Dunedin Club History

Going through the Otago Daily times to stitch together Dunedin football history and figure I'll start this to share my findings and so others can jump in with their own information.

1888
Northern AFC are founded on Wednesday 11th of April, 1888
Southern AFC are founded on Thursday 12th of April, 1888
Wakari AFC are founded on Thursday 28th of June, 1888
Thistle I will have to come back too

Northern and Southern play three games, all ending, 3-0, 1-0 and 1-0 all in favour of Southern

Northern and Wakari play three games, the first ending 3-1 to Wakari and the other two going unrecorded

Southern and Wakari play each other twice but neither were recorded.

Wakari play home and away to Thistle (Now comfirmed Dunedin), to which Thistle win the first leg 5-2 then Wakari win the second leg 7-2

Three other games were played but were played against non-club sides

There were also a number of scratch matches between Captain and Vice-Captain of the same club but didn't bother recording those

There was a request sent to Auckland for one of their 6 clubs (at the time) to come down but nothing seemed to come of it

STANDINGS
Southern - 3 wins
Wakari - 2 wins 1 loss
Thistle - 1 win 1 loss
Northern 4 losses

No champion was crowned since there wasn't a league set up

Funny experpt from August 19th 1889 -

"The Northern vs Southern match on saturday was by no means a first-class exhibition of the game, nor are the inter-club games likely to improve as fast as they should do until the members of the clubs taking part in them study the rules more assiduously than they have hither to done, and so qualify themselves of a greater understanding of the game they are partakers in."

Both teams started with 10 men aside with Northern gaining a man at HT and Southern going on to win 5-1 regardless

Hit a bit of a weird patch now...

1890 it was actually looking pretty good. Burnside AFC had formed and Dunedin now had 5 clubs, not a lot but it was progress. The Otago football association (OFA) was formed and 19 of the 30 matches were actually reported on which was an improvement from 11/23 in 1889. 

However I am working through 1891 and both Thistle and Southern have dropped off the face of the earth. Neither are around today so it's not surprising they left but wasn't expecting it so soon, plus it seems to have brought down the quality of football over all. Northern, Roslyn and Burnside all seem healthy at the time though so there is that

Before Northern etc came along, the Association game was played in Dunedin as early as 1872. Dunedin Football Club formed in 1872 and played under their own rules before adopting Association rules in 1875. But by 1880 they were playing under rugby rules
 I think DFC eventually became Dunedin Pirates and I think they are still around today but not sure.

There was a Union Football Club as well who formed in 1872 and played under Association rules until 1877. 

The 1877 date was probably about the time the NZ Rugby Union, who were worried about the rise of 'the Victorian game' (Aussie Rules) decided to ban any player that played any other football code other than rugby (something they kept until the sport turned professional in 1992). This had the intended affect of killing off Aussie rules in NZ, but also the unintended affect of also doing the same to the Association game as many members of Association clubs also played rugby and they opted for that code.

In the early days it was quite common for the first half of games to be played under association rules and then switched to rugby once more people turned up

Northern started the revival of the Association game in Dunedin in 1888. They formed the Southern club so they had someone to play rather than play inter club games. I did see a small book on the history of Southern in a second hand book shop in Oamaru last year, but they wanted $125 for it! So it's likely still there!

Dunedin FC went full union by the time Northern and Southern came around judging by the fixtures, but I'll look into that too. Based on some stuff I read it seems Northern was a sort of off-shoot where Dunedin players left to make their own association club, and thus Southern too.

Also if I end up in Oamaru at some point I'll have a look, but if it's still $125 then it can remain unsold lol. Based on where I'm at in my research Southern were only around for 3 seasons so it'd be interesting to see what they wrote about.

1894 appears to have been a good year for Dunedin football.

Burnside AFC would seem to quietly fold before the season start but Queens Park AFC (Not the Invercargill one) and Zealandia AFC (Not the Wellington one) would replace them to bring the competition to 5 clubs. Thistle AFC (From Sawyers Bay) would also make a surprise return and Mornington would appear right after the season ended, bring Dunedin up to 7 clubs in total, smashing the previous record of 5

Can someone explain this to me? Mornington claim to have been founded in 1888 but 1894 is the earliest they've shown up.

