Roslyn-Wakari

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Roslyn-Wakari is a soccer club in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Roslyn-Wakari AFC
Full name Roslyn-Wakari
Nickname(s) Roslyn
Founded 1888
Ground Ellis Park, Dunedin
New Zealand
(Capacity 2,500)
Coach Flag of New ZealandTerry Boylan
League Soccersouth Premier League, Dunedin
New Zealand
2007 3rd

The clubs history can be tracked back to 1888 when the Wakari Football Association first played in the local Dunedin league. This was only 44 years after the foundation of Dunedin. The Wakari AFC consisted of 14 members with 11 or 12 playing members. The first committee included Sir Robert Stout (Premier of NZ 1884 – 1897) as its President. The club obtained a farmers paddock and a ditch was dug as the perimeter for the pitch, outside the ditch the ball was out.

In 1890 the Wakari AFC changed its name to Roslyn AFC. In 1895 the Roslyn AFC split into two clubs with the second becoming Wakari AFC. The next ten years saw friendly rivalry between the two clubs as they competed for the “Otago Banner”. In 1904 the two clubs amalgamated to become Roslyn Wakari AFC. The club went into recess from 1914 until 1929 when they re-entered the Otago Football Association competition.

The home ground for the club is Ellis Park in Kaikorai Valley. Ellis Park was developed on an old tip site. In 1949 clubrooms were developed in the old stables which housed the horses which pulled the rubbish carts that filled in the grounds. Some of the wood used in modifying the old stables came from the demolition of an open-air swimming pool at the end of the top training ground in the Kaikorai stream.

The horses head was adopted as the clubs logo in recognition of this fact. These clubrooms were burnt down as a fire brigade exercise when the club built the present clubrooms / gym / changing rooms facilities in 1971.

The 2008 season the club has 10 senior men's teams, 4 women's teams and a large number of junior teams.