Western Suburbs Football Club is an association football club in Porirua, New Zealand. They play their home matches at Endeavour Park in the Porirua suburb of

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

and compete in the

Central Premier League The Central League is an amateur status league competition run by Capital Football for Association football clubs located in the southern and central parts of the North Island, New Zealand. From 2021 it is at the second level of New Zealand Footb ...

. Western Suburbs is in partnership with Olé Football Academy who provide coaching for some of their junior and senior teams. They have won 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 ...

thrice, and the

on seven occasions, most recently in 2019.

History

Mental Hospital AFC

Western Suburbs was established in 1906 as Mental Hospital AFC, initially as a recreational outlet for staff at Porirua Mental Hospital, winning the Chatham Cup in 1935, beating Christchurch's Western 2–0.Western Suburbs Soccer Club History
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Western Suburbs (1956–1973)

In 1956 the name of the club changed to Western Suburbs, reflecting its player base from Porirua and Tawa. Led by Hungarian-born coach Imre Kiss, who had represented

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 ...

for one official international in 1967, the club won the Central League First Division title in 1968 and again in 1969, qualifying for the inaugural season of 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 ...

in 1970. That year they lost the

to Blockhouse Bay after a replay, but achieved success for the second time in their history the following year, beating

Wellington City Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

3–2 in the 1971 final. Western Suburbs were relegated from the National League at the end of the 1971 season.

Porirua United

The club name was changed to Porirua United in 1973 when Porirua gained city status. Shortly after, a faction within the club broke away to form rival club

Tawa AFC Tawa AFC is an association football club in Tawa, Wellington, 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 I ...

. Porirua United won the Central League title in 1974

Porirua Viard United

At the end of the 1983 season Porirua United and Viard amalgamated to become Porirua Viard United. The women's team were joint National Champions in 1987, drawing the grand final with Auckland's Eden. In 1992 Porirua Viard United amalgamated with Mana United, forming Western Suburbs.

Western Suburbs (1992–present)

Over the last 10 years, the club won two

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...

First Division titles, participated in the North Island League in 1999, finishing 8th. Wests also won the inaugural Capital Federation Championship in 2000. The 2001 season was an up-and-down season under Ken Cresswell. After a poor start the team managed to get back on track finishing a respectable 3rd-place finish. 2002 brought a new coach, a new attitude and a few new faces to Wests. Ex-Wests captain, Martin Disley, took over as coach from Ken Cresswell, who had gone to Wellington United in the off-season. Wests scored 27 goals in their final 5 games of the season, conceding just 7. With just 2 games remaining, Wests took the lead from Lower Hutt and needed a win against Petone in the final game of the season to secure their 4th League title in 6 years. Following their 2002 League Title, Wests went on to dispose of Havelock in the Regional Playoff 11–0 on aggregate. The National League Promotion Playoff was a mixed bag for Wests, picking up a win, a draw and a loss against Waitakere, Glenfield and Caversham respectively. In 2003 and 2004 the club performed well losing only 3 and 2 games in each season. However it was not good enough to win and only second and third placings were achieved in the Capital Premier Competition. 2005 saw the return of the Central League after the dissolution of the National League in favour of the New Zealand Football Championship competition. Western Suburbs became the first team to win the renewed competition, however the team was knocked out of the

in the 3rd round for fielding an ineligible player. In 2006, the centenary year of the club, the club failed to defend their Central League title, finishing runners up. However Wests managed to reach the

final, winning the trophy after defeating Eastern Suburbs 3–0 on penalties after a scoreless draw. Western Suburbs was officially recognised as Porirua City's Team of the Year. The 2007 season saw Western Suburbs winning the Central Premier League title, however they failed to defend their

title, losing to Central United 10–9 on penalties after a scoreless draw.

Honours

(6): 1996,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 2005, 2007, 2009,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

Western Suburbs Official Site
{{twclubs Association football clubs in Wellington Sport in Porirua Association football clubs established in 1906 1906 establishments in New Zealand