Waikaraka park Onehunga Soccer & Sports - Onehunga

Onehunga Sports Football Club is a long established football club based at Waikaraka Park in Auckland. Onehunga Sports Football Club is very much a community based football club however the recent on field success has seen a number of our players and coaches represent their country at both youth and senior levels.

Originally known as the Cornwall Association Football Club it was affiliated to the Auckland Football Association in November 1956 entering teams into the competition and commenced playing in the 1957 season. The Cornwall Association Football Club was formed as a breakaway from the Ellerslie A.F.C. to promote and foster soccer in the local Oranga, Harp of Erin, Penrose and surrounding area to the west of the Great South Road. The CornwallAssociation Football Club changed its name to Onehunga Soccer and Sports Club in 1986 and then to Onehunga Sports Football Club in 2015.

FOUNDATION MEMBERS

The foundation members who assisted with finance to establish the Cornwall Club along with members with their valuable time.

Mr B and Mrs E Ellis
Mrs A L Sharpe; (Dot)
Mr and Mrs J McMullen
Mr B and Mrs N Hummils
Mrs I Burke
Mr A C Robertson
Mr R Murphy

LIFE MEMBERS

Mrs A Sharpe [Dot] (†)                      Mr R Murphy [Bob] (†)                      Mr J Perry [Jim] (†)
Mr D Kelly [Doug] (†)                         Mr R Kelly [Ray] (†)                            Mrs S Kelly [Shirley] (†)
Mr G Cutler [Gordon] (†)                   Mrs P Cutler [Phillis] (†)                    Mr C Coghlan [Charlie] (†)
Mrs J Coghlan [Joan] (†)                  Mr D McRae [Don] (†)                       Mr J McCreedy [Bill] (†)
Rae Walton (1988) (†)

Alex Paterson  (1972)
Terry Collins  (1976)
Howard Moore  (1976)
John Wood  (1976)
Bill Raffles  (1982)
Dennis Ford  (1986)
Wayne Portland  (1986)
Tony Porter  (1988)
Billy Gray (2018)
Mark Bailey (2020)
Jannine Stewart (2022)
Mark Lythe (2022)

OUR FIRST HOME at Fergusson Park

The Club committee negotiated with the Fergusson Park Domain Board and the Oranga Reserve Committee under the chairmanship of Mr F Gilcrest to prove that there was a place for football at Fergusson Park. All junior games for the club were originally played at the Auckland Domain and the senior teams games were initially played at the opposition’s home grounds, until the club was allocated Tamaki Domain by the Auckland Football Association as the home ground. This remained the case until the ground at Fergusson Park was available in 1961.

Following the gaining of promotion through the divisions, the senior team used the Mt Smart No.2 field as their home ground for the 1989 and 1990 seasons to give them the best playing surface and to allow the clubs other teams to use the home field.   The Senior team returned to Fergusson Park in 1991. and after gaining promotion to the Premier Division.

THE NEW ERA at Waikaraka Park Onehunga

With the clubs senior men’s team progressing through the grades into the top regional division and the subsequent restrictions then placed on the playing surface by the Football Association, this caused the club considerable anguish, with many of the club’s teams having to play at other venues. Discussions with council officers commenced in 1995 with a view to obtaining more playing and training areas, with a possible shift of the club to Waikaraka Park.

The relocating of the club and discussions with Council continued without much progress, until in 2000 the Oranga Community Board became interested in the clubrooms as a Community Centre, when discussions were again resurrected. Following further discussions with Council and the Onehunga Cricket Association, a separate trust was formed to provide suitable changing facilities and a clubrooms complex, with an initial budget of $1.0 m. As the project developed so did the ever increasing costs to $1.7 m.

Onehunga Sports move from Fergusson Domain to Waikaraka Park opened up a whole lot of opportunities for all club members with the Official opening of the ONEHUNGA COMBINED SPORTING TRUST CLUB ROOMS  on Saturday 28^th February 2004.

THE NEXT CHALLENGE – Expansion and upgrade of  facilities at Waikaraka Park

The area between Waikaraka Park and the Manukau Harbour was purchased by the Council as a greenfield area. The local government and economic crises put a hold on the development and the Club is waiting for Council to release their plan for the upgrades, given that funding has now been approved in Council’s long term plans for it to become a Premier Park with added facilities for football. Improvements to the existing playing surfaces continue to be an immediate priority for the Club as the playing fields other than the Number 1 pitch are now in need of being upgraded.

For our members and players, Onehunga Sports Football Club does not intend to stand still and will always be looking to improve the facilities at the park. Together with all stakeholders, we can make a difference for the community and particularly for all members that play their football at the park.