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Berwick Rangers F.C.

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Berwick Rangers F.C.

Full name

Berwick Rangers
Football Club

Nickname(s)

The Borderers

Founded

1881

Ground

Shielfield Park,
Berwick-upon-Tweed

Capacity

4,131

Chairman

Robert Wilson

Manager

John Coughlin

League

Scottish Third Division

2005-06

Scottish Third Division, 2nd





Home colours





Away colours

Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the English Border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, but currently playing in the Scottish Football League. They are currently managed by John Coughlin.

They are one of a handful of teams in the world to be based in one country but play in another's football league 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, with only two clubs (TNS and Llanelli) having a full-time playing staff. The New Zealand Knights is an Auckland-based professional team which plays 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 has played in the Football League of Ireland, the league of the Republic of Ireland, since 1985.

The reason that this unusual arrangement exists is because the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed is located so far away from other English towns and cities, near to the Scottish border. The town is actually closer to Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, than it is even to Newcastle upon Tyne in the north of England. The time (and expense) involved in travelling to away matches against English opposition would be prohibitive for the club. As well, the club also formerly played in the East of Scotland League, which contains other nearby Border teams, prior to joining the Scottish League. There is also some controversy over Berwick's identity <ref>BBC News article on Berwick's identity</ref>

1 History
2 Chant
3 Honours
4 Club Records
5 External links
6 References

[edit] History

Officially formed in 1881, though some think it may be 1884 <ref>Berwick Forums discussion on history</ref>, 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 F.C. 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 clubs 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 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 F.C. 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] Chant

An amusing chant used by Berwick Rangers was featured in a question on a special edition of TV quiz show They Think It's All Over. It is possible that the chant was a hoax, although footage of fans using the chant was used.

The format is such that the volume-gifted leader shouts out the line, and the group repeats his words, with a variation in the initial line.

Go left go right go pick sticks, Go left go right go leh-eft

(Repeat)

I wantto be a Berwick Ranger

(Repeat)

Only live for sex and danger

(Repeat)

One team was asked to guess what that final line was. One suggestion was a mild slur on Berwick's admittedly small stadium "Your main stand's two cowsheds and a manger". While incorrect, the show's host Nick Hancock congratulated the team on using the word manger in a non-biblical context. Another amusing incorrect suggestion from Gary Lineker was "I have no life, does that amaze ya".

Perhaps slightly out of line, Hancock concluded the question by saying that you can have both sex and danger at the same time in Berwick, as "some of the sheep up there have herpes".

[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