West End AFC
West End AFC was an association football club in Timaru, New Zealand. The Clubs home ground was West End Park, Timaru and they played in the South Canterbury Football Divisions as well as entering into the National Chatham Cup and Southern Football Development Leagues.
West End AFC was founded as a club in 1948 and had teams represented in competitions untill 1968 when then club had no senior teams, starting up again in 1975. The junior Club was started in 1973 and grew to be one of the biggest junior clubs in the South Island.
West End AFC entered the Chatham Cup for the first time in 2009, completing a 9–0 win in their first game against Redemption before they lost to Queenstown 1–8 in the next round. West End did not enter the Chatham Cup again until 2014, where they again won their first game, this time against Southend United, before they went out in the second round against Pleasant Point. They have then completed in 2015 and 2016.
In 2017, West End entered again, first winning against Timaru Thistle in the qualifying round, then following it up with a 5–2 win over Queens Park in the first round, setting them up for a round 2 clash with Southern Premier League team Dunedin Technical. However they would go on to lose 6–0 to the higher placed team. In 2018 West End again could not get past the second round. Finally in the 2019 Chatham Cup they made the third round after winning against Mornington then Gore Wanderers on penalties, they lost to Mosgiel 5–0. However it was discovered that Mosgiel had fielded an ineligible player so New Zealand Football overturned the result and awarded the 3–0 win to West End. The reprieve was short-lived however, losing their next match 1–7 to Roslyn-Wakari. With no Chatham Cup in 2020, West End are continuing their streak of entering each year by participating in the 2021 Chatham Cup.
West End won the South Canterbury league a number of times in the 1950s and 1960s, most notably four times in a row from 1964 to 1967. They won the title again in 1989, following it up with three more titles in a four-year period in the 1990s. It was then another 18 years before they won another South Canterbury title in 2017, beating Thistle in the final double header round completing the season with only one loss, then going on to win 3 titles in a row in 2018, 2019.
In the Clubs final year it saw both the First division and Second Divisions sides winning their respective leagues in 2024, sending the club out on a wonderful note as it murged with Timaru City to create Timaru United Sports Club.
At the time of merging to create Timaru United they were the largest junior club in South Canterbury with over 30 junior teams.
