WOMENS
SENIOR SOCCER
Women’s soccer began in Taupo in the 1976 under the guidance of then
Taupo stalwart Brian Ruck.
The team was extremely strong despite the fact that most of the players
were still at school and in the late 1970's and early 80's totally
dominated the Bay of Plenty Women’s League year after year. In fact for
the first ten years of both the League and Knockout competitions, Taupo
was the only name on both trophies.
In 1986 the team moved to the stronger Waikato League where they
competed successfully without reaching the heights of their dominance
of the Bay of Plenty competition. The team was fortunate to have the
services of NZ International Alison Grant during the1985 and 1986
seasons. She continued to represent both NZ and NZ Universities while
playing for the Club.
The team remained in the Waikato League until 1989 when a fall off in
popularity of the game led to the Club being unable to field a
competitive team and women’s soccer in Taupo briefly folded.
Attempts were made to get it started again on several occasions before
a team was entered back in the Bay of Plenty League in 1993 but they
only lasted there until 1996 without any success before folding again.
In 1999, following a couple of years of major growth in the playing
strength of girls soccer at both Taupo Colleges, a major effort at the
Club succeeded and a senior women’s team was re-entered in the Bay of
Plenty League. The team consisted mainly of College age girls bolstered
by a handful of older players and performed remarkably well winning
their first four games before finishing mid table as they struggled
with a lack of depth as the season wore on.
This period during the late 90’s and early 2000’s saw the Taupo Club
provide many young players to the various Bay of Plenty age group
teams. In 2000, Gemma Britten was selected to represent NZ at Under 17
level and also at Secondary School level.
Though competing without much success since 1999, the team has almost
always finished in the top half of the table. The most successful
seasons were 2005 when the team was runners-up in the Bay of Plenty “B”
Division and in the Pullars Bowl knockout and 2007 when runners-up in
the Bay of Plenty League.
The 2008 season has seen competition expanded to include leading
Waikato clubs in a combined Federation Cup running alongside the Bay of
Plenty League.
