Coastal Spirit FC is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and are a part of

Mainland Football Mainland Football is one of six federations of New Zealand Football, representing regions of Northern and Central Canterbury, Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough and the West Coast. History Canterbury United Pride was founded in 2002, to represe ...

's federation. Their Premier Men's team currently competes in the Southern League. Their Premier Women's team competes in the Women's South Island League and were the 2013 National Knockout Cup winners.

History

Merge

Coastal Spirit FC was established through the merger of New Brighton AFC and Rangers AFC in 2007, which was one of the oldest clubs in Christchurch having been founded in 1913. Prior to the merge, New Brighton and Rangers competed in the

Mainland Premier League The Canterbury Premiership League, formally Mainland Premier League and also known as New World (supermarket), New World Canterbury Premiership League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition run by Mainland Football for association foot ...

, with New Brighton getting

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

in 2006 and Rangers in 2007.

Earthquake

In 2010, the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Canterbury earthquakes ruined the home ground of Bexley park and Eric Adam park was not in use anymore, Coastal had to find a new home. Less than 2 kilometres south-west from Bexley park, Cuthberts Green was decided to be the new home ground of Coastal Spirit.

Coastal Spirit SASFC

In 2020, Coastal Spirit joined forces with St. Albans Shirley to help provide a pathway for women's youth and senior football. With the women's premier team having an outstanding season, by winning the league ( Mainland Premier Women's League) and winning the local cup ( Reta Fitzpatrick Cup). With the success of the premier season, 2021 season saw the arrangement expand into the Boys Youth competition. With the women's premier team having another outstanding season, by winning the league ( Mainland Premier Women's League), the local cup ( Reta Fitzpatrick Cup) and reaching the semi-finals of the delayed national cup (

Kate Sheppard Cup The Kate Sheppard Cup, currently known as the New Zealand Football Foundation Kate Sheppard Cup for sponsorship purposes, is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in women's association football. Founded in 199 ...

) due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. Following the end-of-season discussions, its now been agreed that all Girls Youth, Boys CDL Youth and Men's and Women's Premier/Reserves teams will be a joint enterprise between the two clubs for the 2022 season and beyond. The Junior and Social grades will continue to be run by the individual clubs. With the women's premier team having another outstanding season, by winning the league ( Mainland Premier Women's League), the local cup ( Reta Fitzpatrick Cup) and the winning the inaugural South Island Championships. In 2023, the introduction of Ōtākaro has taken the responsibility of Boys CDL Youth teams away from the 2 clubs. And the women's premier team winning the Women's South Island Qualifying League, runners-up in the local cup ( Reta Fitzpatrick Cup) and reaching the semi-finals of the national cup (

). Throughout this time, the women's premier team have only recorded 2 losses out of 54 league games, over 4 seasons.

Ōtākaro

In 2023, 6 clubs on the eastern side of Christchurch merged their Boys Youth teams to provide the players the best possible option for aspirational youth players on the East side of Christchurch. The 6 clubs that helped create the new entity of Ōtākaro FC are, Burwood, Coastal Spirit, Ferrymead Bays, Parklands United, St Albans Shirley and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

. The club has had success in the premier season, with the 13th grade boys winning their league, 14th grade boys winning their league, 15th grade boys coming runners up in their league, and the 17th grade boys coming 5th out of 6th in their league. The 17th grade boys are also competing in the Youth Southern League for qualification to the Youth National League.

Home Grounds

Coastal Spirit play their home games at Tāne Norton Park (formerly known as Linfield Park), as well a
Linwood Rugby FC
a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club in Christchurch. Prior to the move in 2020, Coastal played their home games at Cuthberts Green, but due to poor conditions and not being up to the standards in the recent years, the decision was made to move the club. Throughout the years, Coastal have had many of their home games moved to

English Park English Park is a football (soccer), football stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is the home stadium of Canterbury United, which competes in the ASB Premiership, as well as Western AFC which currently compete in the Mainland Premier League. ...

. Coastal was originally based at Bexley Park for 4 years. They would occasionally play at Eric Adam Park ((formerly known as Rangers Park), now a subdivision in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

) the former home of Rangers AFC, where both Eric Adam Park and Bexley Park got damaged during the

and

earthquakes causing for a relocation. On 19 September 2010, Coastal played

Richmond Athletic FC Richmond Athletic FC is a New Zealand Association football, football club, based in the South Island town of Richmond, New Zealand, Richmond, Tasman District, Tasman, New Zealand. Their home ground is Jubilee Park. History Formed in 1948, Richm ...

in the

second leg In sports (especially association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum of ...

promotion playoff Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

tie for

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

at Eric Adam Park, Coastal went on to win the game 3–0. Coastal Spirit won 5–4 on aggregate, this was the fairytale ending to Eric Adam Park. In the Southern League era, Coastal have played their home games at Tāne Norton Park, generally on Sunday compared to the normal Saturday game, this is because Linwood Rugby have the priority to play games at Tāne Norton Park. On a few occasions when the field is torn up from rugby or its unplayable (not up to standard), the home games have moved to the

Artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...

of English Park. On 6 August 2023, St. Albans Park became a new venue that's hosted a Southern League game, the venue is where St Albans Shirley FC are located, Coastal played Nelson Suburbs where Nelson won the game 2–3.

Season by season record

Honours

Men's

*League **

***Runners up (2): 2018, 2021 ***Third (3): 2011, 2016, 2017 **

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

***Third (1): 2018 ** Southern League ***Runners up (1):

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

***Third (1):

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

**Canterbury Division 1 ***Champions (2): 2009, 2010 *Cup ** English Cup ***Champions (1):

***Runners up (1): 2018 **

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are Wellington Olymp ...

***Semi Finalist (1):

*Other **

Team of the Year ***Winners (1): 2024 **Hurley Shield ***Winners (4): 2011, 2017, 2018, 2023 **McFarlane Cup ***Winners (2): 2011, 2024

Women's

*League ** Mainland Women's Premier League ***Champions (12) (Record): 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 ***Runners up (2): 2011, 2016 ** South Island Championship ***Champions (1):

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

** South Island Qualifying League ***Champions (1):

***Runners up (1):

** South Island League ***Third (2):

*Cup ** Reta Fitzpatrick Cup ***Champions (10) (Shared Record): 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022 **

***Champions (1): 2013 ***Runners up (2): 2011,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

*Other **

Team of the Year ***Winners (8): 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 **McFarlane Cup ***Winners (5): 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 **Hawkey Shield ***Winners (9): 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023,

Records

Men's Results per opposition

Coastal Spirit Men's Southern League record vs all opponents

Women's Results per opposition

Coastal Spirit Women's Southern League record vs all opponents

Notes

References

{{Clubs based in Canterbury Association football clubs in Christchurch Association football clubs established in 2007 2007 establishments in New Zealand