The 1956 Chatham Cup was the 29th annual nationwide knockout

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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), Rangers (Bay of Plenty),

Hamilton Wanderers Hamilton Wanderers Association Football Club is a semi-professional Association football club from Hamilton, New Zealand, that currently competes in the Northern League. National League Hamilton Wanderers joined the New Zealand Football Champi ...

Eastern Union Gisborne City AFC was an association football club in Gisborne, New Zealand. Founded in 1939 as Eastern Union, the club changed its name to Gisborne City after winning the Central Districts League at the first attempt in 1967. As Eastern Union, ...

(Gisborne),

Moturoa Moturoa is a coastal suburb of New Plymouth, in the western North Island of New Zealand. It is located to the west of the city centre, bordering Port Taranaki and the Sugar Loaf Islands. One of the islands, Moturoa, the largest, shares it ...

(New Plymouth), Colenso Athletic (Hawkes Bay), Wanganui New Settlers,

Kiwi United Red Sox Manawatu is an Association football and netball club in Palmerston North, New Zealand. The club caters for men's, women's and youth football teams and women's netball teams. Riverside RedSox is affiliated to Red Sox Manawatu and caters ...

(Manawatu), Masterton Athletic (Wairarapa), Stop Out (Lower Hutt),

Shamrock A shamrock is a young sprig, used as a symbol of Ireland. Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, is said to have used it as a metaphor for the Christian Holy Trinity. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of ...

(Christchurch), West End (South Canterbury) and

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(Dunedin). The Brigadiers team of Invercargill, which met Shamrock in the 1956 South Island final, was coached by George Roberts. A life member of

Western A.F.C. Western A.F.C. is a semi-professional association football club in Christchurch, New Zealand. They compete in the Robbie's Premier Football League. History 1913–1920 Western A.F.C kicked off in 1913 when a small group of keen soccer playe ...

Roberts, a Canterbury representative, had played in five previous Chatham Cup finals.

The 1956 final

Lower Hutt's Stop Out celebrated its jubilee year with a solid win in the final. The team scored early through a header from

Jack Sharp John Sharp (15 February 1878 – 28 January 1938) was an English sportsman who is most famous for his eleven-season playing career at Everton from 1899–1910. It saw him win two caps for his country, as well as being a cricketer for Lancashi ...

, a goal which was followed by a spectacular strike from Brian Sergeant and further goals from Abram Schryvers, and Fred Benge. Shamrock could only manage a consolation goal late on from Ernie Fields. The Shamrock and Stop Out sides had played each other earlier in 1956 for the Valmai Memorial Trophy with Stop Out winning the Easter fixture.

Results

Regional finals

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

References

External links

Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation New Zealand 1956 page
Chatham Cup

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier 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 Auckland City, who defeated Eastern ...

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