The Jewish Guild is a social club in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 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

George Best

George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...

.

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

National Football League (South Africa)

The National Football League was the first professional association football league in South Africa. It was established in 1959, and was accompanied by a NFL Division II and NFL Division III in 1961 . The league was competitive during the apartheid era, and only white players were allowed to...

 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

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

 and participates in lawn bowling competitions.

Honours

• NFL Second Division League Champions 1970
• Castle Cup
  • Runner up (1): 1964

Notable players

Chris Ballard (F) (1971-1974) George Best

George Best

George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...

 (M) (1974) 5 apps. Bennie Booysen (F) (1972-1974) Ian Delacour (D) (1971-1975) Sid Dick (D) (1969-?) Willie Donaldson (D) (1970-1972) Tommy Henderson

Tommy Henderson (footballer)

Tommy Henderson is a former professional footballer who played as a right winger for Leeds United, Bury, Swindon Town, Stockport County in the 1960s.-Playing career:...

 (M) (1974-1975) Morrie Jacobson (D) (1967) Julie Kaplan (D) (1970-1974) Richard Kellett (F) (1973-1975) Danny Le Roux

Daniel Le Roux

Daniel Leow Le Roux is a South African former footballer who played as a winger.-Career:Born in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal, Le Roux played for Queen's Park in his native South Africa before signing for English First Division team Arsenal in February 1957...

 (M) (1970) Mickey Lill

Mickey Lill

Mickey Lill was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Everton, Plymouth Argyle and Portsmouth.-Career:...

 (M) (1965; 1974-1976) Chookie Louw (D) (1964-1966) Ted MacDougall

Ted MacDougall

Edward John "Ted" MacDougall is a retired Scottish footballer who is currently coaching with Atlanta Silverbacks in the USA....

 (F) (1974) Willie McIntosh (M) (1972–1973)  South Africa Frank (Jingles) Pereira (c1973) Doug Rudham (GK) (1966-1970)   Mordechai Spiegler

Mordechai Spiegler

Mordechai "Motaleh" Spiegler is a former Israeli footballer. He remains Israel's record goalscorer, with 33 goals in 83 caps.In 2005, he was voted the 105th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest...

 (F) (1971) Eric Welsh

Eric Welsh

Eric Welsh is a retired Northern Irish footballer. He played in the right wing position. He was born in Belfast.-Club career:...

 (M) (1976) Fred Zackey (F) (1964-1965)