Roslyn-Wakari Association Football Club is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. They compete in the Southern Premier League.

History

The club's history began in 1888 when the Wakari Football Association first played in the local Dunedin league. This was only 44 years after the foundation of Dunedin, and the club is one of the oldest existing football clubs in the country (the oldest,

North Shore United North Shore United Association Football Club is an amateur football club based in the North Shore, Auckland. They compete in the NRFL Championship, after being relegated in 2022. Their home ground is Allen Hill Stadium, which is located in the ...

, was founded in 1886). The Wakari AFC consisted of 14 members with 11 or 12 playing members. The first committee included Sir

Robert Stout Sir Robert Stout (28 September 1844 – 19 July 1930) was a New Zealand politician who was the 13th premier of New Zealand on two occasions in the late 19th century, and later Chief Justice of New Zealand. He was the only person to hold both ...

(Premier of NZ 1884–1897) as its president. The club obtained a farmer's paddock and a ditch was dug as the perimeter for the pitch, outside the ditch the ball was out. In 1890 the Wakari AFC changed its name to Roslyn AFC. In 1895 the Roslyn AFC split into two clubs with the second becoming Wakari AFC. The next ten years saw friendly rivalry between the two clubs as they competed for the "Otago Banner". In 1904 the two clubs amalgamated to become Roslyn-Wakari AFC. The club went into recess from 1914 until 1929 when they re-entered the Otago Football Association competition. Roslyn-Wakari is one of Dunedin's stronger club sides. The team reached the semi-finals of the

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are Wellington Olymp ...

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

and

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

along with reaching the quarterfinals in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. Their senior men's team currently plays in the Southern Premier League. The home ground for the club is Ellis Park in

Kaikorai Valley Kaikorai Valley is a long broad valley which runs through the west of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, to the west of the city centre. It is the valley of a small stream, the Kaikorai Stream, which runs from northeast to southwest down the ...

. Ellis Park was developed on an old tip site. In 1949 clubrooms were developed in the old stables which housed the horses which pulled the rubbish carts that filled in the grounds. Some of the wood used in modifying the old stables came from the demolition of an open-air swimming pool at the end of the top training ground in the

Kaikorai Stream The Kaikorai Stream is a short river which runs through the city of Dunedin, in New Zealand's South Island. The stream has origins in the northwestern suburbs of Dunedin, flowing southwest towards the Kaikorai Lagoon. Originally named Kaikarae ...

. The horse's head was adopted as the club's logo in recognition of this fact. These clubrooms were burnt down as a fire brigade exercise when the club built the present clubrooms/gym/changing rooms facilities in 1971.

Players

Notable players and club members

(1844–1930), New Zealand politician * Howard Broad (born 1957), New Zealand commissioner of Police *

Michael McGarry Michael McGarry (born 17 May 1965) was a New Zealand association footballer who frequently represented the New Zealand national football team in the 1980s and 1990s. Club career His senior career began with Dunedin City and later Mosgiel, befo ...

(born 1965), New Zealand footballer * Graham Marshall, New Zealand footballer * Clare Taylor (born 1965), English sportswoman * Thomas Robins, New Zealand actor *

Kelly Brazier Kelly Brazier (born 28 October 1989) is a New Zealand rugby union and Rugby sevens, sevens player. She has played flyhalf, centre (rugby union), centre and fullback (rugby union), fullback for the New Zealand women's national rugby union team, ...

(born 1989), New Zealand rugby union player

References

UltimateNZSoccer website's Roslyn-Wakari page

External links

Roslyn Wakari AFC website
Association football clubs in Dunedin Association football clubs established in 1888 1888 establishments in New Zealand {{NewZealand-footyclub-stub