Don Kitchenbrand
South African soccer player (1933–2025) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Don Kitchenbrand (also Kichenbrand; 13 August 1933 – March 2025) was a South African football player who played in Britain for Rangers and Sunderland in the mid to late 1950s.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Donald Basil Kitchenbrand[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 13 August 1933 | ||
| Place of birth | Germiston, South Africa | ||
| Date of death | March 2025 (aged 91) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1950 | Boksburg | ||
| 1951–1955 | Delfos | ||
| 1955–1958 | Rangers | 30 | (26) |
| 1958–1960 | Sunderland | 53 | (28) |
| 1960 | Johannesburg Ramblers | ||
| 1960 | Vereeniging Athletic | ||
| 1961–1962 | Johannesburg Wanderers | ||
| 1962–1963 | Forfar Athletic | 9 | (6) |
| 1963 | Keith | 5 | (2) |
| Total | 91+ | (60+) | |
| International career | |||
| 1956 | South Africa XI | 1 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Career
Summarize
Perspective
Nicknamed The Rhino by the club's fans,[1] Kitchenbrand was one of very few players of the Catholic faith to play for Rangers between the 1920s and 1980s, between which times an unwritten rule was in effect; he was advised not to disclose his religion when signing.[2][3][4] In his first season in British football (1955–56), he scored 24 goals in 25 league appearances to help Rangers win the Scottish League title.[5] That goal tally included the only goal in a 1–0 win over Old Firm rivals Celtic on 2 January 1956,[6] and a five-goal haul in an 8–0 rout of Queen of the South at Ibrox on 7 March 1956.[3][7] Kitchenbrand did not feature much for Rangers after that first season,[5] having lost his place in the side to Max Murray,[8] and left for Sunderland in March 1958.[8]
Kitchenbrand played 54 competitive games for Sunderland, scoring 28 goals.[9] In November 1958 he scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win over Rotherham, the first hat-trick a Sunderland player had achieved in two years.[10]
He returned to his homeland in 1960 to play for Johannesburg Wanderers[8] and a number of other teams,[11] before coming back to Scotland two years later for a brief spell at Forfar Athletic.[3][12]
Kitchenbrand played once for his country in March 1956, featuring in a South Africa representative side all consisting of British-based players and including Kitchenbrand's Rangers team-mate Johnny Hubbard. They played against a Scotland XI at Ibrox, losing 2–1.[3][13]
Personal life and death
As of 2019, Kitchenbrand and his wife were living in an elderly persons' complex in Benoni, Gauteng.[3] On 16 March 2025, it was announced that Kitchenbrand had died at the age of 91.[14]
Honours
Rangers
References
External links
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