Waterside Karori

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Waterside Karori AFC

Full name

Waterside Karori Association Football Club

Nickname(s)

Wharfies

Founded

1988 (amalgamation)

Ground

Karori Park/
Wellington
(Capacity N/A)

League

Capital Premier League





Home colours

Waterside Karori AFC is an association football club in Karori, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand.

Waterside Karori was formed in 1988¹ when Karori Swifts merged with Waterside. These two clubs had contrasting origins: Swifts were founded in 1894 from a Sunday School, and Waterside were founded in 1921 by dock workers. The current Waterside Karori club is still nicknamed Wharfies.

Waterside were originally based at Kaiwharawhara at Wellington's waterfront, a location still used by Waterside Karori. Waterside were a successful club at national level in New Zealand in the 1930's and 40's, winning the Chatham Cup in 1938, 1939, 1940 and 1947. However, the club was damaged by the wider effects of the 1951 waterfront strike and took years to recover.

Swifts were initially itinerant but settled in Karori in 1950, changing their name to Karori Swifts in the 1960s.

At the time of the merger Waterside had sponsorship and were playing in the National League, but had a relatively small player base. Swifts, on the other hand, had a large player base, both senior and junior, but lacked top-level success. The merged club adopted the Wateside strip of black and white vertical stripes with the maroon Swifts strip being retained as a second strip.

Although Waterside Karori soon dropped out of the National League it remains one of the largest clubs in Wellington. In 2004 it became one of the founding principal clubs of the Team Wellington franchise in the New Zealand Football Championship.