| Full name | Western Suburbs Soccer Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Wests | |
| Founded | 1906, as Hospital AFC | |
| Ground | Endeavour Park, Porirua | |
| Manager | Shane Rufer | |
| League | Central Premier League | |
| 2011 | Central Premier League, 4th | |
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Western Suburbs (Wests) is an association football club in Porirua, New Zealand. They play their home matches at Endeavour Park in the Porirua suburb of Whitby and compete in the Central Premier League.
Western Suburbs have won the Chatham Cup thrice (1935, 1971, 2006) and the Central Premier League on five occasions (1996, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2009).
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Western Suburbs was established in 1906 as 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.[1]
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 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 in 1970. That year they lost the Chatham Cup to Blockhouse Bay after a replay, but achieved success for the second time in their history the following year, beating Wellington City 3-2 in the 1971 final.Western Suburbs were relegated from the National League at the end of the 1971 season.[1]
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. Porirua United won the Central League title in 1974[1]
At the end of the 1983 season Porirua United and Viard amalgamated to become Porirua Viard United.[1] 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.[1]
The rebirth of Western Suburbs saw a return to the heady days of the late sixties and early seventies. Over the last 10 years, the club won two Central League 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 and at one stage, had a chance of winning the title. Following the loss of nearly half of the 2000 Championship winning team, most people wrote Wests off as contenders and they surprised many with a respectable 3rd place finish. The highlight of the season was probably beating Olympic both home and away.
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. Under Disley, with the help of Assistant Coaches Andrew Eales and Brendan McIntyre, Wests regained a reputation for playing attractive and attacking football. This was best displayed in the latter stages of the season where 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 controversially knocked out of the Chatham Cup in the 3rd round for fielding a supposedly 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 Chatham Cup final, winning the trophy after defeating Eastern Suburbs 3-0 on penalties aftewr 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 Chatham Cup title, losing to Central United 10-9 on penalties after a scoreless draw.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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| Preceded by Central United |
Chatham Cup Winner 2006 |
Succeeded by Central United |
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