 12 2 7 3 17 23 −6
Total 136 47 26 63 188 265 -77

Managers

Name Nat From To Record
P W D L F A GD Pts
Wynton Rufer New Zealand October 1999 April 2001 64 27 12 25 109 111 −2 91
Mike Petersena Australia October 2001 October 2001 4 0 1 3 6 14 −8 1
Shane Ruferb New Zealand November 2001 November 2001 2 1 1 0 4 3 1 4
Kevin Fallon New Zealand November 2001 April 2002 18 2 3 13 18 41 −23 9
Ken Dugdalec England September 2002 November 2003 32 7 7 18 36 63 −27 28
Tommy Mason New Zealand November 2003 February 2004 16 3 2 11 15 33 −18 11
Total October 1999 February 2004 136 40 26 70 188 265 -77 146

Player Records

Most Appearances

# Name Kingz Career Appearances Goals
1 New Zealand Harry Ngata 1999–2003 129 29
2 New Zealand Chris Jackson 1999–2004 100 1
3 New Zealand Jonathan Perry 1999–2003 90 7
4 New Zealand Jeff Campbell 1999–2004 76 2
5= New Zealand Mark Burton 2000–2004 69 3
5= Australia Levent Osman 1999–2002 69 2
7 New Zealand Paul Urlovic 2000–2003 59 16
8 New Zealand Michael Utting 1999–2000
2002–2004		 49 0
9= New Zealand Wynton Rufer 1999–2001 48 12
9= New Zealand Riki van Steeden 1999–2003 48 2

Most Goals

# Name Kingz Career Goals Appearances
1 New Zealand Harry Ngata 1999–2003 29 129
2 New Zealand Paul Urlovic 2000–2003 16 59
3 Chile Aaron Silva 1999–2001 13 32
4= Germany Dennis Ibrahim 2000–2001 12 24
4= New Zealand Wynton Rufer 1999–2001 12 48
6 Australia Andy Vlahos 2001–2003 9 45

Kingz Players

Football Kingz FC Players

See also

Notes

a Caretaker manager during October 2001. b Caretaker manager for two games. c Resigned after 8 games in 2003.

References

External links

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