The Wellington Soccer Association was formed on the 12th March, 1890, although it's first management Committee was not elected until 1908. Some interesting pieces from the past:
5 June 1879 First match under lights at the Basin Reserve 31 August, 1912 3rd Division Reps v Shannon. Only 1 person in attendance owing to weather conditions 27 June, 1925 (Evening Post) There are 187 senior players in Wellington. There are 7 Senior A teams and 9 Senior B Teams June 3, 1922 Wellington becomes the first team to defeat Australia when they win 3-0 at Basin Reserve in front of 4,000 spectators. George Campbell, who was to become the New Zealand captain, William Thomas and J. Gilbertson scoring the goals on the day. The weather was considered the worst in Wellington that year which just said something about the 4,000 who braved the wind, rain and cold. June 24, 1922 New Zealand and Australia draw 1-1 at Basin Reserve in front of over 12,000 spectators in the second of a three Test series. This was the first Australian International team to play soccer. 15 September, 1928 (Evening Post) Wellington Rep team had one Selector, rather than 3 as in the past 17 August, 1929 (Evening Post) WFA upset that most trophies still not returned by Clubs (Still applies in 1999) 19 August, 1929 (Evening Post) Interesting article on the WFA not letting Referees, with glasses, referee Ist Division matches. (If you talk to our players today, they would probably insist on referees, at all levels, wearing glasses) 9 September, 1933 (Evening Post) WFA not happy with 1st Division format and thinks it needs a revamp - exact copy of our recent Executive meeting in 1999. 15 June, 1936 Selectors criticised over naming of Wellington team to play Australia. The critics must have known something - Australia won 9 - 1. 22 August, 1936 (Evening Post) WFA to get Soccer in Secondary Schools. Already in Primary Schools 21 September, 1939 (Evening Post) Petone and Waterside finish equal on points in the 1st Division. Petone threatens to disband unless it was given the Championship. WFA awards the title to Petone on goal average. 24th April 1958, NZFA suspend's the WFA on financial matters. The previous year FK Austria played in NZ, including a game at Athletic Park on 7th June against NZ. After the game the WFA deducted 75 pounds ($150) from the NZFA gate takings for "basic rent". The NZFA threaten to suspend WFA if payment of the money is not returned by 24th April 1958. Both the Seatoun and Marist clubs, ask the WFA to pay back the money and then go to arbitration to get the money back. 25 July, 1968 (Dominion) Criticism of the Basin Reserve lights - "No lights would be just as good as what there was last night" 1984 WFA (Wellington Football Association) changes name to WSA (Wellington Soccer Association) 1995 Former radio commentator, soccer and cricket identity Trevor Rigby, who could make the dullest national soccer league match sound interesting, recently made a refereeing comeback in the most bizarre circumstances. A Rongotai College man from way back, Rigby turned up to watch a second grade youth soccer match against Wellington College to find no referee and no parents able to control the game. It was a situation Rigby, a great supporter of schools sport, would have relished in the past. Unfortunately, he has recently undergome heart surgery and explained that the only way he could help out was if the teams agreed to him refereeing while standing in the centre circle. No problem they said, but by half time Rigby was feeling tired - "the mental strain" as he put it.Determined that the boys game would not be spoilt, Rigby got some step ladders and controlled the second half while sitting atop them in the centre circle. Well done Trevor (Russell Grey - Dominion - 16/8/95) April 1998 200 Senior teams (men and women) and 501 Junior teams (Under 17) affiliated to this Association May 1999 Federations are the result of a long overdue effort by New Zealand Soccer to put a structure into the game that allows it to grow and deliver more value to its stakeholders. There are now seven Federations (we are Federation five), whereas previously there were 23 District Associations.Federations will be responsible for carrying out the planned vision of New Zealand Soccer. Capital Soccer was incorporate as one of the above federations on 29-11-2000
July 2000 Wellington Soccer has announced that it is not scheduling any games for Wellington Divisions 1 to 12 and Masters on Saturday 5th August – the day of the Bledisloe Test Match at Westpac Stadium. This would allow Wellington’s 2,500 players and Referees normally involved in these grades to go to the game or watch it on TV. Manager Graeme Sole said the move recognised that the Rugby Test match was a special event
Then of course as per the other thread, Past Papers is good as well. Feels like football used to get written about a lot more than you see these days https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers
Seems to have been used mainly by Hockey in the past, though sometimes by football. Can find some information but under Tanera Crescent Reserve instead of Tanera Park.
