David versus Goliath (Benetton F1 Racing Team)

Name: kenjohn

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Product:	Benetton F1 Racing Team
Date:	19/04/04 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good little small town football team., Once beat Glasgow Rangers!

Disadvantages: Will never be world beaters, or give their fans much to cheer about.

~ ~ Berwick Rangers (nickname the ?Borderers?) are a football team who play in the Scottish Second Division. The side was formed back in 1881, but despite a history going back 123 years they have very few claims to fame.

~ ~ Perhaps the greatest moment in the club?s record is their famous victory over the powerful and famous Glasgow Rangers F.C., who along with Glasgow Celtic make up the ?Old Firm? of Scottish football.
It was back in 1967, and Glasgow Rangers were a very successful team who that season were having a good run in the old European Cup Winner?s Cup, and contesting the Scottish First Division title with their old rivals, Celtic. They had just come off the back of a good victory (2-1 on aggregate) against the German side, Borussia Dortmund, and Berwick Rangers were ?minnows?, languishing mid-league in the old Scottish Second Division. Berwick Rangers were drawn at home to Glasgow Rangers in the first round of the Scottish F.A. Cup, and the only question about the tie seemed to be how big a ?cricket score? the Glasgow team would manage to run up against the part-timers of Berwick.
But that?s not the way the game turned out!
In a real ?David and Goliath? contest, played in January 1967, the courageous plumbers, builders, and office workers of Berwick somehow prevailed against the might of their more illustrious namesakes, and won the match 1-0!
The only goal of the game was scored by a player called Sammy Reid, and the side was captained by a lad called Gordon Haig who came from a small mining town called Ormiston, in my own home county of East Lothian. (Which borders Berwickshire)

~ ~ Berwick almost repeated their exploits of 1967 in the 2001/2002 season, when they were
once again drawn against Glasgow Rangers in the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup. The first game (played in Berwick in January 2002) resulted in a 0-0 draw, with the Scottish Second Division outfit giving as good as they got. Unfortunately, they couldn?t prevail against the mighty Rangers in the replay at Ibrox Park in Glasgow, and lost the tie 3-0, although they managed to hold the Glasgow side at bay for fully 58 minutes before they scored their first goal.

~ ~ The only other real claim to fame of the part-timers of Berwick is that they are the only ENGLISH side to play in the Scottish League! This is because Berwick-on-Tweed has historically been disputed territory between Scotland and England, with some of the inhabitants claiming English nationality, and others Scots ancestry. But at present it is located in Northumberland, although it lends its name to a Scottish County! (Berwickshire)
The example of Berwick Rangers (and Cardiff in Wales, who play in the English League) is often quoted as a precedent by supporters of the idea that has been floated in recent years of both Glasgow Rangers and Celtic being admitted to the English League.

~ ~ Berwick Rangers play at a small ground called Shielfield Park, which is located centrally in the town of Berwick, just across the bridge over the River Tweed in the town centre.
The ground only has a capacity of 4,131, (seated 1,366) although the crowd record is 13,365, which was recorded in that famous match against Glasgow Rangers back in 1967, long before all the current restrictions in regard to crowd control and capacity came into being. I?ve been inside the stadium (if you can call it that!) on quite a few occasions in my younger days, and I may tell
you that they must have been packed in like a tin of John West sardines.

~ ~ Berwick have only reached the dizzy heights of the First Division in Scotland (now the Scottish Premier League) once, when they won the old Second Division title in 1978/1979. They survived in the top flight (by the skin of their teeth) for two seasons, before dropping back into the second flight once again.
In the 1996/1997 season they hit a low point in their long history, when they were relegated from Division 2 to Division 3, but they managed to regain their 2nd Division status when they were runners-up in Division 3 in 1999/2000.

~ ~ Currently (March 2004) they lie in 6th position in the Scottish Second Division, 13 points adrift of the leaders Greenock Morton, and nine points away from a promotion place behind second placed Airdrie.
I wouldn?t exactly call myself a Berwick Rangers supporter, (I?m a Glasgow Celtic and Arsenal fan) but my old home-town of Dunbar in Scotland is only 30 miles or so away from Berwick, and I used to go one of their games occasionally when I still was living at home.
As a consequence, I still look for their weekly result in the Sunday Sport?s supplements, and am pleased when they are doing well.

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Berwick Rangers Football Club
Shielfield Park
Shielfield Terrace
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Northumberland,TD15 2EF

Tel: +44 (0)1289 307424
Fax: +44 (0)1289 309424

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Home Kit Colours: Gold & Black

Away Kit Colours: White, Red & Blue

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Admission to league fixtures:
Adults £9 Concessions £4

Average Attendances:
200
0-2001: 620 (Division 2)
2001-2002: 589 (Division 2)
2002-2003: 479 (Division 2)

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© KenJ 2004

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