Full name Jewish Guild | Founded 1897 | |
The Jewish Guild is a social club in suburban Johannesburg, South Africa, that was founded in the late 19th century. In its heyday, they fielded a football side that came runners up in the South African cup competition and even fielded George Best.
Contents
History
In 1960, the Old Arcs (founded 1897) asked Jewish Guild to run their football team. From then on the club – now renamed Jewish Guild – went from strength to strength, reaching the Castle Cup final in 1964 while still playing in the provincial league. When South Africa's National Football League voted to establish a national second division to start in 1969, Jewish Guild was among the 10 clubs admitted. The first season, they could only manage 5th place. But the next season, 1970, they ran away with the championship with runners-up Durban Celtic trailing them by 9 points (in the era of 2 points for a win). Thus Jewish Guild were promoted to the highest level of South African association football in the days of apartheid in the whites-only league. Their best season in the top division was 1975, when they placed 6th in a 15 team league. After that 1975 NFL season, the club merged with Johannesburg Corinthians to form Guild Apollo, who in turn played as Roodepoort Guild in 1977, the final NFL season, before folding. Today, the Jewish Guild is located in Linksfield, a suburb of Johannesburg and participates in lawn bowling competitions.