Currently seems like BNU use it for their First Kicks and Juniors, even a map of it on Capital Football website. 1000055594.jpg368.8 KB
Yakcall wrote: Seems to have been used mainly by Hockey in the past, though sometimes by football. Can find some information but under Tanera Crescent Reserve instead of Tanera Park.
Currently seems like BNU use it for their First Kicks and Juniors, even a map of it on Capital Football website. 1000055594.jpg368.8 KB
Thanks! I've always thought BNU should move away from Wakefield for the sake of the club, seems they've been stagnating for the last decade and a a move to a Brooklyn-located venue would I'm sure help them (albeit there are very few fields in the area large enough to include a senior football field). There's already public toilets (maybe changing rooms?) and what looks like clubrooms at the The Kung Fu School building next to the junior pitch above Tanera.
Yakcall wrote: Seems to have been used mainly by Hockey in the past, though sometimes by football. Can find some information but under Tanera Crescent Reserve instead of Tanera Park.
Currently seems like BNU use it for their First Kicks and Juniors, even a map of it on Capital Football website. 1000055594.jpg368.8 KB
Thanks! I've always thought BNU should move away from Wakefield for the sake of the club, seems they've been stagnating for the last decade and a a move to a Brooklyn-located venue would I'm sure help them (albeit there are very few fields in the area large enough to include a senior football field). There's already public toilets (maybe changing rooms?) and what looks like clubrooms at the The Kung Fu School building next to the junior pitch above Tanera.
Re papers past the Evening Post has only recently been updated to 1965 (before Christmas it was up to around 1945 and you couldn't book the reading room microfiche for the 1950s). The Evening Post only really had match reports on Wellington top grade football although the full fixture list was published at the end of the week for the weekend. The Dominion (which is only in papers past up to 1945 currently and has the same issue about not being able to book the microfiche) seems to have lower grade results at the start of the week.
There were also weekly Wellington FA programmes which had articles in them although I am not sure when they started - I have one from 1953. They were superseded by Soccer Weekly which had results from Wellington One and Two plus tables for lower grades plus adhoc articles. There seems to be no repository for these programmes so it is luck of the draw if they turn up anywhere.
I use the nzfootystats website (run by Matt Snaddon, Dave Webster and Jeff Adams) which has yearbooks for most seasons dating back to 1968. It is mostly stats and results with some reports. The 1968 yearbook has the top Wellington league tables going back to pre 1900 which include many clubs long since gone.
There was a comment when this thread was still in the Central League one about the demise of Apollon.
I got a list of the relevant Evening Post articles from Barry Smith about the 1954 incident earlier this year (which are now all available in papers past online). There are seven articles linked to the incident if anyone wants to read the full story.
- SOCCER PLAYERS ATTACK AND INJURE REFEREE Evening Post, Issue 27627, 7 June 1954, Page 16 - FOOTBALL INCIDENT Evening Post, Issue 27629, 9 June 1954, Page 10 - SEVERE PENALTIES ‘IMPOSED W.F.A. Considers Miramar Incident Evening Post, Issue 27630, 10 June 1954, Page 9 - SOCCER CLUB NOT TO BE EXPELLED Evening Post, Issue 27654, 8 July 1954, Page 13 - Soccer Referees To Boycott Apollon Games Evening Post, Issue 27666, 22 July 1954, Page 15 - SOCCER Evening Post, 8 September 1955, Page 8 - Soccer Referees Protest at Recommendation Evening Post, 22 May 1957, Page 15
Another user mentioned last week that "At a meeting in 1957 of the WFA, Apollon are to be suspended and at the same meeting were informed not to apply for entry to the 1958 season or beyond, any application would be rejected." It was flagged as being from WSA records. The exact reason for their suspension is not known. Seeing this, I contacted Capital Football to see what their minutes said but they cannot find many of their old minute books including the 1950s. The last mention of Apollon in the fixtures in the Evening Post was 12/7/57 Waterside v Apollon (Martin Luckie) so their suspension would have been around then. I can find no articles in the Evening Post and the Dominion is currently inaccessible for that period. Someone says that there is a photo somewhere showing the referee escaping over a fence! I have also been told that there was an article about Apollon's demise around 1960 in one of the Soccer Weekly programmes but I have been unable to locate it.
