Gisborne City AFC was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club in

Gisborne, New Zealand Gisborne ( mi, Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa "Great standing place of Kiwa") is a city in northeastern New Zealand and the largest settlement in the Gisborne District (or Gisborne Region). It has a population of The district council has its headquarte ...

. 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, the club had competed in 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 ...

since the early 1950s, and reached the semi-final (and North Island Final) in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

, losing to eventual champions Seatoun 3–1. Gisborne set the New Zealand record for the most players from one club to be chosen for the

New Zealand national football team The New Zealand men's national football team ( mi, Tīma hoka a-motu o Aotearoa) represents New Zealand in men's international football competitions. The team is governed by the governing body for football in New Zealand, New Zealand Football ...

to compete at a

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

. Five players were selected to participate in the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. In 1984, Gisborne became the first team from outside New Zealand's three biggest cities Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch to win the national championship.

Honours

National

New Zealand National Soccer League The New Zealand National League is the name given to the current New Zealand top football competition. Originally set up as the New Zealand National Soccer League there has been many versions of the competition as well as many different names. Th ...

Champions (1)

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Champions (1)

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

FIFA World Cup

World Cup All Whites

The following players represented the New Zealand national team also known as the All Whites at a

whilst playing for Gisborne City: 1982 FIFA World Cup * Kenny Cresswell * John Hill * Keith Mackay * Brian Turner * Grant Turner did not play due to injury upon arrival in Spain

Chelsea FC

Chelsea Connection

The

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

song Blue is the Colour was adopted as the clubs anthem. The following former Chelsea FC players also played for Gisborne City: * Brian Turner * Ken Armstrong

Exhibitions

Professional Clubs

1982 vs Bournemouth 0-4

National Teams

1985 vs

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 ...

3-4

Notable Players

Jock Aird

References

*https://teara.govt.nz/en/football/page-2

Association football clubs in New Zealand Gisborne, New Zealand Sport in the Gisborne District 1939 establishments in New Zealand {{NewZealand-footyclub-stub