Queens Park AFC is a football club, based in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

, New Zealand. The club participates in the Southern Football Premier League. and has its home ground at

Surrey Park Surrey Park is a major sports venue, located in the Invercargill, New Zealand suburb of Glengarry, 2km to the east of the city centre. Surrey Park's facilities include three rugby grounds, three football grounds, four softball pitches, an athleti ...

History

Queens Park Association Football Club was formed in 1957 by Alexander Stojkovich and in 1958 the team made its debut in the local

Second Grade competition. In 1960 the senior team was promoted to the premier

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...

competition, the

Donald Gray Memorial Cup The Donald Gray Memorial Cup is the premier men's football competition in Southland, New Zealand. It sits below the FootballSouth Premier League and above Southland Division 1. Current clubs ''As of 2022 season.'' :(2) — Denotes club's se ...

. When the Southern League was formed in 1968, Queens Park entered the First Division, finishing 9th. However at the end of the 1969 season the club was relegated to the Southern League Second Division. 1972 saw Queens Park win the Southern League Division Two South & the promotion/relegation play-off to rejoin the Southern League Division One. The club played in this league until 1975, when some poor results saw it relegated to Southern League Division Two South. In 1977 Queens Park again won Division Two South, but failed to gain promotion this time around. For the 1980 season the Southern League was split into Northern and Southern Zones, with Queens Park joining the Southern Zone. The club continued to play in this league until it was again restructured in 1986. In 1987 Queens Park played in the reformed Southern League Division Two South, before withdrawing in 1988 to supply players to the Southland United amalgamation. After Southland United was disbanded at the end of 1991, Queens Park was left without representation at an inter-provincial level until 1996, when the club re-entered the Southern League. Events that transpired that season, chiefly the revival of Southland United, poor results (particularly towards the end of the season), and financial constraints resulted in Queens Park withdrawing for 1997 to once again to support Southland United. As of 2020 Queens Park is one of the biggest senior football clubs in Southland, with teams in multiple leagues. In 2021 the Premier men's team completed the Donald Gray season unbeaten, winning the Donald Gray Memorial Cup, the Larry O'Rourke Cup, and the Charity Cup. The Women's Kolk Cup Team also went unbeaten winning the Kolk Cup, Ottley Challenge trophy and the Knockout Cup. Both teams won their leagues for the second season in a row. In November 2021 the club announced that it would be entering a team in the

FootballSouth Premier League The Southern Football Premier League (known as the ODT Southern Men's Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is a New Zealand association football league competition administered bSouthern Footballinvolving clubs from the lower half of the Sout ...

during the 2022 season after being invited to return to the competition. , they are the only Invercargill side in the ODT Southern Premier League. Queens Park AFC has entered the New Zealand Football national knockout competition, the

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 ...

, in most years since 1965 apart from a break from 1997 to 2003. The club has made the Fifth Round five times, in 1966,

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

, and

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. Since 1975 the club has not performed as well in the competition, rarely making it past the second round since they re-entered the competition in 2004.

References

External links

Official club site
{{FootballSouth Premier League Association football clubs in Invercargill 1957 establishments in New Zealand