2028 will be the 75th anniversary of the start of Greek community football in Wellington (Apollon first played in the league in 1953 although possibly played a friendly against a Manawatu rep side in late 1952). It won't be a continuous 75 years as there was a year's gap between Apollon being suspended in 1957 and Christian Youth FC being set up and started playing in the league in 1959.
So looking at oldest football clubs, the oldest club in New Zealand is North Shore United founded in 1886. (Information from: An Association with Soccer: The NZFA Celebrates Its First 100 Years)
Petone Wanderers combined with Rowing in 1893 to become United, meaning that season was only played by three teams, Rovers, Queens Park and United. https://www.rsssf.org/tablesn/nz1893.html
It looks like Wellington United, then as the Diamonds maybe the oldest club in Wellington still around, founded in 1893 but they played Rugby that first season before switching to football. https://www.wellingtonunited.org.nz/our-history.html
27th of August, 1892 Wellington would defeat Otago in the first ever association football inter-provincial tournament 6-2
The premise was that the best players from each province would represent their region and compete in a tournament to win the Challengers Shield / Brown Trophy. Think of it like the State of Origin but with more teams. The first edition would be hosted in Christchurch between Auckland, Canterburry, Otago and Wellington.
Otago would beat Auckland 1-0 Wellington would beat Canterburry 3-1 And as mentioned above, Wellington would beat Otago 6-2 to become inaugural champions of New Zealand!
Yakcall wrote: So looking at oldest football clubs, the oldest club in New Zealand is North Shore United founded in 1886. (Information from: An Association with Soccer: The NZFA Celebrates Its First 100 Years)
Petone Wanderers combined with Rowing in 1893 to become United, meaning that season was only played by three teams, Rovers, Queens Park and United. https://www.rsssf.org/tablesn/nz1893.html
It looks like Wellington United, then as the Diamonds maybe the oldest club in Wellington still around, founded in 1883 but they played Rugby that first season before switching to football. https://www.wellingtonunited.org.nz/our-history.html
Diamonds were founded in 1893 (Feb 22nd to be exact) They were formed by a group of guys who had been playing rugby under the name Star (which would have been formed in 1883) but that was a separate club and while there was a connection through the players that played for both. Diamonds was a completely new entity
With clubs withdrawing and coming back in, there were actually three association levels, Senior, Junior and third class (tended to be more social) Junior wasn't junior as in age like it is today, more like the Scottish system where Senior clubs have higher requirements to compete in the league than the junior clubs are required to
Here's the origin dates of clubs existing today based on the oldest original club ie North Wellington use 1972 as their foundation date, this was when Onslow (1933) & Johnson Villa (1951) merged, so in this list they are down as 1933 as that was when Onslow were formed
Original club name in brackets
1893 Wellington United (Diamonds) 1894 Waterside Karori (Swifts) 1898 Petone 1902 Marist (Marist Brothers) NB Marist claim their foundation date as 1896, however while a Marist club did exist them they didn't start a football team until 1902 1907 Miramar Rangers 1907 Western Suburbs (Mental Hospital FC) 1909 Seatoun 1916 Brooklyn Northern United (Institute Old Boys) 1919 Stop Out 1920 Lower Hutt City (Lower Hutt) 1926 Upper Hutt City (Trentham) 1931 Island Bay United (Wellington Technical College Old Boys) 1933 North Wellington (Onslow) 1943 Victoria University 1949 Naenae (Naenae Old Boys) 1959 Wellington Olympic (Christian Youth) 1960 Wainuiomata 1962 Kapiti Coast United (Raumati Hearts) 1967 Stokes Valley 1967 Porirua City (Waterside Juniors) 1968 Eastbourne 1971 Tawa 2023 Te Kotahitangi (Horowhenua Coastal) 2025 Ohau unknown dates of origin Paekakariki, Manukau United, Otaki not yet a registered club but could be soon Remutaka
Yakcall wrote: So looking at oldest football clubs, the oldest club in New Zealand is North Shore United founded in 1886. (Information from: An Association with Soccer: The NZFA Celebrates Its First 100 Years)