Also the 2nd game between Northern and Roslyn was viewed by roughly 500 people which is impress even by today's standards.

Rangers AFC would also have their best season yet, getting 4 wins and being the 2nd best club that year (Given some games go unrecorded this could be wrong but I'm going off recorded games)

After two clubs joined the season after it had already started, the OFA has finally made a season fixture list dating every round and every bye (1895). This has made me quite happy as it

A. Shows good progress into becoming more organised
B. It makes pinpointing who is supposed to be playing who more easy and makes it easier to verify if a match wasn't reported on
C. Means that I won't have to look out for clubs randomly jumping in mid season
D. Union rules had already been doing this for years so about time I say

I promise I won't just be constantly bombarding this topic, just wanted to share this haha

2nd answer makes the most sense. In their first documented AGM it's mentioned they took a vote on whether to commit to the idea of being a senior club or to be a junior club. While it's not outright stated this does imply that they were a junior club first. This would also answer why I hadn't seen them pop up before since the paper doesn't report on youth games (Besides the occasional rugby game)

Shout out to 1899 for being the first season to actually record the results of every single game. 30/30 games had results published which sounds small but to me is heaven (I might be going mad)

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This will be a long post but since I have finally reached 1900 I wanted to report on every club from the 19th century

Northern (1888 - Present)
The oldest club of Dunedin. Founded on the 11th of April 1888 they were instrumental when it came to association football in Dunedin. It had existed for a few years but never had a dedicated club until this point. They were also a stable presence when a number of clubs struggled to stay afloat, always having relatively positive AGM's each year. As for on pitch success though they struggled quite a bit. Most titles in this period are considered disputed since so many games went unreported but even then they took some heavy losses. 3-10, 0-12, 0-14 are all real results they ended up on the wrong end of and yeah, they lossed quite a lot. They do have one undisputed title though in 1899 in which they were able to win a game 12-1 so they had their moments.

Southern (1888 - 1891)
The second oldest club founded a day after Northern on the 12th of April 1888. Obviously they were the parallel club intended so that more than one area could be represented and so Northern actually had a team to play. They won the first three games with Northern with an aggregate of 5-0 which should just about tell you everything They also played Roslyn (Wakari at the time) twice also but these games weren't recorded. They weren't able to win an undisputed title and obviously didn't exactly stick around very long. There was a club that popped up later under the same area and playing at a similar ground but I don't consider them a phoenix club so the story ends with their last season in 1891. Biggest win was 5-1 to Northern in 1889 and a 7-1 loss to Northern in 1890.

Roslyn (1888 - 1914 / 1924 - Present)
Technically they were called Wakari when they first formed but renamed to Roslyn in 1890. These guys were the premier team in Dunedin during the 19th Century. They won 3 undisputed titles which is by far the most. To put into perspective how strong Roslyn was at the time - In an effort to grow the game Rangers and Roslyn sent people off to found new clubs. The ex-Roslyn players founded Wakari who immediately became on of the stronger sides in Dunedin and Roslyn still won a disputed premiership. In match day reports it is regularly commented that large crowds would turn up (200+ based on paper language). You'll see as you read bellow why they were the premier team haha. Also want to quickly say r.i.p to Rab Smith, legend both to Roslyn and Otago football...

Thistle (1888 - 1890 / 1894 - 1895)
Thistle played up in Sewyers Bay and weren't really that noteable. Never really came close to winning anything and was average at best of times. They were able to get players to represent Otago a few times but that's about it. Was pretty excited in my research to see them return but unfortunately they weren't able to stick around long enough to make an impact. Biggest win was 5-2 against Roslyn, biggest loss was 0-5 to Northern

Burnside (1890 - 1893)
Dunedin's fifth club that was kind of a precurser to Green Island. They were somewhat competitive and based on AGM's seemed stable but just weren't able to hang on very long. When you look them up you're brought to a Christchurch team wiki. Biggest wins were 4-0 against against Rangers AFC and 5-1 over Northern. Biggest losses were 0-7 to Roslyn twice.

