Queens Park AFC

Queens Park AFC is a football club, based in Invercargill, New Zealand. The club participates in the Southern Football Premier League. and has its home ground at Surrey Park.[1]

For the Scottish Football club, see Queen's Park F.C.

Queens Park AFC
Full nameQueens Park Association Football Club
Nickname(s)Park, QP
Founded1957
GroundSurrey Park
Invercargill, New Zealand
Capacity10,000
ManagerPatrick Murphy
LeagueFootballSouth Premier League
2023FootballSouth Premier League, 5th of 10

History

Queens Park Association Football Club was formed in 1957[2] by Alexander Stojkovich and in 1958 the team made its debut in the local Invercargill Second Grade competition. In 1960 the senior team was promoted to the premier Southland competition, the Donald Gray Memorial Cup.

When the Southern League was formed in 1968, Queens Park entered the First Division, finishing 9th. However at the end of the 1969 season the club was relegated to the Southern League Second Division. 1972 saw Queens Park win the Southern League Division Two South & the promotion/relegation play-off to rejoin the Southern League Division One. The club played in this league until 1975, when some poor results saw it relegated to Southern League Division Two South. In 1977 Queens Park again won Division Two South, but failed to gain promotion this time around. For the 1980 season the Southern League was split into Northern and Southern Zones, with Queens Park joining the Southern Zone. The club continued to play in this league until it was again restructured in 1986. In 1987 Queens Park played in the reformed Southern League Division Two South, before withdrawing in 1988 to supply players to the Southland United amalgamation.[2]

After Southland United was disbanded at the end of 1991, Queens Park was left without representation at an inter-provincial level until 1996, when the club re-entered the Southern League. Events that transpired that season, chiefly the revival of Southland United, poor results (particularly towards the end of the season), and financial constraints resulted in Queens Park withdrawing for 1997 to once again to support Southland United.[2]

As of 2020 Queens Park is one of the biggest senior football clubs in Southland, with teams in multiple leagues.[3][1]

In 2021 the Premier men's team completed the Donald Gray season unbeaten, winning the Donald Gray Memorial Cup, the Larry O'Rourke Cup, and the Charity Cup. The Women's Kolk Cup Team also went unbeaten winning the Kolk Cup, Ottley Challenge trophy and the Knockout Cup. Both teams won their leagues for the second season in a row.

In November 2021 the club announced that it would be entering a team in the FootballSouth Premier League during the 2022 season after being invited to return to the competition. As of 2022, they are the only Invercargill side in the ODT Southern Premier League.

Queens Park AFC has entered the New Zealand Football national knockout competition, the Chatham Cup, in most years since 1965 apart from a break from 1997 to 2003.[2] The club has made the Fifth Round five times, in 1966,[4] 1968,[5] 1969,[6] 1972,[7] and 1975.[8] Since 1975 the club has not performed as well in the competition, rarely making it past the second round since they re-entered the competition in 2004.[1]

References
  1. "Our History". Queens Park AFC. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  2. "Queens Park". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  3. "Southland Football - Home". Southland Football. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  4. "New Zealand 1966". RSSSF. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  5. "New Zealand 1968". RSSSF. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  6. "New Zealand 1969". RSSSF. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  7. "New Zealand 1972". RSSSF. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  8. "New Zealand 1975". RSSSF. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
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