Club history
Cambridge Football Club has been serving its community since its formation in 1948
when football enthusiasts began organising games for two junior teams.
In its early days, the teams played in light blue after the colours used by Cambridge
University, England.
The club held its first formal meeting on March 20, 1951, appointing Viv Butler as its
first president, and R.S.Entwistle as its patron.
Butler’s support of English club Arsenal led to a change of club colours and from the
mid-1950s, Cambridge teams have played in red and white strips.
The club played its home games on the Town Square until 1957 when a two-room
wooden shed was built on the Leamington Domain for £134.19.
On December 1, 1964, the Cambridge Borough Council agreed to provide the club
with land on the town belt in Vogel Street and plans were drawn up for the clubrooms
to be built.
In 1967, the club moved into the Vogel St grounds, where it has been based since.
The grounds were renamed John Kerkhof Park after Dutch immigrant John Kerkhof
who, with members of his family and other supporters, built the clubrooms and
changing facilities.
The grounds are now owned by the Waipa District Council but leased to the club on
a long-term basis.
In 1972, the club applied for its senior men’s team to join the Northern League
competition.
By 1974, extensions to the clubrooms and playing fields became necessary and
were built two years later, with new junior grounds established beside the Polo Club
grounds further north on Vogel St.
In 1978, the club elected its first women committee member.
Junior teams (11,12 and 13 year olds) entered the Waikato competitions for the first
time in 1983.
In 1984, the club achieved its first significant success at senior level, winning the
Northern League’s 4th Division.
In 1993, the club reached new heights, winning the Northern League 2 nd division.
In 1995, the club built a concrete car park still in use today. The car park is where the
club sometimes erects temporary grandstands for major fixtures.
In 2005, the Waipa District Council approved the transfer of the Polo Grounds to the
football club for use by its junior players, while the polo club moved to new grounds
in Lamb St, Leamington.
In 2007, the old polo clubhouse was knocked down to make way for a new junior
building. The Cambridge junior teams celebrated their new home by winning all five
8th-Open grade WJSA knockout trophies, a first for both Cambridge and the WJSA.
In 2008, the club’s main senior clubrooms survived a tornado but suffered damage to
walls, roof and windows.
In 2010, the club launched a five–year plan for its membership which had now grown
to more than 600 players, with men’s, women’s and junior teams.
After many seasons in the Northern League the club was relegated from the Lotto
Sport Italia NRFL Division 2 in 2011 after finishing 12th and losing the challenger
series playoff vs Manukau City AFC.
The club won the New Zealand Match Programme of the Year Award for 2011.
The club elected to drop two divisions into the Waikato Bay of Plenty Football
Federation Division Two to rebuild under coach Karl Dagnall and won promotion in
2012 to Waikato Bay of Plenty Football Federation Division One.
In 2012, Cambridge FC announced that John Kerkhof Park would also become the
home base for Cambridge Baseball Club.
In 2013, Cambridge FC and the neighbouring Cambridge Harriers and Athletics Club
began a partnership, enabling the football club to play some games at the adjacent
athletics track while it developed John Kerkhof Park.
In 2013, the club finished 5th in the Waikato Bay of Plenty Football Federation
Division One but was the highest-placed club from the province of Waikato.
In 2013, the club won the Soccer Shop Waikato Plate and hosted premium events
such as the Soccer Shop Waikato Cup Final, the Waikato v Bay of Plenty All Stars
game, and the WaiBOP Women's All Stars v WaiBOP National League side.
In 2013, the club was appointed as the home ground for five ASB Premiership
matches for new franchise WaiBOP United.
This meant Cambridge became one of six bases for national league football in New
Zealand (the others are Auckland, Napier, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin).
The appointment led to the club becoming an all-year operation, with investment in
better facilities including upgraded playing surfaces, new changing rooms (scheduled
for mid-2014) and a new irrigation system.
Probably the club's best known past player is New Zealand international striker Chris
Wood who joined English Championship club Leicester City in January 2012 from
West Bromwich Albion.
Another former New Zealand international is Maria Anderton, who played for the
Football Ferns in 1987, but captained the Cambridge women’s A team for 12
seasons until her retirement as a player in 2014. Andie Rogers, who also joined our
women’s team in 2014, has also played for the Ferns.
In 2014, the club won a series of high profile awards for its work in football and in the
wider community.
WaiBOP Football named the club its 2014 Club of the Year for its successful efforts
to host ASP Premiership fixtures and other premium matches. Cambridge also won
two WaiBOP Best Practice awards in 2014 (for building partnerships with sponsors,
and for the participation of women at our club).
The club was named Waipa District’s 2014 Supreme winner for the Truspower
Community Awards, becoming only the second sports club to take this award. This
also led to the club’s nomination for the national Trustpower Community Awards to
be held in Wellington in March 2015.
Cambridge completed its hat-trick of major awards in 2014, being named Waipa
District’s Sports Club of the Year. We were finalists in the Waikato Sports Club of the
Year while chairman Greg Zeuren was named Sports Administrator of the Year for
both Waipa and the Waikato in 2014.
The club’s grounds, John Kerkhof Park, consist of a premium pitch used for Waikato
Bay of Plenty Football Federation matches and ASB Premiership fixtures, and 25
pitches used for senior and junior games.
For national league fixtures, volunteer workers erect a mini-stadium using temporary
grandstands and seating, providing a ground capacity for up to about 1,200
spectators, with seating for about 600.