Don Kitchenbrand

Donald Basil 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.

Don Kitchenbrand

Personal information
Full name	Donald Basil Kitchenbrand[1]
Date of birth	(1933-08-13)13 August 1933
Place of birth	Germiston, South Africa
Date of death	March 2025(2025-03-00) (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

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

• Scottish League: 1955–56^[8]