Founded 1964
Colours Blue
\ White
Ground Porritt
Stadium
Website http://hamiltonwanderers.co.nz/
Honours Northern
League Division 1 1997
Northern
League Division 2 1991
Northern
League Division 3 1990
Northern
League Division 4 1989
Biggest
Win 12-0 v Drury United, Chatham Cup 2001
Biggest
Loss 0-10 v Tauranga City United, Northern League Premier 2000
Wanderers Sports Club was formed in
1964. The club's website claims their foundations began in 1913.
While there was a Hamilton club called Wanderers in 1913 (which was
actually formed in 1910) this club merged with Technical Old Boys in
1964 and became Hamilton AFC. Hamilton had 2 stints in the National
League (77-78 & 80-82) before merging with Waikato United in
1992. Waikato United then merged with Melville in 1996 and are today
known as Melville United.
When the merger of Hamilton Wanderers
and Technical Old Boys occurred, not all were happy with it and those
that weren't formed a new club and in 1965 they approached the
Waikato Football Association applying for affiliation under the name
Hamilton Wanderers. After hearing a report from Hamilton in regards
to their position on the name it was moved that the new club be
accepted under the name Wanderers Sports Club. Over time the Hamilton
prefix has been used and these days the club is commonly known as
Hamilton Wanderers.
 |
| Wanderers club rooms (Photo Enzo Giordani - www.in-the-back-of-the.net) |
Wanderers played in the local Waikato
division's until 1974 when they joined Northern League Division 4.
They benefited greatly from the windup of the Frankton Railways
Club, with several players moving to Wanderers and helping them into
2nd
place and gaining promotion to the 3rd
division.
They stayed in the lower divisions of
the Northern League reaching division 2 for a season in 1980 before
dropping out of the Northern League in 1986. Returning in 1988, they
went on to win 3 titles in a row (division 4 in 1989, division 3 in
1990 & division 2 in 1991) and went on to establish themselves as
a division 1 team winning that division in 1997.
They finished 3rd in the
premier division in 1998 & 2000, at the time their best ever
performance. 2001 saw them relegated from the premier division and
they stayed in division 1 until gaining promotion in 2006 and they
have been in the premier division since, finishing in the top 4 in
the last 4 years, including being runners up last season.
When NZF called for bids for 2 new
places in the expanded ASB Premiership, Wanderers put their hat in
the ring. The federation run WaiBOP United announced that if NZF
believed Wanderers application was up to scratch they would pass
their licence on to them and go back to concentrating on running
football in the region.
Notable Players and Coaches
 | ||||
| Chris Wood playing for Wanderers (L) & Leicester City (R) |
 |
| Marco Rojas |
Current
All White's, Chris Wood & Marco Rojas both played for Wanderers.
Wood scoring 16 goals in 17 games before moving to England where he
has played for among others West Brom, Leicester City and is
currently at Leeds United. Rojas made his senior debut for Wanderers,
before winning a scholarship from fan group Yellowfever to play for
the Wellington Phoenix. He went on to play for Melbourne Victory
before transferring to VfB Stuggart in Germany, he is currently on
loan at Switzerland's FC Thun.
Ex
All White's Declan Edge (97-2000), Tinoi Christie (98-2000), Paul
Nixon (1998) & Jonathon Perry (1998) have also played for
Wanderers.
Coaches
The
late Dave Hall was the coach that led Wanderers from the lower
reaches of the Northern League to division 1 with 3 championships in
3 years from 1989-91.
Darren
Fellowes was coach from 1997-2000 and achieved two 3rd
place finishes in the Northern League Premier Division, which until
last season were Wanderers best ever performances.
 |
| Mark Cossey |
Current
coach and director of football ex All White, Mark Cossey, who was the
youngest ever National League player when he made his debut for
Hamilton AFC in 1981 at the age of 15, took over the coaching reins
in 2005 and has established Wanderers as a premier division club,
achieving the clubs highest ever finish last season when they
finished runners up to Eastern Suburbs.
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