Welcome to Whakatane Town AFC

Established in 1954; Whakatane Town AFC is the leading football club in the Eastern Bay of Plenty boasting several league titles over the years as well as having the largest junior membership for a football club in the Bay of Plenty.

The senior club consists of men and women from the ages of 16 to 56, with all the skill ranges being catered for across the teams we enter.

Training

We offer targeted training sessions put together by qualified training staff for those who wish to advance their footballing skill and knowledge. Also guaranteeing the club motto of

“One Club, One Spirit, One Direction”

is always within sight, ensuring a safe and fun environment for people of all backgrounds to enjoy the game.

Season Starts April 2019

Join Whakatane AFC

Get In Touch

Announcement: Mens Training Tues & Thurs 6pm. Womens Training 6:30pm Wednesday at Rex Morpeth Park.

New Players Welcome

Club News

Juniors and Seniors Registration Open for 2019

Junior & Senior Registrations are now open for the 2019 season!!! Senior Mens & Womens FULL SEASON Registration 2019 : $200 FULL SEASON Registration (discount for full time students) 2019 : $150 CASUAL Registration (Up to 6 games) 2019 : $100 Juniors...

Upcoming Events

Pre-Season Training

Pre Season Training Every Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm at Rex Morpeth Park. Please check our facebook page as location sometimes changes.

About Whakatane Town AFC

Men’s Bay 1 team are the

CURRENT CHAMPIONS

of the Baywide First Division!!

The Women’s Bay 1 team finished second in the WaiBOP Federation League for the 2018 season.

The 2018 results highlighting the fact that Whakatane AFC always competes at the highest level.

The club currently runs 2 men, a women’s and junior football teams.

New players, coaches and volunteers are always welcome.

The club has great facilities and social memberships available for those that come to the watch the games on match day and join the players at the bar afterwards.

Contact us

Serving Our Football Community Since 1954

The history of the Whakatane Town Soccer Club can be traced back to its first competition year of 1954, when the development of the Whakatane Board Mills brought many skilled workers from the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Holland and Finland.

These were football playing countries, of course, and it wasn’t long before the new immigrants were forming teams in the district. The Boardmills and ‘Town’ teams were raised almost simultaneously, the latter being made up of those players who didn’t work at the mill. Kawerau and Edgecumbe teams quickly followed.

Original Pioneers

There is not much written material relating to those early days but some of the original pioneers of the game in the Eastern Bay still live in the district, and from the stories they tell one can form a picture of the difficulties they faced in introducing football to a sceptical population.

According to Football fanatic, Alf Brooks, such was the novelty of the game in this area that when the local sports shop (Tyson sports shop, next to Shapleys) was approached for a ‘soccer’ ball, they had to send to Wellington to get one.

The First Bay of Plenty League

Joost Bylsma who was the Goalkeeper in the first Whakatane team clearly recalls that the main driving force behind its formation was Alec Town, a local butcher who had previously played in Auckland.

The first Bay of plenty league consisted of Board Mills, Whakatane Town, Kawerau, Edgecumbe, Te Puke, two teams from Tauranga, and three from Rotorua. In the words of Alf Brooks…”much of the travel to away games was along narrow, dusty, unsealed roads”.

Humble Beginnings

From such humble beginnings the club has progressed to a modern organisation with first class facilities and a large number of senior and junior players. One can admire the foresight and diligence of those men and women of the 1950s who laid the groundwork for our club and our sport to prosper

Play Football

If you would like to play for one of our teams then please don't hesitate to get in touch, or just come down to our training on either a Tuesday or Thursday evening 6pm to 8pm at Rex Morpeth Park.

Register now

Coaching

If you have experience managing or coaching football teams and would like to help out, then please get in touch.

Help out

Sponsor

The club wouldn't be the same without sponsorship from local businesses. If you would like to sponsor the club then please contact us for more information on the sponsorship packages.

More Info

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