Garankuwa United, sometimes also spelled Ga-Rankuwa United, is a semi-professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club based in the

Garankuwa Ga-Rankuwa is a large settlement located about 37 km north-west of Pretoria. Provincially it is in Gauteng province, but it used to fall in Bophuthatswana during the apartheid years, and under the North West province until the early 2000s. ...

township of

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

, in the

Gauteng province Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only 1 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. The club was founded (or revived) in July 2004, to play their first season in the

SAFA Regional League The South African Breweries Regional League is the fourth tier of domestic football in the South African football pyramid. There are 832 clubs competing in the competition. Most teams are made up of players under the age of 19. Sub-Leagues The c ...

. In June 2005, the owners Dingi Rahlagane and Harold "Kaizer" Motaung, decided to acquire the Castle League franchise of the club Buffaloes, based in the North-West province of

Vodacom League The ABC Motsepe League, previously known as the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the current Second Division and the overall third tier of South African football. The competition is regulated by SAFA, and until 2012 ...

, which provided the team an automatic promotion to this level for 2005–06. The team's debut season in Vodacom League was very successful, as they managed both to win the North-West province, and get promoted after the provincial play-offs, to play the next two seasons in the

National First Division The National First Division (NFD), officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African club football after the South African Premier Division. Both the NFD and South Afric ...

. By June 2007, they were however relegated back again to the North-West province of Vodacom League. They managed again to win the province, both in 2010 and 2011, but today still play in Vodacom League, as they were not yet able to also win the promotional tickets at the provincial play-offs.

Prehistoric team: Ga-Rankuwa United (1960–92)

The current Garankuwa United team, is said to have been founded in June 2005, as a phoenix team of the previous club Ga-Rankuwa United (1960–92). When the prehistoric team got founded in the early 1960s, it initially had the name ABC FC. Later it changed to Wallabies FC, before the club settled with their final name Ga-Rankuwa United. The team did not compete at the high level in South Africa, but only in various domestic regional leagues, like i.e. the Bopsol league organised by the Bophuthatswana government.

Club records and best achievements

* Achieved an 11th place of the National First Division in 2006–07. * Reached the 1/8-Finals (round 16) of the 2007 ABSA Cup, where they narrowly were defeated 1–2 by Dynamos. * Won the North West province of Vodacom League in 2006,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and 2011.

Historical League results

* 2005–06 (VL) – 1st (in North-West, and promoted) * 2006–07 (NFD) – 11th * 2007–08 (NFD) – 8th (in Inland stream => Relegated) * 2008–09 (VL) – 4th (in North-West) * 2009–10 (VL) – 1st (in North-West) * 2010–11 (VL) – 1st (in North-West)

Team squad in 2010–11

The players listed below, were spotted at the pitch, when the team met Sivutsa Stars 8 June 2011, at the provincial playoffs.

Oriel Mtsenga Oriel may refer to: Places Canada * Oriel, a community in the municipality of Norwich, Ontario, Canada Ireland * Oriel Park, Dundalk, the home ground of Dundalk FC * Oriel House, Ballincollig, County Cork * Kingdom of Oriel ('' Airgíalla'' i ...

(goalkeeper)
Tshepang Mabatla

Conrad Madola Conrad may refer to: People * Conrad (name) Places United States * Conrad, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Conrad, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Conrad, Iowa, a city * Conrad, Montana, a city * Conrad Glacier, Washin ...

Johannes Kgoale Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as " John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, '' Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Y ...

(captain)

Pule Matlokotsi Pule may refer to: People Surname * Boalefa Pule (born 1990), South African footballer * Hermano Pule (1815–1841), Filipino religious leader * Jabu Pule (born 1980), South African football player * John Pule (born 1962), Niuean artist, nove ...

Lebogang Mathopa Lebogang or Lebohang is a South African given name which is often shortened to Lebo. It may refer to * Lebogang Mabatle (born 1992), South African football defender * Lebogang Manyama (born 1990), South African footballer * Lebogang Mashile (born 1 ...

Stadium

When the team played at the National First Division in 2006–08, the preferred home venue was Odi Stadium. This venue had a capacity of 60,000 seats, and had a perfect location just 5 km North of the club house in

, being situated in the neighbour township

Mabopane Mabopane is a residential suburb in South Africa. It is situated in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, to the north of Pretoria in Gauteng. History Proclamation Mabopane was proclaimed in 1959 as a black-only residential settlement by the t ...

. After being relegated to Vodacom League, the team however moved their home venue to these smaller and less expensive stadiums:

Medunsa Stadium Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) is a university in Pretoria North, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Its current incarnation was formed on 1 January 2015. Previously it was known as ''Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA ...

in 2008–09,

Garankuwa Stadium Ga-Rankuwa is a large settlement located about 37 km north-west of Pretoria. Provincially it is in Gauteng province, but it used to fall in Bophuthatswana during the apartheid years, and under the North West province until the early 2000s. ...

in 2009–10, and

Pilditch Stadium Pilditch Stadium is a multi-use stadium in the show grounds complex of Pretoria city, situated at the Northern part of the Gauteng province in South Africa. It is used for track and field athletics and football (soccer), football matches, and is ...

in 2010–11.

References

External links

RSSSF database with seasonal results of South African footballVodacom League official log resultsNational First Division official website
{{South African soccer seasons Association football clubs established in 2004 SAFA Second Division clubs Soccer clubs in North West (South African province) Soccer clubs in Pretoria 2004 establishments in South Africa Garankuwa United F.C.