Founded 2015
Colours Blue
& White
Ground Trafalgar
Park
How do you write a history on a club
that has only just been formed and hasn't actually played a game
yet?
Well you don't. Instead lets look
back at a brief history of football in the Tasman region, which may
help see why they are where they are today.
Nelson is the sunshine capital of NZ
and it is also the location of where the first game of rugby was
played in New Zealand. Ironically the ground where this historic
game was played is used as a football pitch these days. Despite
these historic rugby links, football has always been well supported
in the Nelson region, probably due to the large number of British,
Italian & (to a lesser extent) German's that have settled in the
area.
Before the Central League was formed
in 1968, Nelson teams never really made any great waves in NZ
football. In 1968 two leading Nelson clubs Thistle (formed 1924) &
Rangers (formed in 1950 as Settlers before changing their name to
Rangers in 1959) merged to form Nelson United and two years later in
1970 won Central League Division 2.
Over the next 5 seasons they
seemed to be destined to be the bridesmaid with four 2nd
place finishes in Division 1.
 |
| Nelson United 1977 Chatham Cup Winners |
With the
arrival of Kevin Fallon in 1976 Nelson United finally won the
Central League and with it automatic promotion to the National
League. Their 1st spell in the National League (1977-80)
saw them finishing in the lower half of the table, but they stunned
everyone in 1977 when they defeated Mt Wellington to win the Chatham
Cup. They reached the final again in 1978, but despite the final being held
Nelson they went down 1-0 to John Ashead coached, Northern League champions Manurewa.
After relegation in 1980 they won the
Central League in 1982 and were back in National League, again they
struggled to get out of the lower reaches of the table their best
finish being 6th in 1985. During this time despite their
league position the NZ Soccer Annual would regularly refer to them as
an entertaining team to watch.
In 1988 they finished 2nd
bottom, but it wasn't their performance that saw them relegated
(as there was no relegation from the National League this season) it
was the fact their ground wasn't up to the standard required by the
NZFA. Two seasons later ground criteria wasn't considered and Nelson
were back in the National League for it's last 2 seasons.
During the 70's & 80's years,
other Nelson clubs Nelson Suburbs, Nelson City & Nelson
Metropolitan all played in the lower reaches of the central league.
In the SuperClub years Nelson United
made it in to the national round in 1995, but cost caught up with
them and the club struggled financially, selling their Guppy Park
club rooms to survive.
When the summer league was introduced
in 1996, an entity called Soccer Nelson was formed to run the National League
team and thus protect clubs from any financial liability. While this
was a vehicle to run the team, the NZFA required a club to register
so it was Nelson Suburbs who took the place in the summer league.
Nelson Suburbs had been formed in
1962 by the merger of Hospital (1924) & Waimea College Old Boys
(1961) and had spent 8 years (1978-85) playing in the Central League
lower divisions. They were now the number 1 team in Nelson, and like
previous number one teams they settled into a mid-table position.
At
the end of the 1997 season, Suburbs were asked to re-apply for their
league position as they had failed to meet the requirement of
fielding a winter side in the premier competition. Suburbs hadn't
done so as they wanted to save money so as to be able to compete in
the summer league. SNZ didn't award a place to Nelson, using an
outstanding debt of $11 250 as a reason. Suburbs were not happy with
this and given that they were only 2 years into a 3 year licence
awarded by SNZ, they felt they had no option but to take SNZ to
court, which they did and won thus making the 1998 Summer League an
11 team league.
Another re-structure the next season
saw Suburbs finish 2nd in the South Island League. This
was the last time National League soccer was seen in Nelson. With
the new federations introduced and Nelson was affiliated to
Canterbury Region. So after years off traveling across the Cook
Straight to play Central League teams, they now headed south to
compete in the Mainland Premier League (MPL).
Nelson Suburbs have been one of the
more successful teams in the MPL. Winning it 3 times and being
runners up 4 times, in fact in the last 12 seasons there are only 3
in which they have finished outside the top 3.
In a somewhat surreal spell in Nelson
football, Richmond Athletic (who changed their name to Richmond
City) played in the MPL in 2007-08. Richmond Athletic have been
around since 1948 and seemed happy to play in the local Nelson
leagues and provide football for the juniors in their area (Jeremy Brockie played his junior football here)
Then
along came big talking, big spending, bodyguard protected, Phillip Whitely, who
spoke of Richmond becoming a top club in NZ and promising mega bucks
for players that would sign for Richmond. Despite this Richmond's performances weren't great, and it
all ended in 2008 when Whitely, who had claimed to have invented a revolutionary new data compression technology was convicted of a $5.3 million
fraud.
In 2010-11 two new clubs were born in
Nelson. FC Nelson was a merger of Nelson United, Nelson City, Nelson
Metropolitan & Tahuna Juniors, while the Nelson Falcons was an
independent entity set up to make a bid for a National League
Franchise.
The Falcon's failed in their National
League bid but were awarded a National Youth League place with the
idea that this would give them the experience to run a full National
League Franchise in the future.
On the field they were a success,
going unbeaten at home in their 1st season, losing in the
Final to Auckland in their 2nd season and winning the
competition on a dramatic last day in their 3rd season
(there was no final this year). While this season saw them finish
7th an extremely tight league meant that they were only 5
points behind champions, Team Wellington.
When NZF announced that they were
accepting bids for 2 extra places in the ASB Premiership for the
next season, Nelson Bays Football led the charge in getting all clubs in
Nelson & Marlborough round the table and Tasman United were
born. As well as fielding the required Senior & Youth National
League teams, they will be fielding a women's team in the Mainland
competition.
Notable players and managers
 |
| Jeremy Brockie |
Several
All White's have come from Nelson or started their playing careers
in the city, including 82 All Whites
Peter Simonsen
Richard Wilson
Kenny Cresswell
Other All White's include
Jeremy Brockie
Ricki van Steeden
Paul Brydon
Rhodes Scholar Ceri Evans & Allan Smith (1954)
1982 All White and ex manager Ricki Herbert played a season at Nelson United on loan from Mt Wellington
 |
| Atkin Kaua |
Current
NZ Schools champions, Nelson College, regularly have international
students from the Solomon Islands and they are a strong presence in
Nelson football, with players such as Batrum Suri, Comms Menapi,
Henry Fa'arado & Atkin Kaua going on to play national league
football with other clubs
Kevin
Fallon was only at Nelson United for 2 seasons but he won promotion to the National League and the Chatham
Cup. Other manager's that seem to have always been around the Nelson
scene include brothers Paul & John Brydon, John Slotemaker &
Steve Biggs
 |
| Syd Guppy |
Administrator
Syd Guppy was a NZFA councillor for 9 years from 1959-67 and then
President for 2 years 1968-69, overseeing the set up of the regional
and National Leagues, he was made a Life member of the NZFA in 1971.
FC Nelson's home ground Guppy Park is named after him.
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