1925 Chatham Cup

The 1925 Chatham Cup was the third annual nationwide knockout football competition in New Zealand.

1925 Chatham Cup

Tournament details
Venue(s)	Newtown Park, Wellington
Dates	30 May – 19 September 1925
Defending champions	Auckland Harbour Board
Final positions
Champions	Wellington YMCA (1st title)
Runners-up	Seacliff
← 1924 1926 →

The competition was run on a regional basis. Each region held its own contest to find a regional champion, with these then being grouped into four regional associations (Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago), each of which was represented in semi-finals by one team, followed by northern and southern semi-finals and a national final.

Entrants

In all, 30 teams took part in the competition, though some contemporary reports say there were 29.^[1] Ten of these teams were from the Wellington area, nine from Auckland, and three from Christchurch.^[2] Confusion is caused by some contemporary reports which list the Pukemiro team as "Huntly", despite these being two separate sides from the same area.

Auckland Auckland Harbour Board Auckland Thistle Auckland YMCA Hellabys Northcote North Shore Ponsonby Royal Navy Tramways South Auckland (Waikato) Frankton Railways Huntly Pukemiro Rotowaro Hawke's Bay Hastings United

Manawatu Palmerston North Returned Services Association Palmerston North Rangers Palmerston North Athletic Foxton St. Andrews Wellington Brooklyn Diamond Hospital Johnsonville Scottish Wanderers Waterside Institute Old Boys Wellington Marist Wellington Thistle Wellington YMCA

Canterbury Nomads Rangers Sunnyside Lyttelton North Otago Oamaru Rangers Otago Seacliff

The 1925 final

The final was played at Newtown Park, Wellington, a change of venue from the previous finals which had been at Athletic Park. This new venue was to host the final again in 1927, with the Basin Reserve being preferred as a permanent venue from 1928 after its use in 1926. The 1925 final was part of an unusual double-bill, the ground also being used on the same day for a rugby league match between the New Zealand team and a touring Queensland representative XIII.^[3]

The final was the first re-match of two teams who had previously contested a final; six Seacliff players and four YWCA players played in both the 1923 and 1925 finals. The game was described in The Dominion as entertaining with a number of chances, as was reflected by the scoreline, which was 2–2 at full time. The first goal came from Stewart Dempster for YMCA, but Wattie Hanlin equalised before the half-time interval. In the second half Seacliff went into the lead through Bill Hooper, who became the first player to score in two separate finals, having previously scored in Seacliff's 1923 win. this time it was YMCA who equalised with a second goal from Dempster. Dave Halley grabbed the winner for the Wellington side early in the first period of extra time.^[4]: 67

Results

Qualifying Rounds

Auckland Qualifiers

30 May 1925

North Shore	3 –1	Northcote
Palmer 2, Woolley	Report	W. Knott (pen.)

Blandford Park, Auckland

Attendance: 2000

Referee: Mr. S. Masters

3 June 1925

Auckland Thistle	3 – 2	Royal Navy
Dodds, Humphries 2	Report	Kernick, Merritt (pen.)

Victoria Park, Auckland

Attendance: 3000

Referee: Mr. P. Marsh

3 June 1925

Ponsonby	3 – 1	Tramways
Kennedy 2, Innes	Report	Lewis

Auckland Domain, Auckland

Referee: Mr. G. T. Lee

3 June 1925

Hellabys	1 – 0	North Shore
	Report

Victoria Park, Auckland

Referee: Mr. F. Knightley

3 June 1925

Auckland YMCA	5 – 1	Auckland Harbour Board
	Report

Blandford Park, Auckland

Referee: Mr. L. Parkinson

Auckland Semi Final

11 July 1925

Hellabys	1 – 2	Ponsonby
Margison	Report	Christie, Adshead

Blandford Park, Auckland

Referee: Mr. G. T. Lee

Auckland Semi Final

11 July 1925

Auckland Thistle	6 – 1	Auckland YMCA
Humphries 5, Dunsmore	Report	Marshall

Blandford Park, Auckland

Referee: Mr. J. Ball

Auckland Final

1 August 1925

Ponsonby	2 - 1	Auckland Thistle
Kennedy, Ahern	Report	Ritchie (pen.)

Blandford Park, Auckland

Attendance: 7000

Referee: Mr. F. Marsh

Wellington Qualifiers

13 June 1925

Diamond	3 –1	Wellington Institute
Dickinson, McLeod, Calvert 'og'	Report	Kallaher

Association Park, Wellington

Referee: Mr. L. F. C. Cooper

13 June 1925

Wellington Thistle	4 – 2	Waterside
Logan 3, Wallace	Report	Stanbridge 2

Newtown Park, Wellington

Referee: Mr. C. Kelly

27 June 1925

Hospital	6 – 2	Johnsonville
Smith, Mullins, Hughes 2, Simmons, Ring (Johnsonville) og.	Report	McFarlane, Gibbs (Hospital) og.

