The 1953 Chatham Cup was the 26th annual nationwide knockout football competition in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The competition was run on a regional basis, with regional associations each holding separate qualifying rounds. Teams taking part in the final rounds are known to have included

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

(Auckland),

Huntly Thistle Huntly Thistle are an association football club based in the New Zealand town of Huntly, in the northern Waikato region. The club currently have teams in the WaiBop Premiership, Senior Men's, Senior Women's, Juniors and WSSFA College. Earlier ...

, Eastern Union (Gisborne), New Plymouth City, Napier Rovers,

Wanganui United Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganu ...

, St. Andrews (Manawatu),

Seatoun Seatoun, an eastern suburb of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, lies on the east coast of the Miramar Peninsula, close to the entrance to Wellington Harbour ( Port Nicholson), some seven kilometres southeast of the CBD. The suburb s ...

(Wellington), Woodbourne (Marlborough),

Riccarton Riccarton may refer to: New Zealand * Riccarton, New Zealand, a suburb of Christchurch ** Riccarton (New Zealand electorate), the electorate named after it ** The location of Riccarton Race Course * a locality on the Taieri Plains in Otago Scotlan ...

, Northern (Dunedin), and

Invercargill Thistle Invercargill Thistle also known as Thistle FC is an established football club based in the South Island city of Invercargill. The team was founded in 1936 and currently have 13 teams from Men's premier, Women's, and Junior divisions. During the ...

The 1953 final

The final was a repeat of the 1951 final, with Eastern Suburbs again beating Dunedin's Northern. Reg King added two further goals to his three from 1951, equalling the aggregate record of five final goals. The game was a thrilling one according to contemporary accounts, with Northern letting in a soft goal very early on and the game opening up with frequent chances at both ends. Suburbs clinched the match with the winning goal late on in the second half. Scorers were Reg King (2), Ken Fleet, and Murray Anderson for Eastern Suburbs, while Trevor McFarlane gained a brace for Northern and Bill Boardman also scored for the Dunedin side.

Results

Final

References

Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation New Zealand 1953 page
Chatham Cup

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 2022 winners Auck ...

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