NATIONAL LEAGUE A-Z : Auckland City (1972)

Note – This Auckland City has no connection to the current Auckland City
Founded   1972
Colours     Green
Ground      ?? MAP's ground is Anderson Park but not sure they used this ground 
                   when they were in the National League
Honours    None

Auckland City was formed as a merger between National league club Mt Albert-Ponsonby & Northern League club Eden.

Almost as soon as the merger was announced, Eden's star player, Bill Hunter, transferred to Blockhouse Bay. Mike Farac then transferred the same way just before the season started while they also lost 3 of Mt Albert-Ponsonby's best players, leaving coach Fred Dubber with what the NZ Soccer Annual described as a threadbare side.

The season started with a 2-0 home loss to Caversham and didn't really get much better managing only 2 wins all season (4-3 at home against New Brighton and 2-1 away to Gisborne City). The only really bright spark was former NZ U23 rep Bruce Leuschke, who scored 10 of the sides 21 goals. The defence conceded 57 goals which was a league record that stood until Dunedin Technical conceded 59 in 1983.

Towards the end of the season, the Mt Albert-Ponsonby side of the club decided that it could no longer finance a National League team. Eden were prepared to go it alone but the rules of the league prevented this so Auckland City was left with no option but to resign from the league.

Players & Managers of note

Fred Dubber, a nephew of Charlie Dempsey (NZFA Chairman), had achieved success as a player with Miramar Rangers & Eastern Suburbs including winning the Chatham Cup in 1965 he also played for Auckland at representative level. This was his first coaching role as head coach he had previously been assistant to Tom McNab at Eastern Suburbs, a role he returned to after Auckland City dissolved, he took over McNab's role at Eastern Suburbs for the 1974 season

Player-wise, the most notable one was Bruce Leuschke who had made 5 appearances for NZ U23 in 1965-66

Where are they now

Auckland City dissolved once they resigned. The name was revived in 2005 when Central United supported Auckland City FC entered the new franchise based NZ Football Championship (NZFC).

Mt Albert-Ponsonby have played in all Northern League divisions, finding themselves in Division 4 in 1980, which they won, before climbing back up and winning the premier division in 1990, they lost to Nelson United in the playoff series for National League. They are currently in Northern League Division 1

Eden spent most of their time in the top division of the Northern League with a few seasons in division 2 before merging with Mt Roskill in 1997 to create Three Kings United. TKU are currently in the Premier Division of the Northern League and TKU is one of the biggest clubs in NZ.


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