The 1974 Chatham Cup was the 47th 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 ...

. Early stages of the competition were run in three regions, with the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

teams receiving a bye until the later stages of the competition. In all, 114 teams took part in the competition, at that time a record number. Note: Different sources give different numberings for the rounds of the competition: some start round one with the beginning of the regional qualifications; others start numbering from the first national knock-out stage. The former numbering scheme is used in this article. A change was made in the way tied matches were decided, with penalty shoot-outs introduced in the event of ties after extra time. Replays were still used for the later rounds, with a replay being needed in one semi-final.

The 1974 final

With the exception of replays, 1974 was the first time that the final had been held in the South Island, at

Queen Elizabeth II Park Queen Elizabeth II Park was a multi-use stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand, located in a large park of the same name. The stadium had a capacity of 25,000 people and was built in 1973 to host the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, with a tempora ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

. The venue had been used earlier in the year for the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

. The game was played on a heavily sodden pitch, the result of several days of heavy rain, and thousands of gallons of water had to be removed before the surface was usable. Despite the poor conditions, the game was entertaining, and Christchurch ran out the winners with a late

Brian Hardman Brian Hardman is a former association football player who represented New Zealand at international level. Hardman made his full All Whites debut in a 2–4 loss to New Caledonia on 18 July 1971 and ended his international playing career with 9 ...

goal adding to an earlier strike from Ian Park. pp. 76-77

Results

Third Round

Replay

Fourth Round

* aet. Manawatu won 4–3 on penalties

Fifth Round

* Eastern Suburbs won 8–7 on penalties

Sixth Round

Semi-finals

Replay

Final

References

Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation New Zealand 1974 page
{{Chatham Cup seasons 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 ...

September 1974 sports events in New Zealand