Wits University Football Club, known under their sponsored title as
Bidvest Wits, is a
South African football team based in the
Parktown suburb of
Johannesburg. The team is nicknamed
"The Clever Boys" or
"The Students", because of the club's close affiliation with the
University of the Witwatersrand.
Bidvest Wits currently compete in
Premier Soccer League, and selected
Bidvest Stadium as their home venue. They also fields a reserve team at the same stadium. The reserve team is named
Bid Boys, and currently compete in
Vodacom League.
History
The club has its roots at Wits University in
Johannesburg, where it was formed in 1921 by the university's Students Representatives Council. The club competed in a variety of tournaments and leagues before eventually winning promotion to the
National Football League in 1975 - then South Africa's top domestic league.
During the 1970s the club produced some of South Africa's finest players - amongst them
goalkeeper Gary Bailey, who went on to play for
Manchester United and
England and
Defender Richard Gough, who later played for
Rangers,
Everton and
Scotland.
The club won their first major title in 1978 - winning the
Mainstay Cup after beating
Kaizer Chiefs in the final of the competition. Six years later they picked up the
BP Top 8, and a year later in 1985 they again beat Chiefs, this time in the final of the
JPS Knockout Cup.
The 1990s saw mixed fortunes for the team. They won two trophies, the
BP Top 8 and the......
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