Welcome to the Coastal Spirit FC Website

We are a football club based in the eastern suburbs of Christchurch, New Zealand, catering to male and female players from age 4 to ..., beginners, social and elite players. 

We have players of all ages playing in teams on Saturday's and Sunday's in Men's, Women's and Junior competitions.
 
With player pathways firmly established by full-time Football Development Manager Gareth Turnbull, for performance or participation athletes, the club has an enviable record of turning out representative players. As part of this pathway the club sends 2 teams annually to the southern hemisphere's biggest youth football tournament, the Kanga Cup, held in Canberra Australia. Coaches are also supported in the club through our Coaches Network employing the services of respected and highly qualified coach Korouch Monsef. 

Coastal Spirit was formed in late 2007 as a merger between 2 local former giants of the game, Rangers AFC (est 1910) and New Brighton AFC (est 1959). 

With our own gymnasium and clubroom complex at Bexley Reserve, over 800 members, a full time Football Development Manager and the administrative support of Linfield Cultural Recreational Sports Club Inc. Coastal Spirit is at the forefront of the game in the Mainland Football region.

Please take the time to explore the site and find out why we are the most progressive club in the city.

Strength  Passion  Integrity  Respect  Inclusion  Teamwork - that's the  Spirit!!!

In the beginning ....

In mid 2007 several members from Rangers and New Brighton Football Clubs got together informally to discuss the state
of football in the Eastern Suburbs. Both clubs were struggling with static numbers and waining interest in maintaining either club at the top level. After discussions both Presidents, Steve Ager (New Brighton) and Grant Chellew (Rangers), went back to their committees to discuss a possible merger. New Brighton with it's $500,000 gymnasium complex and grounds at Bexley Reserve and Rangers with a potential $1,000,000 nest egg from the sale of Eric Adam Park and an existing spot in the Mainland Premier League for men had complimentary assett bases but were competing for players.
Rangers had also established a relationship with Linfield Sport that gave them an excellent platform for the future by virtue of the strong administration base as well as the services of Football Development Manager Mike DeBono.
In November of 2007 it was agreed to form a joint venture with a 2 year trial period. 8 members (Grant Chellew, Mark Davison, Brent Wilson and John Bates from Rangers, Steve Ager, Tony Green, John McManus and Wayne McTague from New Brighton) met for the first time in December to get the club underway. Members had already chosen a name for the new club at previous merger meetings - Coastal Spirit Football Club.
Work in earnest began - new logo courtesy of Shannon Hill (student at NatColl) and Wyatt & Wilson Print overseen by Wayne McTague, Alan Walker and Rowena Fulham and Women's 1st Team coaches. Mike DeBono resigned in February of 2008 to be replaced by Gareth Turnbull as Football Development Manager.
In the meantime courtesy of a rank decision by NZ Football .....

MPL appeal fails

Rangers AFC had retained a place in the Mainland Premier League for 2008, after defeating Burnside in a playoff at the end of the 2007 season. But Coastal Spirit FC's debut in the Mainland Premier League was delayed due to Burnside FC appealing the play-off result due to Rangers fielding a player who required an international clearance despite Mainland Football advising that all players were cleared to play in the 2007 play-offs. NZ Football then overturned their earlier own earlier advice with their Appeal Committee decision. This decision was then upheld by the Court for Arbitration in Sport. Coastal Spirit FC men's first team currently play in the Men's Division 1 (the old Qualifying League) with the aim of promotion to the Mainland Premier League.

First matches

Several players and the odd team from Rangers and New Brighton walked away at this stage, unhappy about the pace of the change and their place in the scheme of things. Dis-spirited you might say. By the end of March 2008 Coastal Spirit set forth as an entity for the first time with 35 junior and 11 senior teams and a membership of 600 players.
Coastal Spirit FC's first match was on 14 February 2008 in the Coastal Spirit Pre-Season Tournament, a 2-1 loss to Christchurch United. Jason Stapley was the first goalscorer for the Spirit. The men's first Division 1 league match was on 5 April 2008 at Kendall Park against North Canterbury United. Spirit won the game 6-0 with Jason Stapley scoring 3 goals. The women's first match was a Premier League game at Bexley Reserve on 5 April 2008, beating Avon United 10-0. Emma Proctor scored the first goal, going on to score the clubs first hat-trick, with 3 goals to Hannah Wong and 4 to Megan Shea. Controversially the match was later awarded as a 3-0 loss for both teams due to Mainland determining each side fielded ineligible players. Mainland Football had implemented a rule that meant any player under the age of 16 had to have written permission from their parents/guardians to play in a Senior team. Unfortunately both teams had missed this trivial regulation so both teams were punished. Ironically Avon's revised 3-0 loss gave them a much better start to the season than the thrashing they received in reality. The next week in the Women's Premier League, Western and Coastal Spirit drew 0-0. A week later came the first win, both on field and on record, 8-2 against Ferrymead Bays. Hannah Wong (3) Georgia Goulding (2) Alex Hepburn, Stef White, Maia Vink were the goalscorers.

Honours

In 2008, Coastal Spirit won the Women's Premier League and Reta Fitzpatrick Cup, Sunday League Men's Divisions 1 and 5 and the CSSL Trophy. CSFC were runners-up in the Men's English Cup and Men's Division 1. In the inaugural Tsunami South Island Boys U-19 Tournament, hosted by the club at Bexley Reserve in October 2008, Coastal Spirit finished 2nd, losing 4-1 to Western in the final of the inaugural 10 team club competition. The men's section also saw championship titles in both Division 4 and 5.

In 2009, Coastal Spirt U-15 Girls won the Kanga Cup in Canberra, Australia, beating Feng-Si JHS of Chinese Taipei 6-0 in the Final. Coastal Spirit Men's First Team won both the Division 1 League and Division 1 Cup. The Reta Fitzpatrick Cup was retained by the Women's First Team, beating Western 2-1 in the Final. In the inaugural Girls Tsunami South Island U-19 Tournament, hosted by Coastal Spirit at Bexley in October 2009 in conjunction with the Boys U19 tournament, Coastal Spirit A became South Island Champions, beating Waimak 6-0 in the final of the 7-club competition, with Monique Barker named Girls Tournament MVP.

First Team Coaches

Men:
2008-2009: Alan Walker
2009: Rob Stanton
2010: Paul Hughes
2010: Mick Curry
2011: Korouch Monsef
2012: Korouch Monsef

Women:
2008: Rowena Fulham & Mike Fulham (co-coaches)
2009: Gareth Turnbull
2010: Gareth Turnbull
2011: Gareth Turnbull
2012: Gareth Turnbull