Football Nationals

Note: This article below is very much from a Wellington College football perspective. Because the various Nationals have been organised by many different voluntary organisers and committees from all over NZ, a central repository of records is not really available. WC Football has retained reasonable records and data of the Wellington College participation and information from this source also helps tell the wider Football Nationals story albeit through 'Coll eyes'. The winners of the Nationals for the first two decades (where available) are from Wellington College records. For the years from 1978, the Premier Nationals winners are from a list published by the NZ Secondary Schools Sports Council.

WC teams at the first eight Nationals were all coached by Ray Hill. Left, the 1970 team arrive early on Day 2 for a pre game warm up at Christchurch. They had endured a horror Cook Strait crossing, a midnight arrival on the first day and 2  losses and a broken nose for captain, Kevin Hatley in day one. They are about to inflict a 9-0 win on Ashburton.

From The Very Beginning
The New Zealand secondary Schools Football Nationals are a very special and treasured part of youth football in this country and Wellington College has been involved from the very beginning. With the exception of a few years in the late 70s and, also, in 1981 when WCFC had a trip to Australia, the Nationals and Wellington College Football have been inextricably interwoven.Wellington College was the winner of the inaugural Nationals, held in Christchurch in 1967, and the Tournament quickly became the highlight of the Wellington College 1st XI football season.

The Original Formats
The 1967 Tournament was hosted by Christchurch Boys High with the support of a number of top football schools including Auckland Grammar School and Wellington College. The hosts ensured that the top school from each of the 4 major regions was present together with other strong football schools of that era.The teams played in pools or sections with the top teams playing post section play in semi finals and finals. The other teams played post section play for a Tournament position. The basic principles of the first Tournament’s format exist today.The following year, 1968, the Tournament was held in Auckland at Mt Albert Grammar with an experimental format of everyone playing 5 matches but no points, no post section qualifying and no team designated as champion. This experiment was never repeated! The Nationals quickly became very popular and, such was the demand, two Tournaments were organised in year 3.This was also to often occur in subsequent years. While they may have been of equal status, the strength of a particular event depended on numbers and the schools who attended. During this early period, the Nationals were hosted in Wellington on a number of occasions including at Wellington College in 1972. Special permission was given by the board and senior management to allow the bottom fields to be used. 

Subsequent Formats
Gradually more Tournaments were added and in the last 2 decades there has been a clear structure. Around 100 boys’ football 1st XI teams now participate in Tournament week which is usually in late August or early September. It is a great occasion with some excellent football, fierce rivalries, wonderful passion and a true test of skills and, most relevantly, stamina. The power of a team to play as a Team is paramount.The top groupings compete at the Lotto Premier Nationals. The 2013 venue is Taupo but, for most of the 2000's, the Premier Nationals have usually been at Napier or Nelson with their large sport parks with their firm underfoot conditions.32 teams compete at the Premier venue but the main focus is, initially, to be one of the 16 teams who compete in the 4 pools of 4 teams that play round robin matches over the first 2 days. These determine the post section teams who compete in quarter, semi and Grand finals. As teams lose in post section encounters they play consolation matches for their final place.The 16 teams for the Premier Nationals top sections are decided by a qualification system from the regions with the organising committee having the right to issue wild card invitations. As well as the Lotto Premier competition, satellite tournaments are held throughout NZ. These are well established and are named after their trophies-Malcolm Cowie, Trident, Rex Dawkins, Linwood and Jim Wishart. Collectively they are the Football Nationals.

The Nationals Supremos
A number of secondary schools, including Wellington College, have a long and proud history of consistently making their mark at Nationals. Others have been strong for a period but then disappeared while a number of schools have burst into the spotlight, this century.While Wellington College was the inaugural (1967) Nationals champion, Auckland Grammar School (AGS) has been the most consistent over the entire life of the Nationals and has won the most Premier (or equivalent) tournaments. Mt Albert Grammar School (MAGs) has dominated since the late 90s and has the record for the most Premier Nationals titles in the 21st century."


Park Island, Napier, with its large number of firm pitches has been the most used venue for Premier Nationals in the last decade.  In the first decades, schools such as Mt Roskill Grammar, Linwood, Avondale College, Kings High, Christchurch Boys High, Gisborne High and Rongotai College were regular top performers. In more recent times there has been the emergence of Nayland College, Palmerston North Boys High, St Kentigerns, St Peters of Cambridge and Sacred Heart Boys to genuinely cause shivers to run down spines when the draws are announced.Together with Wellington College, the 1st XIs of Westlake BHS, Nelson College ,Hamilton BHS and Tauranga Boys College form a group that regularly, over a long period of time, have competed well, usually in the top competition, and often featured in the post section play offs.Kelston BHS, Napier Boys High and St Pats, Silverstream have been the ‘grizzly bears’ of the Football Nationals – every now and then, after a period of hibernation, they embark on a ferocious charge. 

Wellington College’s Nationals
Coll have competed in 43 of the first 47 Nationals. In the early years there were a few occasions that WC participated in a Tournament that did not necessarily attract all the top teams.By the 80’s the concept of a top Tournament and a satellite Tournament(s) was in place. Sometimes the satellites were very strong. WC had a mixture of competing in top competition and satellites in the 80’s - often determined by the proximity to the venue.Since 1991 the concept of a Premier Nationals at the top of a pyramid with a number of satellites underneath has occurred. Wellington College has always competed in the top 16 team Premiers since that date and has reached the top 8 post section play-offs in the majority of these tournaments.