Petone Wanderers combined with Rowing in 1893 to become United, meaning that season was only played by three teams, Rovers, Queens Park and United. https://www.rsssf.org/tablesn/nz1893.html
It looks like Wellington United, then as the Diamonds maybe the oldest club in Wellington still around, founded in 1883 but they played Rugby that first season before switching to football. https://www.wellingtonunited.org.nz/our-history.html
Diamonds were founded in 1893 (Feb 22nd to be exact) They were formed by a group of guys who had been playing rugby under the name Star (which would have been formed in 1883) but that was a separate club and while there was a connection through the players that played for both. Diamonds was a completely new entity
With clubs withdrawing and coming back in, there were actually three association levels, Senior, Junior and third class (tended to be more social) Junior wasn't junior as in age like it is today, more like the Scottish system where Senior clubs have higher requirements to compete in the league than the junior clubs are required to
Oops yeah that was a mistype by me for the 1883 instead of 1893
The JourneyFan wrote: Here's the origin dates of clubs existing today based on the oldest original club ie North Wellington use 1972 as their foundation date, this was when Onslow (1933) & Johnson Villa (1951) merged, so in this list they are down as 1933 as that was when Onslow were formed
Original club name in brackets
1893 Wellington United (Diamonds) 1894 Waterside Karori (Swifts) 1898 Petone 1902 Marist (Marist Brothers) NB Marist claim their foundation date as 1896, however while a Marist club did exist them they didn't start a football team until 1902 1907 Miramar Rangers 1907 Western Suburbs (Mental Hospital FC) 1909 Seatoun 1916 Brooklyn Northern United (Institute Old Boys) 1919 Stop Out 1920 Lower Hutt City (Lower Hutt) 1926 Upper Hutt City (Trentham) 1931 Island Bay United (Wellington Technical College Old Boys) 1933 North Wellington (Onslow) 1943 Victoria University 1949 Naenae (Naenae Old Boys) 1959 Wellington Olympic (Christian Youth) 1960 Wainuiomata 1962 Kapiti Coast United (Raumati Hearts) 1967 Stokes Valley 1967 Porirua City (Waterside Juniors) 1968 Eastbourne 1971 Tawa 2023 Te Kotahitangi (Horowhenua Coastal) 2025 Ohau unknown dates of origin Paekakariki, Manukau United, Otaki not yet a registered club but could be soon Remutaka
Souldn't Olympic be considered 1953 for Appalon? I know CYFC was technically it's own club but they were still run by the Greek Orthodox communiy in Wellington right?
The JourneyFan wrote: Here's the origin dates of clubs existing today based on the oldest original club ie North Wellington use 1972 as their foundation date, this was when Onslow (1933) & Johnson Villa (1951) merged, so in this list they are down as 1933 as that was when Onslow were formed
Original club name in brackets
1893 Wellington United (Diamonds) 1894 Waterside Karori (Swifts) 1898 Petone 1902 Marist (Marist Brothers) NB Marist claim their foundation date as 1896, however while a Marist club did exist them they didn't start a football team until 1902 1907 Miramar Rangers 1907 Western Suburbs (Mental Hospital FC) 1909 Seatoun 1916 Brooklyn Northern United (Institute Old Boys) 1919 Stop Out 1920 Lower Hutt City (Lower Hutt) 1926 Upper Hutt City (Trentham) 1931 Island Bay United (Wellington Technical College Old Boys) 1933 North Wellington (Onslow) 1943 Victoria University 1949 Naenae (Naenae Old Boys) 1959 Wellington Olympic (Christian Youth) 1960 Wainuiomata 1962 Kapiti Coast United (Raumati Hearts) 1967 Stokes Valley 1967 Porirua City (Waterside Juniors) 1968 Eastbourne 1971 Tawa 2023 Te Kotahitangi (Horowhenua Coastal) 2025 Ohau unknown dates of origin Paekakariki, Manukau United, Otaki not yet a registered club but could be soon Remutaka
Souldn't Olympic be considered 1953 for Appalon? I know CYFC was technically it's own club but they were still run by the Greek Orthodox communiy in Wellington right?
Apollon was formed by the Greek/Romanian immigrants and the club was still around as a social club up to about 10 years ago.
During 1958, the then Priest of the Greek Community convinced the WFA to accept a Greek based football club to start playing as of 1959. The club to be known as CYFC
