Township Rollers

The club was formed by the Public Works Department (PWD) workers of the Bechuanaland Protectorate (colonial-era Botswana) government in 1961. They called the team Mighty Tigers FC and in 1965, the name was changed to Township Rollers Football Club. The PWD workers had been charged with building the first internal roads of the new capital, Gaborone ahead of Botswana independence in 1966.^[]

Since Gaborone was then a small town (a Township) and the PWD workers used compacting equipment called Rollers, the club adopted the name Township Rollers, with the club logo having an outline design of a map of the early Gaborone roads the club founders built: Queens, Khama Crescent, Botswana Road, Independence Avenue, Kaunda Road, South Ring Road. The logo also contained the rollers compacting equipment, a football and soccer boot.

Rollers made an impact in Botswana football in the 1960s and 1970s, led by administrators such as Francis van Vuuren and Mokhutshwane Sekgoma, with star players including Clement 'Captain Muller' Mothelesi, Morwalela Seema, Sliding Matsila, Sola 'Ace' Mokgadi, and goalkeeper Mchuu 'City' Manyalela. The club developed a huge rivalry with cross town side Gaborone United, matches between the two sides dubbed the Gaborone Derby.

After a national league was introduced in 1978, Rollers became hugely successful under Chibaso 'Coach' Kande, a player-coach from the then Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo). Kande led Rollers to six league titles (1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985) before passing away from a car accident, with Zimbabwean Ezekiel Mpofu leading Rollers to another national title in 1987.^[]

The glorious period of the 1980s made Rollers the most successful club in the country's history leading to the club's popularity growing across the country. Rollers dominance waned in the 1990s, but the club still managed to win the 1995 league title, and the Coca-Cola Cup in 1993 and 1994, as well as the early 1990s season-opening trophy, the Gilbey's Cup.

Rollers was relegated to the first division league in 2003 leaving Extension Gunners as the only club in Botswana which has never been relegated, although the latter team played in the lower league before being promoted in the early 1980s. It took Rollers only one season to bounce back to the then Super League, where they became the first promoted side to win the elite league in their first season in the top flight^[]. They also made history by being the first club to win a double in any one season. In the season 2004–05 under the tutelage of a Botswana icon, the late coach Banks Panene they won both the Coca-Cola Cup and the league title.

After the 2004–05 success, Township Rollers struggled to have impact in domestic competitions for a three-year period (2006-9) winning only the 2006 Kabelano Charity Cup. This was mainly due to the sale of their influential players among them Mogogi Gabonamong (who went on to captain South Africa's PSL club Santos), Moemedi Moatlhaphing and Phenyo Mongala who were sold to Platinum Stars. Mongala moved on to Pretoria University, and later Orlando Pirates and Bloemfontein Celtic before returning to Botswana club football. Rollers later sold other players to South African clubs, including Boitumelo Mafoko (Santos), Terrance Mandaza (Santos, later joining Marizburg United) as well as Kabelo Dambe and Mogakolodi 'Tsotso' Ngele (Platinum Stars).

Under managing director Somerset Gobuiwang, Rollers managed to win the 2009–10 Premier League amassing 78 points and beating their closest rivals Mochudi Centre Chiefs by 13 points as well attaining a 3–1 victory against the same team in the Coca-Cola Cup final. The club won all individual awards on offer for both the league and Coca-Cola Cup. Rollers proceeded to win the 2010-11 league title. In 2013, the club, historically registered as a society, announced a commercial drive, with the club now said to be under the management of the Township Holdings company, with Gobuiwang (40 percent), entrepreneur Jagdish Shah (40 percent) and the society, which is owned by the club's supporters having the balance 20 percent.

This ownership structure was challenged in court by former club officials Mookodi Seisa, Ernest Kgaboesele and club elder Alan Compton. The ruling delivered by Botswana High Court Judge Justice Leatile Dambe stated that "the affairs of the respondent (Township Rollers Football Club) are to be performed by the executive committee of the society to the exclusion of any other person or entity"

Shah had invested heavily in modernising Rollers operations, under his stewardship Rollers had gradually become a professional outfit on par with some South African premier soccer league (PSL) sides. At the society annual general meeting (AGM) held at the Gaborone West Community Hall in January 2016 the elected executive committee led by chairman Walter Kgabung was given the mandate to keep Shah as the club investor. Shah was later elected to the post of club president at a special general meeting held at Marang, Broadhurst, Gaborone in 2016.

Rollers famously made the group stage of the 2018 CAF Champions League after defeating Al-Merreikh of Sudan in the preliminary rounds. They finished bottom of their group with four points.