Hospital Ground, Porirua

Referee: Mr. C. Kelly

27 June 1925

Wellington Thistle	3 – 2	Diamond
Wallace 2, Logan	Report	J. McLeod, R. McLeod

Association Park, Wellington

Referee: Mr. A.E. Wells

27 June 1925

Scottish Wanderers	2 – 1	Wellington Marist
Lothian, Galbraith	Report	Costello

Association Park, Wellington

Referee: Mr. L. F. C. Cooper

27 June 1925

Wellington YMCA	3 – 0	Brooklyn
Ballard, Campbell, Eton	Report

Kelburn Park, Wellington

Referee: Mr. C. Udy

Wellington Semi Final

4 July 1925

Hospital	0 - 1	Scottish Wanderers
	Report	Golbright

Porirua Lunatic Asylum, Porirua

Referee: Mr. A. E. Wells

Wellington Semi Final

4 July 1925

Wellington YMCA	2 – 1	Wellington Thistle
Dempster, Nicolle	Report	Lennox

Association Park, Wellington

Referee: Mr. E. Ormrod

Wellington Final

18 July 1925

Wellington YMCA	2 – 0	Scottish Wanderers
Dempster, Ballard	Report

Basin Reserve, Wellington

Referee: Mr. G. Goffin

South Auckland (Waikato) Qualifiers

South Auckland (Waikato) Semi Final

20 June 1925

Rotowaro	3 - 0	Frankton Railways
Oliver 2, Buller	Report

Rotowaro Ground, Rotowaro

Referee: Mr. J. Wallace

South Auckland (Waikato) Semi Final

27 June 1925

Huntly	0 - 2 Huntly protested the result	Pukemiro
	Report

Huntly Recreation Ground, Huntly

Referee: Mr. G. Shand

South Auckland (Waikato) Semi Final Replay

11 July 1925

Huntly	0 – 2	Pukemiro
	Report	Drennan 2

Huntly Recreation Ground, Huntly

Referee: Mr. R. J. Brookes (Auckland)

South Auckland (Waikato) Final

25 July 1925

Pukemiro	2 – 1	Rotowaro
Drinnan, Black	Report	Garrick (pen.)

Huntly Recreation Ground, Huntly

Referee: Mr. J. Wallace

Manawatu Qualifiers

27 June 1925

St. Andrews	v RSA won by default	Palmerston North Returned Services Association
	Report

North Street Park, Palmerston North

St. Andrews continued to question the Manawatu Football Association's decision into mid July 1925.^[5]

11 July 1925

Palmerston North Athletic	3 - 0 aet	Foxton
Hearsey 2, Wheeler	Report

North Street Park, Palmerston North

Referee: Mr. J. Forbes

11 July 1925

Palmerston North Returned Services Association	2 - 0	Palmerston North Rangers
Contaur, Baigent	Report

North Street Park #2, Palmerston North

Referee: Mr. Duncumb

Manawatu Final

18 July 1925

Palmerston North Returned Services Association	4 - 2	Palmerston North Athletic
Stevens 2, Baigent 2	Report	Hearsey, Fitzgerald

North Street Park, Palmerston North

Referee: Mr. Duncumb

Manawatu/Hawkes Bay Final

25 July 1925

Hastings United	v RSA won by default	Palmerston North Returned Services Association
	Report

Cornwall Park, Hastings

Canterbury Qualifiers

Canterbury Semi Final

11 July 1925

Christchurch Rangers	2 - 2	Lyttelton
Gibson 2 Howarth McGilp	Report	Parle 2 Wales

Sunnyside Hospital, Christchurch

Referee: Mr. Robinson

Canterbury Semi Final

11 July 1925

Nomads	1 - 0	Sunnyside
C. McDougall	Report

English Park, Christchurch

Referee: Mr. Stout

Canterbury Semi Final Replay

18 July 1925

Christchurch Rangers	3 - 1	Lyttelton
Gibson, Norman, Barwell	Report	Parle

English Park

Referee: Mr. W. Smythe

Quarter-finals

Auckland/South Auckland (Waikato) Final

17 August 1925

Pukemiro	0 - 4	Ponsonby
	Report	Innes 2, Neesham, Kennedy

Huntly Domain, Huntly

Attendance: 1000

Referee: Mr. J. Wallace

Wellington/Manawatu Final

1 August 1925

Wellington YMCA	5 – 0	Palmerston North Returned Services Association
Dempster 3, Campbell 2	Report

Basin Reserve, Wellington

Referee: Mr. G. Cox

Otago Final

18 July 1925

Seacliff	7 – 0	Oamaru Rangers
Hooper 3, Simmons 2, Cooper 2	Report

Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, Seacliff

Referee: Mr. W. P. Smith

Canterbury Final

25 July 1925

Nomads	5 - 1	Christchurch Rangers
J. McDougall 3, Graham (pen.), C. McDougall	Report	Barwell

English Park, Christchurch

Referee: Mr. F. Campbell

Semi-finals ("Island finals")

South Island Final

1 August 1925

Nomads	0 – 2	Seacliff
	Report	Hooper 2

English Park, Christchurch

Attendance: 2000

Referee: Mr. W. Campbell

North Island Final

22 August 1925

Ponsonby	1 – 2	Wellington YMCA
Cheeseman	Report	Dempster, Campbell

Blandford Park, Auckland

Final

Teams

Wellington YMCA: Albert Bentley, Horrie Prince, Les McGirr, W. Pearson, Neil MacArthur, Charlie Trott, Billy Nichols, Stewart Dempster, Dave Holly (or Halley), Charles Ballard, George Campbell.^[6]

Seacliff: R. Gwilliam, George Anderson, Bill Rogers, Alex Waugh, Wattie Cooper, Bill Murray, D. Milne, Malcolm Macdougall, Bill Hooper, Wattie Hanlin, J. Baillie.

1925 Chatham Cup Final

19 September 1925

Wellington YMCA	3 – 2 (aet)	Seacliff
Dempster 2, Halley	Report	Hanlin, Hooper

Newtown Park, Wellington

Referee: Mr. E. Thornley (Christchurch)