Petone FC
About
Better players, better people, better community
OUR PURPOSE: We provide opportunities for all to have fun, grow and succeed through football, by living and loving the beautiful game. In doing so we create better people and a better community.
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This page sets out information about the club's history, its people, our club characteristics/ambition/football philosophy, our sponsors and life members.
A brief history
Petone Football Club, was formed as Petone AFC in 1898, and while two other clubs can trace their roots back earlier than this, Petone is the oldest football club in Wellington to survive in its original form without amalgamation. The Club has been at its current base at Memorial Park since 1961 and in 2023 celebrated its’ 125th Anniversary.
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The Club’s major achievements include winning the Chatham Cup three times — 1928, 1930 and 1949, winning the Central League in 1990, and winning the Capital Premier League in 2006 and 2007. The women’s team won the Women’s Central League five times in the mid 1990s and the youth team won the Junior National Cup (New Zealand under-18 championship) in 1979 and the National Youth Championships (Under 19s) in 2008.
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The Club organises the annual pre-season Hilton Petone Tournament, attracting entries from clubs in the Wellington region since its inception in 1955. It is an established part of the football calendar and in 2024 is in its 70th year.
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The Club has well established training and playing facilities which, along with the clubrooms, are all based at Memorial Park, and was the first in the Wellington area to establish a fully floodlit training pitch back in 1979. During the 2023 season Petone FC engaged over 680 junior and youth players of all ages each weekend along with 12 senior men’s and women’s teams. The Club is an approved Capital Football Talent Development Programme provider for junior players.
What We Are About
Our characteristics
At our best
We achieve excellence by setting high standards of ourselves, and supporting others.
Courageous
We create history by taking on the impossible and by doing things differently. We are leaders.
Trust
We believe in each other, we embrace setbacks as learning opportunities, and we are patient.
Inclusive
We welcome all to our football family. We embrace diversity, encourage participation and engage with our community.
Integrity
We do what’s right and fair, and treat others with respect, and we hold others to account when they don’t.
Our ambition - "greatest imaginable challenge"
"We are recognised as a model for a successful and sustainable community football club in New Zealand by 2026"
What does that mean? We've set clear, measurable targets which help to define our ambition (including, for example, targets for financial self-sustainability, attracting and retaining players, community engagement.) A business strategy guides us as we work towards achieving those targets and our ambition.
Our football philosophy
Football’s focus is the ball. We therefore believe our #1 focus should be the ball too. We want our players to learn to love having the ball and do everything they can to maximise their time with the ball, as a team, and as individuals. We want our teams to hate not having the ball and do everything they can to get back it quickly if they lose it.