Rangers (1891 - 1898)
Honestly I was pretty surprised to see them dissapear all of a sudden. They appeared out of nowhere and left the same way. In all honesty I'm still not entirely certain which suburbs they represented but they lasted quite a bit compared to other clubs and even helped found another club, Southern 2.0, in 1898. Unlike Roslyn though this seemed to be at their own detriment and they performed worse than Southern, then dissapeared the following year. They were never able to win an undisputed title but were a strong presence in Dunedin football for the time they were around and were probably the biggest rivals to Roslyn during this period, even if they rarely actually won. Their biggest win was 12-0 against Northern, and their biggest loss was 0-7 to Roslyn.

Queens Park (1894 - 1897)
Sadly there's not a whole lot to report on. Factory team that seemed to represent the East of sorts, roughly where Logan Park is today. Their last season wasn't recorded unfortunately (Most of 1897 is gone from the ODT records). Biggest win was 7-1 against Green Island and biggest loss was 1-9 and 0-8 to Roslyn.

Zealandia (1894 - 1896)
Same issue with Zealandia honestly, not much to really report on since they weren't around for very long. At the very least they hold the record for shortest live senior team which is something I guess? Biggest win was 4-1 against Northern and biggest loss was 0-11 to Roslyn. (Noticing a pattern here)

Mornington (1888 - Present)
As you may have seen in an earlier post their senior debut was 1894 and their first recorded match was in 1895. They had a pretty respectable debut winning 5 confirmed matches and positioning themselves comfortably as the 3rd strongest club in Dunedin in 1895 (3rd minimum). That's been their best season though and so far they have finished at the bottom twice. Considering how long they've been around though I'm certain things will improve. Biggest win was a 7-1 win over Northern, and their biggest loss has been a 0-12 loss to Northern (What comes around comes around as they say)

Green Island (1896 - 1940 / 1947 - Present)
So far they haven't been the strongest but evidence to them still being around they are at the very least one of the healthier clubs. I can't really speak on them much since they haven't been around for long as of where I am at in my research but I'll have more to say later.  They did have roughly 300 specators to a game against Queens Park, there was also this amusing match report in which, allegedly, on of the GI players who was fairly experienced seemed more concerned with killing Northern players rather than playing the game. Biggest win so far has been a 6-1 win over Mornington, and their biggest loss has been 0-6 to Rangers and 1-7 to Queens Park.

Southern 2.0 (1898 - TBC)
I've debated whether to view this as a phoenix club to the OG Southern but will call it it's own enitity since it's technically an offshoot of Rangers. Pretty solid debut finishing 2nd in 1898 and third in 1899, so overall they are a force to be reckoned with so far. They play at St. Kilda Park whereas the OG played at Tahuna, there's a chance a Union club had the ground locked down since Union and Association played on the same day. Biggest win has been a 6-3 over Northern, biggest loss has been 2-5 to Roslyn.

Wakari (1898 - 1909)
Wakari were an offshoot of Roslyn to represent the Kaikorai district. Obviously they would reunite with Roslyn only a few years later but they've been alright so far. Mostly mid table so far but they were third best in 1898. Largest win is 8-1 to Mornington, biggest loss has been 1-4 to Roslyn, which is pretty good compared to other clubs

Also just to be completely clear, undisputed title means either no other team could mathmatically topple them even with games unnacounted for, or the ODT confirmed it at a later date through an OFA report. Disputed simply means whoever is in first could mathemathically lose it to someone else if every unacounted game was a win for them. So far only Northern and Roslyn have won undisputed titles

awesome work
Interesting around Roslyn-Wakari, the info I had was that Roslyn was formed in 1890 and Wakari in 1898 and they merged in 1904
Also, kudos for the shout out to Rab Smith. I met Rab in the late 90s and he gave me great encouragement when I was writing for NZ Football Fanzine, Sitter, he was a top bloke. 

 Yeah I don't blame you for the mix up. I guess copyrights weren't popular back then so constant name changing and adopting were common lol. Also 1904 is most likely correct since that's what the wiki says, I got 1907 from ultimatenzsoccer, so around those dates I'll have to keep an eye out to see which is accurate.

