The 1983 Chatham Cup was the 56th annual nationwide knockout football competition in

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. Early stages of the competition were run in three regions (northern, central, and southern), with the

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teams receiving a bye until the fourth round of the competition. In all, 139 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 1983 final

The final was played at the home ground of

Gisborne City 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, ...

, one of the two finalists. The replay was at the home ground of the other finalist, Mount Wellington. Mount Wellington appeared in their fifth consecutive final - the only club to have achieved this feat up until this time (it has since also been achieved by Christchurch United, between 1987 and 1991). Mount players

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 Ron Armstrong joined an elite group to have played in four Chatham Cup-winning sides, having previously played in Mount Wellington's victories in

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, 1980, and 1982. The first match was a gritty, evenly matched affair, with any superiority which Mount Wellington may have had largely counteracted by the efforts of the vocal East Coast spectators.

Fred de Jong Fred de Jong (born 5 April 1964) is a New Zealand former football striker who represented his country in the 1980s and early 1990s. Club career De Jong played senior football with Mt. Wellington before moving to Australia, helping Marconi S ...

opened the scoring for the Aucklanders after 14 minutes, only for Colin Walker to equalise halfway through the first half. In the second period Walker put the East Coasters ahead, and they held the advantage until the dying minutes when Keith Nelson, scorer of the only goal in the 1982 final, scored for the Mount to level the tie. Gisborne held on during extra time despite the Mount dominating the extra half-hour. The replay, under floodlights at Mount Wellington's ground, was far less balanced. The Mount took the lead on the half-hour mark with a John Price penalty, and the game was put firmly out of Gisborne's reach just before the final whistle by a shot from Nelson. p. 79

Results

Third Round

* Won on penalties by Oratia United (3-0) and Mount Roskill (5-4)

Fourth Round

Fifth Round

* Napier City Rovers won 4-1 on penalties.

Quarter-finals

* Mount Wellington won 5-4 on penalties.

Semi-finals

Final

Replay

References

Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation New Zealand 1983 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 ...

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