Western Association Football Club Est 1913 Newsletter

WESTERN ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL CLUB EST 1913

NEWSLETTER MAY - JUNE EDITION

In this Page Number Edition…

Junior Football 2 – 9th Grade Western Choppers Reflections Section – 3 Lindsay Adams

Centenary 4 Weekend Review Figure 1- Sam Miles, of the Men's Premier team, scores a penalty against Nomads United contributing towards their 4-0 victory. 25th May, ASB Football Park Premier Men’s 8 Team Update

Premier 9 Women’s Team Update

Golden Boot 10 Update and Statistics Team of the 11 Day

Figure 2- Alan Ferguson celebrates his injury time winning goal against Twenty FC with Nik House and Sam Miles in pursuit. 1st June, ASB Football Park

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Junior Football – 9th Grade Western Choppers

This month we look at the 9th grade Western Choppers. Coached by Sergio Suzana, the Choppers are one of Westerns two 9th grade junior sides and one of our 11 junior teams. The Choppers have so far had an enjoyable season with the team being made up with an even spread of boys and girls alike. A lot of these players came through Westerns first kicks Kindy football program (talked about in last month’s newsletter which can be found Here). The below pictures are from their game against Shirley St Albans Rebels at Claire Park on the 25th May.

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Reflections Section – Lindsay Adams

For Ever Grateful to my Parents

When our parents, Margaret and Bruce Adams, moved here from Invercargill, they rented a flat in Trafalgar Street. We were there for around 2 years until they decided to shift. So they bought a house at 258 Westminster Street. There were two main reasons for the move. Firstly, to be near the highly rated educational institutions of Mairehau primary and High schools for us boys. Secondly, and most importantly, Mum hated the noise coming from English Park. Unbeknown to them, this move would soon become a highly sought after piece of real-estate, which would lead our family to embark on a series of adventures. When I was seven a neighbour asked me if I wanted to join a soccer team. So we biked down to Hagley Park and joined Western. Even the name had a certain ring about it. Western. Yeah. We had a great time playing teams such as Celtic, Shamrock, City and Wanderers. Dad came home one night with the news that Western had acquired some land nearby. Next door in fact. Great news. The seniors came around soon and this is where I made a huge amount of friends. I even made friends with my brother, Two Face. Mum and Dad really enjoyed it. Mum always said she hated living next to this place (deep down she liked it. At least she knew where we were). You may remember the Shoot magazine. It used to come with a cardboard league ladder with teams on tabs you could move up and down. Mum removed the team names and replaced them with names of Western members. Top of the ladder you were considered liked and popular with her. It drew an enormous amount of interest. People used to drop in at any time to check where they were on the ladder. Tony and I, Dad and Tony Soutter always made up the relegation slots.

The club paid our parents $20 to clean up the clubrooms after the dances. Mum thought it was a disgrace but Dad thought it was great. He used to find more than $20 and often come home with the odd abandoned bottle of Lion Brown. One of “those” Sundays Mum walked the dog around the park only to witness someone being thrown in the creek. When we got home Mum asked why this person was thrown into the creek. The answer of course was obvious. He won the raffle.

Sadly our folks have both passed away, Dad just recently. We can never thank them enough that we moved next to the greatest club in NZ.

Lindsay Adams

Have you got any memories of Western Association Football Club you would like to share? Send them to [email protected]

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Centenary Weekend Review

The weekend got underway with the Friday Golf Tournament held at Windsor Golf Club. It was a very successful day which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. In total there were approximately 100 players partake of varying and questionable ability. The Ambrose style tournament was eventually won by the O’Neil family team with a score of 9 under.

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Following the golf was the conversazione, held at the Christchurch Rugby Clubrooms it had 170 people attend. It was a great night that gave many current and former western people are chance to reminisce and socialize. The evenings guest speakers included paraolympic champion Sophie Pascoe and former All White Bobby Almond. Many of the clubs oldest possessions were on display and also the Chatham Cup trophy brought down from Auckland especially for the weekend celebrations.

Missed out on any merchandise over the centenary meeting?

We still have merchandise on stock to sell including:  Caps  Beanies  Polo Tops  Chatham Cup Tee Shirts  Hoodys  Singlet’s If interested contact:  Beer handles [email protected]  Wine Glasses

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Saturday the 1st June was the show piece day of the celebrations. ASB Football Park was a sea of red and black in the morning as most of the clubs junior teams and kindy football was held at the ground. Following this was the Women’s Premier team game which saw the girls achieve a 3-0 victory over FC Twenty 11. The Men’s premiers were then next to play in the feature game of the weekend. Playing a much improved FC Twenty 11 the boys toiled away throughout creating many chances but without the all important finish required. As the 90 minutes ticked by the men were camped in FC’s half forging what seemed like countless opportunities before Alan Ferguson struck with a 92nd minute winner which sent the large, heavily Western dominated crowd into delirium. There were also some nice touches before the game with former Western Chatham cup winning and New Zealand Football captain Tony Laffey meeting the men’s team and also receiving a centenary Chatham Cup t-shirt presented by current first team coach Julian Morris.

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After the days football the main event evening was held at the Silks Lounge at Addington Raceway. Over 270 people attended this memorable event which saw Aaron Clapham and Steve Gurney talk and the band Shadow Puppets play long into the night.

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Sunday saw more fine weather and began with both the women's first division teams performing very well at Walter Park in the morning. The women's second division team also played at ASB Park which was then followed by a very entertaining 2-2 draw between two invitation teams, Stroudy's All Stars and Rosie's Rebels. The game was played out between men and women alike, some of which were still very much feeling the effects of the previous evening’s festivities. At 2pm veteran teams from Morrie's Mugs and Tony's Tuggers played for the cup that these teams had first competed for nearly 40 years ago! The good sized crowd saw the Mugs deservedly win 2-0, despite the Tuggers throwing their full squad of 17 on at the end! The quality of the fixture was described by some as “appalling”. Tuggers and Mugs social traditions were then reenacted back at the clubrooms following the game.

Monday saw the conclusion of the epic weekend. It started with the champagne breakfast held at O’Sheas Public House which had an eventual turn out of approximately 70 people. A quality meal and a great way to conclude the formal events of the celebrations. Fittingly Western also participated in a Chatham cup fixture the same day going down to Ferrymead Bays.

So from Friday morning to Monday evening it was a fantastic weekend; full off football, rekindled friendships and overall good times. Club members came from as far as England, Ireland, and Australia and of course from all over New Zealand to contribute to what was a truly memorable event and what could be considered the highlight of Western AFC to date.

Premier Men’s Team- Update