Also yeah unfortunate about Rab. I didn't learn who he was until recently but he would've been the perfect guy for me to talk to about this stuff. Huge respect for the work he put it in. From the sounds of it he was super dedicated to the game in Otago, and for other teams to regularly send him match reports shows how much mana he had locally.

JULY 19TH 1900

One, 'Hannah', member of Mornington AFC, was reported to have used 'Objectional language' on the field of play. After much deliberation it was decided by the Otago FA to give Hannah a short term suspension

I mean if you needed more proof that the game was gone then here it is. Everyone's soft now and football is completely unrecognisable to the game I grew to love (In the 19th century) SMH

Hey so funny update, technically Northern and Roslyn weren't actually premiers at any point. Technically they could be considered the premier teams for performing the best, but it turns out the Otago FA never actually crowned premiers or handed out trophies until 1901. So while yes they won their season they also kind of didn't. Personally I hadn't even considered this but I find it somewhat amusing that it took them 13 years to go "Hey maybe we should actually declare teams winners of the season". Better late than never I guess, hopefully it leads to more consistant game reporting and fixture results get published 100% of the time

Currently working through 1903, and with the inclusion of Kaitangata I've noticed a funny pattern of Kaitangata consitently winning 4-1 or 4-0 at home, and I have a sneaking suspicioun it's because most people back then didn't want to travel so far out for a league game lol

Also I'm working on making a dedicated blog after talking around, just taking a while since I have no idea what I'm doing.

That went downhill pretty quickly. I've been using the Otago Daily Times to write down results, and if there are any blanks, I use the occasional ladder that post to fill those blanks in. A lot of games went unrecorded, and when I cross-checked with a ladder, we had different results, which is annoying because I can't do what I need to do. All I know is that the Premier was most likely Northern, and Kaitangata finished runner-up. Possibly I've marked a score down wrong (I can double-check later easily), but more likely is they've posted a result wrong and never corrected, or they posted the table wrong. Annoying either way. 

Onto the next year!

Edit: They also just fully skipped over the last round for some reason? I'm guessing Northern and Kaitangata were so far ahead and had basically already qualified for the charity banner (Competed for by the top 2 teams of the season) that they didn't feel a need to play it?

Intersting exerpt from an Otago FA meeting:

"The Kaitangata club wrote complaining of the treatment recieved by them from town clubs [Dunedin], who, when drawn to play them in Kaitangata, did not inform them when they were not going down.- After some discussion on the matter, the committee instructed the secretary to bring the matter directly to bring the matter directly before the clubs' secretries. At the same time, it was thought hard sometimes for the town clubs to give the Kaitangata notice earlier than at present, as they frequently did not know till the last thing on Friday night whether a good many of their team could get away."

Now, obviously I am a good hundred years late to this drama, but I do think it's slightly rich for Dunedin clubs to claim this when Kaitangata so far has been very consistant with travelling up. Doubt they'll be in the league much longer as of where I am seeing as travel is so difficult, plus clearly starting to butt heads with the other clubs. The main issue is that Kaitangata has clubs at all three senior levels, which means you're gonna face issues eventually.

Little side note - Kaitangata would have 3 WBD at home from clubs not sending anyone down, helping them barely win the premiership by then so in hindsight it might actually be a strength for them.

In 1907 Green Island pulled out of the Otago Premiership despite performing well -

In June of 1907, Green Island had been having their best season of football up to that point. Since coming into existence in 1894 Green Island had experienced little success, simply dwelling near the bottom of the ladder until voluntarily dropping down to the 2nd grade in 1904-05. They returned to the first division in 1906 and finished second to last, but in 1907 they were performing quite well, peaking at 1st and generally hanging around the top 3. However, on the 15th of June they would encounter Maori Hill and defeat them 3-1 at home, but it would seem that a handful of their players had behaved poorly, so Maori Hill wrote to the Otago FA complaining about said players. Green Island were outraged, and when they learned the OFA were entertaining this letter they annouced they were pulling out for the remainder of the season. The OFA was naturally taken aback by this, but said that they were willing to overlook Green Islands shenanigans if they would simply return to playing their remaining fixtures. A commentator at the time noted that the OFA were being very patient with Green Island. Green Island refused this and thus all their remaining fixtures were cancled and a previous game with Kaitangata was changed to a 1-1 draw. 

