 | |
| Full name | Garankuwa United Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Kopano Ke Matla (Togetherness is strength) |
| Founded | Revived in July 2004 |
| Ground | Pilditch Stadium, West Pretoria,Pretoria, Gauteng,South Africa |
| Capacity | 20,000 |
| Owner | Dingi Rahlagane |
| Chairman | Abram Rathlabane |
| Manager |  Joseph Mekoe |
| League | SAFA Second Division |
Garankuwa United, sometimes also spelledGa-Rankuwa United, is a semi-professionalassociation football club based in theGa-Rankuwa township ofPretoria, in theGauteng province ofSouth Africa. The club was founded (or revived) in July 2004, to play their first season in theSAFA Regional League.
In June 2005, the owners Dingi Rahlagane and Harold "Kaizer" Motaung, decided to acquire the Castle League franchise of the clubBuffaloes, based in the North-West province ofVodacom League, which provided the team an automatic promotion to this level for 2005–06.[1][2]
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 theNational First Division (NFD). 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.
The team purchased the NFD licence fromUnited F.C. prior to the start of the2014–15 National First Division.[3] They were relegated that same season.[4]
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 nameABC FC. Later it changed toWallabies FC, before the club settled with their final nameGa-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.[5]
When the team played at the National First Division in 2006–08, the preferred home venue wasOdi Stadium.[1] This venue had a capacity of 60,000 seats, and had a perfect location just 5 km North of the club house inGarankuwa, being situated in the neighbour townshipMabopane. After being relegated to Vodacom League, the team however moved their home venue to these smaller and less expensive stadiums:Medunsa Stadium in 2008–09,Garankuwa Stadium in 2009–10, andPilditch Stadium in 2010–11.[citation needed]