Durban City was a South African

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 based in the city of

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

. Formed in 1959 by Norman Elliott, the club was dissolved in 1988.

History

Durban City FC played in the newly formed

whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

only

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

from 1959 to 1977, the team then moved over to the

Federation Professional League The Federation Professional League (FPL) was a South African soccer league founded in 1969. At the time, under the country's apartheid policies, integrated sport was prohibited, and the National Football League The National Football Lea ...

for the 1978 season. The team moved again to the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...

, which later changed its name to the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

from 1979 to 1988. The club was sold on 27 July 1988 midway through the season to a group of local businessmen from the

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

area. The new owners kept the famous blue and white hoops but immediately changed the name to Natal United. The team got relegated at the end of that season and disbanded. In the 1986–1987 season the club courted controversy by becoming the first South African football club to have a mascot. 'Barry' was a

kudu The kudus are two species of antelope of the genus '' Tragelaphus'': * Lesser kudu, ''Tragelaphus imberbis'', of eastern Africa * Greater kudu, ''Tragelaphus strepsiceros'', of eastern and southern Africa The two species look similar, th ...

with enlarged eyes and glasses and was sponsored by a local opticians.

Notable coaches

* Colin Addison *

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English writer, filmmaker, and visual artist. He came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of short stories collectively named the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading horror author ...

* Alf Boyd * Budgie Byrne * Joe Kirkup *

Dave Sexton David James Sexton (6 April 1930 – 25 November 2012) was an English football manager and player. He was notable for managing Chelsea to their first European trophy. Playing career Son of former professional boxer Archie Sexton, he st ...

(guest) * Bill Williams * Butch Webster * Willie Lewis

Honours

* FPL champions: 1978 * NPSL champions:

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Durban City Football Club Official Website
Defunct soccer clubs in South Africa Association football clubs established in 1959 Association football clubs disestablished in 1988 Soccer clubs in Durban National Football League (South Africa) clubs 1959 establishments in South Africa 1988 disestablishments in South Africa Soccer and apartheid