I am currently starting on 1908 and they are not in any of the first round fixtures for any grade, so safe to say this protest is here to stay. I'll update for when Green Island returns to play.

Having lived in Dunedin for over a decade I’m enjoying learning about the football history of some familiar places. Thanks for posting these!

I remembered today that the Hocken collections are only a few minutes away from campus, and have been able to get my hands on Rab Smith's Weekly Otago magazines. I can't bring them with me but it's very cool getting to read through them!

Taking a break since I've caught the flu, but wanna just give a quick update on the Green Island Story.

9th of July, 1908, the Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) approached the OFA, calling for the disqualification to be lifted. Apparently around 40 players were being affected by this, some of who played for the GI rugby team and the Taieri rugby team. 2 weeks later a decision was made and that the disqualification would be lifted. Presumably they return in 1909 since the 1908 season Is already a couple games in.

Ok so I finally found it, 1909 is the year Roslyn and Wakari amalgamated.

Not gonna repeat it all since some of the text is faded, but the gist of it is that Roslyn had spent the previous 5 seasons struggling and drifting further down the ladder, and while Wakari were doing better they were constantly falling short and had only won a single charity banner. Because of this, Wakari voted 20 votes to 6 to amalgamate with Roslyn in hopes of creating a better club.

Worth a quick reminder that Wakari existed because Roslyn sent a few of their guys out to create a new club for Dunedin, which really goes to show how big they were at the time and how far they had fallen.

EDIT: Also just wanna say GI didn't return for 1909, maybe next year?

Just finished 1910 so figured I'd make a few update posts

1901
Premiership: Roslyn
Charity Banner: Southern

1902
Premiersip: Roslyn
Charity Banner: Roslyn

1903
Premiersip: Northern
Charity Banner: Northern

1904
Premiersip: Northern
Charity Banner: Northern

1905
Premiersip: Kaitangata
Charity Banner: Wakari

1906 
Premiersip: Northern
Charity Banner: Northern

1907
Premiersip: Northern
Charity Banner: Northern

1908
Premiersip: Northern
Charity Banner: Northern

1909
Premiersip: City
Charity Banner: Northern 

1910
Premiersip: Northern
Charity Banner: Northern

So as you can see Northern really came into their own in the premiership era, winning 7 banners and 6 premierships. Roslyn looked like they would continue their 19th century dominance with two titles, but quickly fell off

Club reviews

Northern (1888 - Present)
As seen in the post above Northern came to be a hugely dominant force in Dunedin in this era winning most of the titles available. A big part of this I believe was the district scheme which gave them full control over the North-East Valley. Regardless, with the decade being covered Northern officially became the most decorated club in Otago, with 13 titles, plus one if you count an unnoficial premiership they won in 1899 (Champions/premiers weren't crowned yet). Not much I can really say tbh, they were just the best and spent the decade steamrolling everyone.

Roslyn-Wakari (1909 - Present)
For simplicity sakes I'll cover all three clubs together. Roslyn did well, winning the first two premierships, but starting with 1903 they began falling off and consistantly fell further and further down the ladder until they were simply another small club. Wakari did alright, they won a charity banner and competed with the best, but struggled to really be one of the big ones. They merged in 1909 to combine resources, and was basiclaly just a reunion since Roslyn originally sent people to Wakari to found a new club, but either way they reunited. They've finished 4th and 3rd so far so improvements I guess

Mornington (1888 - Present)
They were actually surprisingly relevant during this period. The district scheme gave them control over central Dunedin which allowed them to seriously compete with Northern in 1907-8. Unfortunately they fell short both times, but it was interesting to see. Unfortunately the district scheme did turn into a double edged sword when City AFC popped up in the central suburbs and basically took all of Mornington's best players, sending them from 2nd and 3rd to 5th and 4th, with Mornington temporarily bottom of the ladder during the last two years. Most noteably they had am A and B team in the frist grade from 1907-8, which I think is slightly problematic, but it was also a hundred years ago so who cares.

Southern (1898 - 1909)
They were alright, won a charity banner in 1901 which is more than what most clubs could say, but they ended up just being a low to mid table side for most of the decade. I think during this time most of the football talent sat North and Central, with the South being unable to seriously compete.

