Elected 1980
Passed Away 1993
Jack Capstick, whose sports playing interests had been in cricket, table tennis and rugby, became actively involved with the Club in 1962 when, with his three sons playing, he joined the junior management committee. In that first year he managed the junior 4th (under 14) team and was also appointed a Hutt Valley selector.
In the mid 1960s, he coached/managed a team on Saturday mornings and then another in the afternoons. These commitments coupled with mid-week practices and his meticulous communication with boys’ parents amounted to quite an involvement. But he added to these, and to his Committee responsibilities, by accepting the role of publicity officer – tasked with writing lengthy junior match day reports for the weekly Petone Chronicle. At various times, Jack served as the Committee’s Treasurer and he was also appointed to be one of its representatives on the Hutt Valley Football Association.
This was to be the pattern of Jack’s service to the club. He served for many years on the Junior Management Committee (JMC), fulfilling a variety of roles, and in all of these he demonstrated absolute thoroughness in making the arrangements for which he was responsible. As his sons gradually moved on to senior football, from 1969 Jack took on managing the senior third team. He was also serving as the JMC representative on the Club’s management committee, looking after bookings for the gymnasium (with 20 teams and non-club outfits all seeking time), and integrally involved in Club fund-raising activities – all this while continuing to manage/coach a junior side. Implicit in his 20 years of coaching was the sharing of refereeing duties, and Jack took this on for both morning and afternoon games.
In 1975, after 13 years of immersion in Club business, Jack was elected as President, the first to hold the position having come solely from the club’s junior administrative ranks. He was a very active President for eight years and, during his tenure, in 1980, he was elected as a Life Member of the club in acknowledgement of his very substantial contribution and tremendous commitment over the previous eighteen years. In 1982, he was one of twelve Wellington football administrators (three in all from our Club) to be awarded the Boyden Silver Badge in recognition of 20 years’ dedicated service to Club football.
Jack’s involvement with the club had started later in life than for most, but he became a key figure in the Club, and the intensity of his commitment through to 1983 was appreciated by many but equalled by few.
Jack passed away in December 1993. In his memory, the Capstick family donated the Jack Capstick Memorial Trophy which is awarded annually to the outstanding player in our Third Team.