Nerang Soccer Club

Nerang Soccer Club was founded in 1972 after a group of players from the Tweed District Soccer Association sought to base their team closer to the Gold Coast and pursue stronger football competition. The original home ground was located at the Nerang Velodrome site, in Hope Street, Nerang. Initially the club’s senior teams played in various lower divisions within the Brisbane soccer competition, considered to be a much stronger level of competition and more established football environment than the Tweed District could provide at the time. From 1972 through to the mid 1980s the club ascended through the Brisbane soccer divisions, winning multiple premierships, grand finals and promotions.

Nerang Soccer Club's first team in 1972, pictured in the original black and white striped uniform

After consecutive years of growth and success the club abandoned its home ground in 1987 to move to its current location at Glennon Park, in Recreation Drive, Nerang. At the 1990 Brisbane Division Two Grand Final the Nerang senior men's team defeated Brisbane Croatia three goals to one,[1] securing the club's promotion into the Brisbane XXXX League First Division, which was considered to be the second tier of football in Australia at the time. In 1991 the club was relegated back to the second division, returning again at the end of the 1994 season to the XXXX League First Division.[2] In 1974 Nerang Soccer Club fielded its first women's team, beginning a long history of women's football success which produced notable representative players including Matildas player Kerrie Rowe.[3] The Eagles won numerous men's, women's and junior premierships and grand finals during their formation years and featured regularly in Brisbane and Gold Coast newspapers and media.

In 1997 a restructuring of football in Queensland resulted in Nerang's senior teams leaving the Brisbane competitions and returning home to enter their home city's leagues for the first time. The club remains in the Gold Coast competitions and their men's teams currently compete in the Football Gold Coast Premier League after securing promotion in 2017 to return to the top flight of Gold Coast Football. The club's various other men's, women's and junior teams all compete on the Gold Coast as well.

In 2015 the club held discussions with the newly-formed Academy Of Football Australia, which resulted in the academy opting to base their training and development programs at the Nerang Club. Academy Of Football Australia teams train at the Nerang facilities and play for Nerang Soccer Club, typically in the Football Gold Coast Junior Premier League competitions.

In 2017 during a visit to the United Kingdom, representatives from Nerang Soccer Club and the Academy Of Football Australia sought partnership opportunities with professional football clubs, which resulted in a formal partnership being secured with Celtic FC[4] to engage in the Celtic Soccer Academy program and be recognised as a partner club to the Celtic FC international collection of partner clubs. Nerang Soccer Club has hosted several official Celtic FC training camps with visiting Celtic Soccer Academy coaches instructing local players from Nerang and surrounding clubs.

Nerang Soccer Club is the current host club for the football component of the biannual Pan Pacific Masters Games, which is held across the Gold Coast every two years. The event showcases dozens of sports with over 35 competitors from across the Pacific Nations coming together to contest various age divisions and disciplines including soccer.