Green Island (1894 - Present)
I've gone into Green Island quite a bit already so I'll keep this short. Basically just cannon fodder, being bad enough that they dropped down to Grade 2 voluntarily in 1905-6. Came back in 1907, did badly, started doing well in 1908 but pulled out in protest of what they viewed as unjust treatment by the OFA and haven't been back since.

Kaitangata (1889 - 1909?)
I wasn't gonna talk about them much since they aren't a Dunedin team, but they did win the first grade so might as well. Honestly a pretty good team, midtable was the worst they did and were always around the top of the pack. I think the travel from Dunedin gave them an edge and they were a formiddable team to play away. They were somewhat on and off and have fully left the competition twice now, presumably due to travel costs and player recruitment, so I'm not entirely sure if they are fully gone yet. Great underdogs.

Rangers (1891 - 1905)
Not much to say actually since they only came back for 1904-5, where they finished dead last twice, getting no wins and only a single draw between both seasons. Not much I can say really, they shouldn't have come back...

Battalion (1906 - 1907)
As you can guess by the name they were army guys wanting to play football in their free time. They were just as bad as Rangers during this period, only picking up a single draw in their two year existance. I do think they put up a better fight per game though, barely.

Maori Hill (1892 - Present)
The streak isn't ending here, they have finished bottom two every season thus far, though they are picking up odd wins if that means anything. They spent most of their time in Grade 2 before coming up to Grade 1 in 1907 (uncomfirmed if they won Grade 2 in 1906). All things considered definitely not the worst club Dunedin has seen up to this point, far from the best and they last a while at the very least.

City (1909 - TBC)
The team everyone hated. As mentioned in the Mornington section, the disctrict scheme meant that when City came into existance in the central districts they immediately took the best players from Mornington and crushed their whole club. In all fairness, they still excelled and did what Mornington couldn't and won Grade 1 in 1909, the first club to win the premiership in their debut season, so far. Sadly for them, the district scheme was voted out in 1910 and they immediately dropped to 5th (2nd to last) the following season. If I had to take swing, clubs didn't like the idea of a club popping up out of nowhere in talent rich suburbs and completely disrupting the whole ecosystem. Not sure how long they'll last but only time will tell.

Ravensbourne (1906 - TBC)
I actually have a decent amount of praise for the Ravens. Started out in Grade 2, won it in 1909, earned promotion into the 1910 Grade 1 season and came 2nd on the ladder. They got painfully close to a charity banner too, losing 3-4 to Northern in the final. They've only played one season of top grade football so not much to say so far.

There's numerous other clubs floating around in the lower leagues, but I'm mainly focussing on Grade 1 so can't common on them. The teams are-
Sawyers Bay
YMCA
HSOB
And other various schools

While not that hard to grasp I've brought it up a few times so might as well explain the districts scheme. Basically Otago rugby had a system where they divided Dunedin into districts/suburbs and made so depending on where you were you could only recruit from certain areas of Dunedin. The goal was to prevent a few clubs from dominating Dunedin and hoarding players from all over the city. It made it hard for new clubs to sprout up, and other clubs slowly faded as all the best players went to the best clubs. Northern and Mornington benefitted the most from this, as Northern absolutely dominated with the North-East Valley, and Mornington with the Central districts and so much talent they had two teams in grade 1 for a bit.

Despite the Northern dominance the Dunedin clubs voted to keep it in June of 1909. This was before City won the league though, and in April of 1910 the system was abolished. It seems they didn't much appreciate a new club popping up in the most player rich area of Dunedin and immediately dominating. I suspect that over the next decade Northern will start to slip as guards change and other clubs start poaching player for the NEV.

Kaitangata were a good team because of the coal mine down there and most of their players came from there. The workers tended to come from mining areas in Northern England and Scotland, and many were useful footballers. - Not dissimilar to the famous Millerton All Blacks from Buller who made it to the Chatham Cup final twice in the 1930s. 

City is an interesting one, don't confuse them with the Dunedin City that played in the National League in the 1970s and 80s - that was High School Old Boys (HSOB) who changed their name to Dunedin City in 1970.