The Papatoetoe Wildcats American Football Club.

Founded in 1986 as the Central Pirates by Pose Tafa.

The Central Pirates were one of four initial teams of the George O’Scanlon led NZAFL start up competition in 1986. The NZAFL ran concurrently for two years before re-merging into the NZAFA in the 1989 season where all NZ teams came together in one competition.

The Central Pirates then changed their name to the Central Wildcats and soon after came to be known as the East Auckland Wildcats.

Over time the club found it’s way to it’s home of Papatoetoe, where they have now been based since the early nineties.

The Papatoetoe Wildcats have an extremely successful legacy of championships through the years with their first Premier Mens Kiwi Bowl title coming in 2002. A total of 8 x Kiwi Bowl titles through the years.

Add to that 5 x Colts Unity Bowl championships. And also the recent successful introduction of Wildcats Women’s football have seen them as the leading club taking out 3 of the past 4 championships of the rejuvenated Women’s competition.

The Covid-19 Pandemic saw the introduction of regular season Flag Football. Our Men's teams are yet to break into Top playing Sections, currently our Women are thriving in Flag having secured Silver Honors at both Auckland & National Champs 2022.

Attached slideshow is just a very small glimpse of the Wildcats story. So many pieces to this legacy. Plenty of other material out there, but this was just a small collection of what we could find.

One of Auckland footballs powerhouse clubs with a very strong family legacy.

A special mention to a number of club stalwarts who have passed on in recent times.

"Special thanks to foundation member Martin Stowers in conjunction with Pose Tafa & Ed Mason for this awesome write-up."