Jack Batty Memorial Cup
 |
|
| Founded | 1923 |
|---|---|
| Region |
 New Zealand
|
| Current champions | Birkenhead United AFC (1st title) |
| Most successful club(s) | University-Mount Wellington (7 titles) |
| Website | Official website |
 2017 Chatham Cup
|
|
The Chatham Cup, currently known as the ISPS Handa Chatham Cup for sponsorship purposes, is New Zealand's premier knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are Birkenhead United AFC, who defeated Waitakere City FC (3-2 after extra time) in the 2016 final.
The Chatham Cup is contested by teams from throughout New Zealand, and has been held annually since 1923 with the exception of 1937 and 1941–44. Typically between 120 and 150 teams take part, with extra time and penalty shoot-outs used to decide matches which end in ties. In the past, replays were used, and in the early years of the competition the number of corners won during a game decided tied matches.
The cup itself was gifted to the then New Zealand Football Association in 1922 by the crew of HMS Chatham as a token of appreciation for the hospitality they had encountered on a visit to New Zealand. The actual trophy is modelled on the FA Cup.
The most successful teams in the Chatham Cup have been Mount Wellington (seven wins, two of them since amalgamation with Auckland University), and Christchurch United and North Shore United (six wins each). Most of the competition's winners have come from the main centres of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, though teams from Dunedin, Hamilton, Nelson, and Napier have also won the competition, and the inaugural champions were from the small settlement of Seacliff, with many of the team being staff from the nearby psychiatric hospital.
Many of the early winners of the competition no longer exist, as competition were not effectively organised in New Zealand until the advent of a national league in 1970, and still remains largely amateur to this day. Many early New Zealand clubs have amalgamated with their neighbours or disbanded.
...
Wikipedia