History
The club started as the Otara Rangers in 1973. In 1989 the Otara Rangers (based at Ngati Otara) merged with Clove nor Park United to form the club now known as "The South Auckland Rangers" and remained based at Ngati Otara until 1989.
The club moved to James Watson Park due to a promise made by the Manukau City Council to provide grounds solely for soccer use, so as to avoid any conflict with rugby league. When the South Auckland Rangers Association Football and Sports Club, was formed, the club had five senior and seven junior soccer teams.
As with neighbours Mangere United, SAR is one of the few surviving clubs in New Zealand to have been formed around a core of players predominantly of one ethnicity, with many of the players being of Fijian origin. Although this is now changing with 50–60% of current registered players being of ethnic origin other than Fijian.
The South Auckland Rangers are presently located at their new premises, Rongomai Park (with seven fields) where they have been since in November 2014.
The new clubrooms at Rongomai will be shared with the Southern Braves Softball Club and will be jointly administered with them via a Trust. Both clubs will provide two trustees each with a fifth independent trustee to be approved by both parties.
Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is also referred to as "South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does not encompass areas such as East Auckland, which was within the city boundary. It was a relatively young city, both in terms of legal status and large-scale settlement – though in June 2010, it was the third largest in New Zealand, and the fastest growing. In the same year, the entire Auckland Region was amalgamated under a single city authority, Auckland Council.
Waiuku is a rural town in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the Waiuku River, which is an estuarial arm of the Manukau Harbour, and lies on the isthmus of the Āwhitu Peninsula, which extends to the northeast. It is 40 kilometres southwest of Auckland city centre, and 12 kilometres north of the mouth of the Waikato River.
Papatoetoe is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest suburb in Auckland by population and is located to the northwest of Manukau Central, and 18 kilometres southeast of Auckland CBD.
South Auckland is one of the major geographical regions of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. The area is south of the Auckland isthmus, and on the eastern shores of the Manukau Harbour. The area has been populated by Tāmaki Māori since at least the 14th century, and has important archaeological sites, such as the Ōtuataua stonefield gardens at Ihumātao, and Māngere Mountain, a former pā site important to Waiohua tribes.
Arthur Anae is a New Zealand politician who served on the Auckland Council. He was an MP from 1996 to 1999, and again from 2000 to 2002. He was part of the National Party, being its first Pasifika MP.
Ann Batten is an Anglican priest, peace activist and a former New Zealand politician. She has been a member of various political parties and represented New Zealand First and Mauri Pacific in Parliament.
Māngere is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand, located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau City Centre and 15 kilometres south of the Auckland city centre. It is the location of Auckland Airport, which lies close to the harbour's edge to the south of the suburb.
Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand, located 6 km (3.7 mi) south of Manukau Central, and 26 km (16 mi) southeast of the Auckland City Centre. It is home to the Auckland Botanic Gardens, which receives over a million visitors a year. Manurewa has a high proportion of non-European ethnicities, making it one of the most multi-cultural suburbs in New Zealand. Employment for many is at the many companies of nearby Wiri, Papakura, and at the steel mill at Glenbrook.
Māngere Bridge is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, under the local governance of the Auckland Council. Surrounded by the Manukau Harbour, the area is the most north-western suburb of South Auckland, and is connected to Onehunga in central Auckland by three bridges that cross the Māngere Inlet. Many features of the Auckland volcanic field are found in and around Māngere Bridge, including Māngere Mountain, a 106-metre-high (348 ft) feature in the centre of the suburb, and Māngere Lagoon, a volcanic tidal lagoon opposite Puketutu Island in the harbour. The suburb is also home to Ambury Regional Park, a working farm and nature sanctuary run by Auckland Council, that connects to the Kiwi Esplanade and Watercare Coastal walkways.
East Auckland is one of the major geographical regions of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. Settled in the 14th century, the area is part of the traditional lands of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki. The area was developed into farmland in the 1840s, and the town of Howick was established as a defensive outpost by fencibles to protect Auckland. Coastal holiday communities developed in the area from the 1910s, and from the 1950s underwent major redevelopment into a suburban area of greater Auckland. From the 1980s, the area saw significant Asian New Zealander migrant communities develop.
Mangere United is a community football club football (soccer) club in Mangere, Auckland, New Zealand. They are currently a member of the Auckland Football Federation.
The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand including both club, school, and representative league.
Flat Bush is a southern suburb in the city of Auckland, New Zealand. It has recently become one of the city's largest new planned towns after being developed as a rural area of Auckland for several decades. Located near Manukau Heights, plans for substantial expansion began under the Manukau City Council - having bought 290 hectares in the area in 1996.
Puti Tipene "Steve" Watene was a New Zealand rugby league footballer and politician. He was the first Māori to captain the New Zealand league side and he is the only person to both represent the New Zealand national rugby league team and become a Member of Parliament.
Papakura is a suburb of South Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Pahurehure Inlet, approximately 32 kilometres (20 mi) south of the Auckland City Centre. It is under the authority of the Auckland Council.
Auckland is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about 1,478,800. It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, and which has a total population of 1,739,300 as of June 2023. It is the most populous city of New Zealand and the fifth largest city in Oceania. While Europeans continue to make up the plurality of Auckland's population, the city became multicultural and cosmopolitan in the late-20th century, with Asians accounting for 31% of the city's population in 2018. Auckland has the fourth largest foreign-born population in the world, with 39% of its residents born overseas. With its large population of Pasifika New Zealanders, the city is also home to the biggest ethnic Polynesian population in the world. The Māori-language name for Auckland is Tāmaki Makaurau, meaning "Tāmaki desired by many", in reference to the desirability of its natural resources and geography.
Ōtara is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand, situated 18 kilometres to the southeast of the Auckland City Centre. Ōtara lies near the head of the Tamaki River, and is surrounded by the suburbs of Papatoetoe, East Tāmaki, Clover Park and Flat Bush. The area is traditionally part of the rohe of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, and the name Ōtara refers to Ōtara Hill / Te Puke ō Tara, a former Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki pā and volcanic hill to the north of the suburb. From 1851 to 1910 the area was part of the Goodfellow family farm, and during the 1910s the area was an agricultural college run by the Dilworth Trust.
The Northern Regional Football League Conference, currently known as Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Conference for sponsorship reasons, is a New Zealand Semi-Professional football league. The league is run by the Auckland Football Federation and includes football clubs located in the northern part of the North Island, New Zealand. It is open to clubs from the Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty provinces. Up until 2022, the competition was known as NRFL Division 2, and was not split into Northern and Southern competitions.
Māngere East or Mangere East is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, under the governance of Auckland Council. It is located to the south of Favona, north of Papatoetoe, west of Middlemore, east of Māngere and Māngere Bridge, and southwest of Ōtāhuhu.
Ōtara-Papatoetoe is a local government area in Auckland, in New Zealand's Auckland Region. It is governed by the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board and Auckland Council. It is within the council's Manukau Ward.
