The 1977 Chatham Cup was the 50th 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 ...
.
Early stages of the competition were run in three regions (northern, central, and southern), 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 s ...
teams receiving a bye until the Fourth Round of the competition. In all, 142 teams took part in the competition. 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.
The 1977 final
Nelson United became the first team from outside the four main urban centres to win the cup since 1962. Their winning team contained several players who were to make a considerable mark on New Zealand soccer, either as players or administrators, among them
Kevin Fallon
Kevin Barry Fallon (born 3 December 1948) is an English-born football coach residing in New Zealand. He is the father of New Zealand international footballer Rory Fallon and former coach of the Cook Islands national football team but did not man ...
,
Kenny Cresswell
Kenneth "Kenny" Grant Cresswell (born 4 June 1958 in New Zealand) is an association football player who represented New Zealand internationally, appearing in all 3 matches of New Zealand's first FIFA World Cup finals appearance.Peter Simonsen, and
Keith Mackay
Keith "Buzzer" Gordon Mackay (born 8 December 1956 in Wellington, New Zealand) was a football (soccer) player who represented New Zealand internationally, appearing in all 3 matches of New Zealand's first FIFA World Cup finals appearance.
Tony Sibley
Anthony (Tony) Sibley was a successful New Zealand soccer player who frequently represented his country in the 1970s and 1980s.
He finished his playing career for the All Whites with 48 A-international caps to his credit.
In 1978 Sibley was awa ...
, and Earle Thomas.
The final was low-scoring but not without excitement. The only goal came early in the second half when referee John Perkins pointed to the spot after a foul on Nelson's David Powdrell by Stewart Carruthers. The penalty was converted by John Enoka giving Nelson a one-goal lead they never relinquished. p. 78
Results
Third Round
* Won on penalties by Waterside (4-2) and Wanganui East (3-2)
Fourth Round
Fifth Round
* Won on penalties by Christchurch Technical (14-13), Courier Rangers (5-3), Gisborne (?-?), North Shore (2-1), and Nelson United (5-4)
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 ...
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 ...