TheFootball Kingz were New Zealand's first professional football club. They played in theAustralian National Soccer League from 1999 until their disestablishment in 2004, when they were replaced by theNew Zealand Knights as an inaugural participant in the newly established AustralianA-League.
Chart of yearly table positions for Football Kingz inNSL
Football Kingz F.C. (promoted as Auckland Kingz within Australia) joined the Australian National Soccer League in 1999 and proceeded to play in the last five seasons of the NSL, failing to qualify for the play-offs in every season. The club was originally to use the spelling of "Kings", however this was changed to the Kingz after receiving legal threats from Australian basketball team theSydney Kings.[1]
Their inaugural coach was OFC Player of the Century and former New Zealand internationalWynton Rufer in a player-coach role, with his brotherShane as assistant coach. They played their inaugural game on the evening of 1 October 1999 atNorth Harbour Stadium in front of then the largest crowd to watch a club game in New Zealand. The game was played againstCarlton SC and even though it resulted in a 0–3 loss was an enthralling start to the professional era in New Zealand.This first season would end up being the club's most successful with 15 wins. The team finished eighth of sixteen teams.
After an encouraging first season the club set out to improve its performance on and off the park. There were a number of foreign signings, mostly fromBrazil, that seemed good on paper but flopped on the park. One of these imports though immediately became a fan favourite,Dennis Ibrahim. TheGerman went on to become the club's top scorer during the season, managing two hat-tricks (in a 3–2 win over theBrisbane Strikers at home on 30 March 2001 and againstSydney United in a 4–2 away win on 29 April 2001). The team's best result proved to be a 5–1 home win over theNewcastle Breakers on 27 October 2000. The team again finished in eighth place, winning 12 games.
Seasons One and Two showed the potential of the team (they would turn out to be the most successful seasons from a professional New Zealand football team until theWellington Phoenix FC made the play-offs in 2009) and so Sky Television New Zealand became involved in the club. Their first move was to remove Wynton Rufer as coach while still wanting him to remain a player. Rufer's desire, however, was to remain as coach and to retire slowly as a player, and he immediately retired from playing.Mike Petersen was signed as the new manager and he brought with him a number of players including a young goalkeeperMichael Theoklitos to be part of the squad. His tenure lasted just five games. He started the season with a loss away to theBrisbane Strikers and three games later presided over an embarrassing 2–7 home loss toPerth Glory. The following game, a 2–2 draw away toWollongong Wolves on 2 November 2001 was his last, walking out after it. A number of Australian players soon following him.Shane Rufer stepped in to become the club'scaretaker manager. This tenure only lasted for two games but he achieved a win and draw from these games.Kevin Fallon was announced as the new manager, but the damage to the club had already been done and it ended up finishing with the "wooden spoon" in 13th place, this costing Fallon his job.
After the previous season's poor form, the club's owners drastically slashed the club's budget.Ken Dugdale was signed as the new coach. He had just finished a very successful stint as the manager of theAll Whites, having won theOFC Nations Cup and managed the team through their first involvement in theConfederations Cup where the All Whites performed very well. As he had a reduced budget he recruited from aroundNew Zealand introducing to the teamRaf de Gregorio andJeremy Christie. While the club had some very talented young players it struggled to compete but managed to achieve a better final position in theNational Soccer League than the season before, finishing 11 out of 13.
TheNational Soccer League was in a very bad financial state and fans were losing interest across the competition. This led the Australian Government to commission a report in toSoccer Australia and the NSL. Its recommendation was to abolish both Soccer Australia and the NSL and replace them with a new governing body and a new competition (Soccer Australia was broke and the NSL was unable to break away from its Euro Ethnic roots in parts of Australia). Knowing that this was going to be the last NSL season very little was spent on improving the squad and rumours spread that the club was struggling financially.Ken Dugdale remained manager, but the season started the way the previous one had finished. The club struggled on the playing field. In mid-season an announcement was made that the club was being bought out and its debts cleared. This was to cost Ken Dugdale his job and he was replaced on a temporary basis by his assistantTommy Mason. Mason was soon confirmed as the club's permanent manager, even though many felt that he was not up to the role. The new owners felt that the playing squad needed strengthening and broughtDanny Hay in, making him the new captain at the same time. Even with this new impetus the club again finished bottom of the league having only won four games. The club's very last game was on Sunday 29 February 2004 winning 4–3 at home to theBrisbane Strikers.
Aaron Silva
Dennis Ibrahim
Paul Urlovic
