History of the Club

Rogerstone Rangers Junior Football Club

Rogerstone Rangers JFC ( Founded 1979 )
The Beginning

Rogerstone Boys
It was during 1978 as the residents of Rogerstone were preparing for their annual village Carnival.Mr Anthony Watts who lived in Rogerstone at the time and who was part of the carnival committee where one of his jobs was to collect for the carnival tote. Many young boys at the time with nothing better to do were put to use by Anthony to collect the tote around the streets of Rogerstone.Back at the Rogerstone welfare after collecting the tote monies the boys would, as boys do kick a football around to pass the time of day. Being employed as a grounds man at Pontymister Wefare at the time Anthony was well aware of the football matches that would take place each week at Risca and approached his young helpers to ask them that if he organised it would they be interested in playing friendlies against other local teams in the area and of course they agreed. Rogerstone Boys was now born, playing football matches against the likes of Gelli Utd, Pontymister and Cross keys which continued for the next 2 seasons after which the players approached Anthony and said “Mr Watts can we join the league”, to which he replied “Don’t be silly “but nevertheless decided to join the League anyway in 1981.

Rogerstone Rangers

During the school year of 1979 the original first ever team of Rogerstone Rangers were mostly playing together as a school team based at Cefn Wood primary school under the supervision of Teacher Mr Bob Sully. The team were very successful and decided to ask their parents if they could join the Newport and District League. Parents Noel Smith, Bernard (Bunny) Harding and Richard Haskins took the boys down to the welfare grounds and started extra training in the evenings. The parents approached the league and subsequently joined in September 1980 under the newly formed Rogerstone Rangers Junior Football Club.
They entered the league at under 10’s and with the kind permission of the Headmaster Mr J E Evison of Cefn Wood Primary school,they set up their base at Cefn Wood and teacher Mr Bob Sully was invited to become president of the club for all the hard work in getting the team to where they were. So this is where it all began and Cefn Wood is where we are still are based to this day. The newly formed committee of the club consisted of:

Mr Bob Sully ………………………………….President
Mr Noel Smith………………….…………….Chairman
Bunny Harding………………….…………….Secretary
Richard Haskins ………………….…..Treasurer

In 1981 the club had enough boys interested to start another team and word quickly spread and as the teams grew the committee grew and in 1982 with Rogerstone Boys now starting to lose a few players through age, they were pondering their future and after only 1 season in the league they approached Rogerstone Rangers and with what was left of their existing players merged to become one club.
Turning Point

From the entrance into the league in 1980 the teams that played had to play an 11 a side format as the traditional game is played. This included all boys 8yrs – 11yrs because in later years more and more younger age groups were involved.
As early as 1988 teams as young as under 7’s were playing friendlies against other Newport teams based on the 11 a side game because this was considered “ Real Football “.

In 1995 a meeting was called by the FA at the Civic Centre, Newport to which the Newport and district were asked to attend including representatives from each playing club.

The agenda was set to discuss the reduction of the younger players’ game to a 7 a side format on smaller pitches. No pressure was to be put on the players to win and the games would be friendlies with slightly different rules with the emphasis on the learning of the game and not winning at all costs. Of course the league was up in arms and fought against this proposal as ridiculous as this was, it was not “Real Football “.
After much discussion the proposal was passed and the following season the younger age groups from 8yrs – 11yrs played this new format.

After one season this 7 a side format was fully endorsed and all the managers that were involved thought that it was “the best thing since sliced bread “as it honed the playing skills needed for later years.

Today we continue to play from under 8’s to under 11’s using the 7 a side system.
Although we continue to have an under 7’s age group and have had for many years, this age group is still not recognised by the Gwent League to this day and are licensed and registered by the Newport District League only.

Today plans are to be discussed on the possible phasing in from 7 a side to 11 a side during the last season of mini football { Under 11’s } as we all agree that the step up to competitive football from mini is too sudden a leap and this change should be better managed.
Timeline

President

1979 – 1997……………....Bob Sully
1997 – 2005………………...Anthony Watts
2005 – Present…….....Mick Sugrue

Chairman

1979 – 1991……………...…Noel Smith
1991 – 1995……………...…Phil Chorley
1995 – 1997……………...…Anthony Watts
1997 – 1999……………...…Clive Roberts
1999 – 2002……………...…Mick Sugrue
2002 – Present……….….…Wayne Jones

Secretary

1979 – 1990………………...Bunny Harding
1990 – 1997……………..….Clive Roberts
1997 – 1999……………..….Mick Sugrue
1999 – 2002…….……….….Lennie Hall
2002 – 2003……….…….….Lee Hughes
2003 – 2004…….……….….Martin Hopcroft
2004 – 2006……….………..Ian Jones
2006 – Present……………..Martin Hopcroft

Treasurer

1979 - …………………....Richard Haskins

1996 – 1997………………...David Roberts
1997 – 1998……………….. Dave Gallivan
1998 – 1999……………….. Haydn Vaughan

0000 – 2006……………….. Dave Hayhoe
2006 – Present……………. Paul John

Honours

1990-1991 Under 16’s Winners Gwent County Cup

1991-1992 Under 10’s Winners NDJL Cup and League Double

1992-1993 Under 12’s Runners up NDJL Cup

2000-2001 Under 14’s Runners up NDJL Cup

2001-2002 Under 14’s Winners NDJL Cup

2002-2003 Under 13’s Runners up NDJL Plate

2002-2003 Under 14’s Runners up NDJL Plate

2002-2003 Under 15’s Winners NDJL Cup and League Double

2005-2006 Under 16’s Winners Gwent County Cup and League Double

2005-2006 Under 13's Runners up NDJL League

2006-2007 Under 13's Runners up NDJL League

Life Members

Noel Smith
Bernard Harding
Roger Cleave
Malcolm Pritchard
Anthony Watts
Ray Heard
Mick Sugrue
Phil Chorley
Paul Griffiths
Lennie Hall
Peter Lee
Clive Roberts
Vic Bonnici