Accurate records exist showing the position of WC in 35 Nationals. No final placing is available in the others because of Tournaments being abandoned, incomplete records, no provision in Tournament for subsequent placing or, as on one occasion (1968), there was no points table at all!From records retained, Wellington College has been the winner on four occasions. Two of these (1967 and 1971) have been at the top event and two have been at Satellites (1980 and 1984).They have secured the runners up position twice (1983 and 1995) while the bronze medal has been the most popular with WC coming 3rd on seven occasions (1972, 74, 89, 96, 99, 2002, 03).The 4th spot has been held by Coll five times (1969, 76, 87, 98 and 2005) and 5th position three times (1973, 93, 2001).WC has been 6th twice (1997 and 2010) and in 7/8th positions five times (1998, 2004, 06, 08, 11).At Premier Nationals or their equivalent, WC has won the Premier Bowl on two occasions (i.e. topping the post section play offs, as in 1991 and 2009, for 9th to 16 positions) secured 11th spot on one occasion (1990), 13th place twice (1994 and 2000) and 15/16th position twice (2007 and 2012).With around 100 teams competing at Nationals, the overall record for Wellington College’s participation in the Football Nationals is impressive.

Premier Nationals have only been abandoned once – in 1992 because of the Canterbury Snows. Rain, hail and shine, MAGs have  been the dominant performer, at Nationals, since the late 90’s.

A considerable number of Premier Nationals are decided by a penalty shoot-out following an impasse in regular time. 

A Modern Perspective
NZSS Football has published records of the recent years of Premier Nationals. The table below, showing the rankings of schools who have competed at 5 years of Premier Nationals, provides a good guide to the dominant schools of the period.

5 Year Rating   School                        2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  Total

1                       MAGS                        1        1        4        4        1        11

2                       AGS                           3        7        5        3        2        20

3                       Nayland                     5        5        2        8        19      39

4                       PNBHS                      20      3        1        11      7        42

5                       Wellington College     7       9        6        7       16       45

6                       Westlake                   19      6        10      10      4        49

7                       Tauranga                   6       8         11      19      8        52

8                       Hamilton                    2       1        19      27      9        58

9                       Nelson                      14     13       9        6        22      64

10                     Napier                       4       20      8        18      18      68

Note: Sacred Heart College of Auckland did not qualify for the 2008 Premier Nationals but did have top performances in the following years including being the 2011 champions.

For many schools there is a perception that the Auckland region with its huge population and, subsequently, better resources is an unstoppable monolith. While there is no doubt that MAGs and AGS and, more recently, Sacred Heart College, have flourished at Premier Nationals in modern times, an examination of the tables over a five year period show that other teams have more than held their own.

The most consistent top teams at Nationals in the 21st century have been MAGs and AGS.

Any team from Auckland preparing for a Premier Nationals is very likely to keep an eye on the other regions particularly on top football schools from ‘Middle Earth’ the area in the middle of the nation with schools such as Wellington College, Nelson and Nayland Colleges and Palmerston North Boys High and, at times, St Pats-Silverstream all making a significant presence over a five year period.Other provincial schools have great records at the Premier Nationals with Tauranga Boys College, Hamilton Boys High and Napier Boys High all featuring in the 5 years rolling rankings chart.There are some very clear trends that have emerged. Top footballing schools such as MAGs and Sacred Heart Auckland, both with boarding establishments; have developed intensive football academy programmes under highly qualified coaches. Other schools, some private and others with associated boarding houses have developed relations with Oceania and have provided education and sporting opportunities for students from Pacific nations such as Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands.It is likely that most teams competing in the Oceania Nations Cup competition for the 2018 World Cup qualifier will contain many players educated and football trained by top footballing schools. All of this has put pressure on the State schools such as Wellington College and Rongotai College who are constrained by zones and do not have boarding houses available to them.Time never stands still however and those secondary schools who take Nationals seriously ensure they have appropriate football support and strategies in place.

A small group of schools from ‘Middle Earth’- the top of the South Island and the bottom of the North Island have more than held their own at the Nationals in modern times. Football schools from this area such as Nelson College, Wellington College, Nayland College and Palmerston North Boys High and, occasionally, Silverstream, are also thorns in the side of strong football colleges from other parts of New Zealand.

Football Nationals - Year-by-Year

WC did not enter Nationals in 1977,1978 nor 1979.  Auckland Grammar was the winner of the Premier Nationals in 1978 and 1979

  • 1980
  • The 1981 1st XI did not attend the Nationals that year as Wellington College had 3 teams including a number of Firsts players touring Australia. The ‘rump’ of the Firsts was requested to combine with some other players from Wellington schools to ensure an even number at one of the tournaments. That composite team reached the finals and lost only on penalties! 
  • Auckland Grammar won the 1981 Premier Nationals title
  • The 1982 Football report details the selection of Peter Jones, Tony Gaeta, Jason Fa’amalepe-Jones, Nigel Barker and Eugene Chan as National Tournament representatives but does not provide a Nationals report. Kelston BHS won the Premier Nationals this year.
  • 1983
  • 1984
  • 1985
  • 1986
  • 1987
  • 1988
  • 1989