RAMBLERS CHRONICLE

1945

The Club is formed by Neil Greeff who is the first captain and plays its first game in Okahandja.
A group of gentlemen who worked for Standard Bank who did not want to play Rugby at “Wanderers”
formed a Football Club and adopted the name “Ramblers” instead.
The coat of arms with the simple word “Aequitas” as motto was adopted soon thereafter.
Aequitas is the Latin word for FAIR PLAY.

1949

Men’s Hockey Section was formed

1957

Formation of Baseball/Softball section

1967

Ladies Hockey Section was formed

1970-1971

After winning several league titles in SWA, Ramblers now plays in the Second Division of the SA National Soccer League.

1972

The first team of Ramblers together with Talpark and Cohen FC is transformed into a professional football club –
Windhoek City – with the objective of attaining promotion into the First Division of the SA National Soccer League.

1973

A few players part ways with Windhoek City and enter a Ramblers team in the 1st League of SWA again.
The first soccer tour to Angola is undertaken under the leadership of Manuel Coelho.

1975

Ramblers wins the Georges Cup for a record 12th time. This is the last year that this historical cup dating
back to 1916 is played.

1978

The club grounds are acquired in Pionierspark

1981

The first soccer field is taken into use in Pionierspark.

28.11.1981

The Club House is inaugurated by the Mayor of Windhoek.
(in previous years the old Hotel Kaiserkrone, a hall at the show grounds, the M&Z Café
as well as an old house in the Southern Industrial Area served as unoffical club house)

1981

Bertus Damon and Eric Muinjo are the first “non-white” players to join Ramblers.

1983

The first soccer tour to Germany is undertaken under the leadership of Manuel Coelho.

1985

Ramblers beat Chief Santos 4-0 in the final of the Mainstay Cup captained by Bobby Craddock.

1988

The second soccer tour to Germany is undertaken under the leadership of Manuel Coelho.

1990

Ramblers legend Joseph Martin scores the first international goal for Namibia against Lesotho

1992

Ramblers wins the newly formed Namibia Premier League (NPL) under captain Ruli Pahl and
coach Gary Sales. Other team members like Jorge da Purificacao, Mario Carreira, Mark Kutzner,
Tollie van Wyk, Joseph Martin and Dave Fransman play a crucial role in the management and
coaching of the Ramblers Soccer Section from 1999 to 2014.

1993

Ramblers is the first Namibian representative in the African Champions League and plays
Costa Do Sol in Maputo in Mozambique in front of a capacity crowd of 45,000 spectators with the
return leg in Windhoek.

1996

Ramblers is relegated from the NPL.

2000

Ramblers is promoted again into the NPL.

2002

Windhoek Optics is the main sponsor of Ramblers who together with Civics
are the first post-independence football clubs to pay players incentives/salaries and
are thus instrumental in paving the way towards semi-professional football in Namibia.

2003

The third soccer tour to Germany is undertaken under the leadership of Ralf Behrens.

2005

Ramblers wins the prestigious NFA Cup in June. Henrico Botes, who is captain of the Brave Warriors at the time,
is sold to Moroka Swallows. Henrico is currently still actively playing in the PSL and can rightly be
regarded as Namibia’s most successful professional soccer player, after Collin Benjamin.
In October Ramblers captain Quinton Jacobs is sold to Ajax Cape Town.
Ramblers celebrates it’s 60th Club anniversary where Henrico Botes and Silke Pennefather, captain of the
Namibian ladies hockey team, are crowned as Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year respectively.

2006

NPL runners up.
The Old Boys of Ramblers visit the World Cup in Germany and play a few friendly matches.

2007

Ramblers win the FNB Cup.

January 2008

Michael Pienaar of Ramblers captains the Brave Warriors at the AFCON Championships in Ghana
and in June 2008 together with Lazarus Kaimbi signs professional contracts in South Africa.

February 2008

The Ramblers Soccer Academy is formed and is soon regarded as the most
successful Academy in Namibia.

Dec-08

The Ramblers Hockey Division disintegrates.

2009

Lutz Pfannenstiel is Technical Director at Ramblers using Namibia as a platform by becoming
official commentator for German TV station ZDF during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa (and later official
BBC Champions League Final co-commentator) –
subsequently he is known as founder of Global United FC and Director für International Affairs
at Bundesliga Club 1899 Hoffenheim.

2011

NPL runners up.

August 2014

The NPL Status is sold to UNAM for economic reasons and Ramblers now competes in the Southern Stream First Division.

2014

Ramblers Soccer Academy (u7 – u17) wins 15 out of a possible 24 gold medals in 5 tournaments.

2015

Ramblers Soccer Academy (u7 – u17) wins 14 out of a possible 28 gold medals in 5 tournaments.
The first Academy offspring make it into professional football overseas when Jandja Maharero (USA)
Ennio Hamutenya (Malta) sign contracts overseas. Reggie Willemse had joined the Ajax Cape Town Youth Academy in 2012 already.

Ramblers was always predominantly a football and hockey club. Over the years other sports codes joined
like Waterpolo, Cricket, Striders, Archers,Bass Masters Angling and Fistball but no longer exist and
Ramblers is now currently a pure football club boasting its own facilites with two fields and teams
from u7-u17, a Social and Old Boys team as well as a first team.
The Ramblers club house boasts with a range of trophies for competitions that are no longer played including the
historical Kommando Pokal, Georges Cup, League Cup, Stoessel Cup and AZ Cup where Ramblers were the last winners.
Trophies from the post-independence era include NPL League Cup (1992 – Sponsor Rössing),
the NFA Cup (2005-Sponsor NBL) and the FNB Cup from 2007.

2016

Ramblers Soccer Academy (u7 – u17) competes actively in all tournaments hosted by the respective clubs

2017

Ramblers Soccer Academy (u7 – u17) competes actively in all tournaments hosted by the respective clubs, and the inaugural HOPSOL Youth League tournament.

2018

6 Ramblers u/17 players are selected as part of the HOPSOL Black Africa team that participates at the Future Champs tournament, hosted in Johannesburg South Africa.
Ramblers Soccer Academy (u7 – u17) competes actively in all tournaments hosted by the respective clubs, and the inaugural HOPSOL Youth League tournament.

2019

On the 10th of April 2019, Ramblers Women’s Football Team was formed. Claudia Reiter is announced as the very first captain in the team’s history. Himeepimbi Kaputu in the scored the first goal in the team’s history against V-Power Angels and her goal was assisted by Alicia Aebes.