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Our History

Our name Hurlstone Park 'Wanderers'

Like Rovers, Wanderers has been a favourite nickname since the first football was kicked and so named because teams kept having to move sporting grounds.

There are teams just like us across the globe that have proudly kept their historical name Wanderers.

The Strip

The strip in 1924 was a long sleeve guernsey with a sky blue and white vertical stripe. In the late 1930’s junior teams began wearing the panelled shirts while seniors continued in a big vee.

The vertical stripes enjoyed a comeback in the 1950’s for the Sunday competition. In 1975 the strip became predominantly white with blue trimmings with the addition of the ‘Hurlo’ lion emblem, and colour of the shorts changed to blue.

To mark the 75th anniversary, a slight change of the strip was made with the reintroduction of a collar and changing of the socks to all blue from white with blue trimmings.

The Emblem

Many clubs in the district adopted a winged ball as their emblem. Hurlstone Park, was one of the first to go their own way and adopted the ‘rampant’ lion sometime in the 1960’s.

It is said that our founder Bill Brackenbury was talked into using the famous Scottish emblem by his Scottish friend Andy Burton who founded Canterbury football club.

The Grounds

Hurlstone Park Reserve was the local ground obtained by the club in 1924. It had to be mowed and marked by club volunteers. The Council put in four stakes in each corner and the club marked the field with lime.

This reserve was later renamed Ewen Park in honour of the local Canterbury mayor. Before the Ewen Park fields were raised to the level of the riverbank in 1969, they used to be known as the flats. Beaman Park became a club ground in the 2000’s. Today Ewen Park remains the home ground.

The Kiosk at Ewen

For decades volunteers would erect a tent every weekend to sell hot dogs, drinks and sweets to raise funds for the club.

The kiosk at Ewen may be small and humble but it is the heart and soul of the club. It was constructed in 1968 at a cost of $1009.36. It hasn’t changed much from this picture taken in 1986.

The Bill Brackenbury “Future President's Wall”

Down at Ewen Park there is an unassuming brick wall where players, ground managers and committee members often sit on a weekend, enjoying a break and a sausage from the bbq. In that wall sits a plaque in honour of the Hurlstone Park Wanderer’s founder Bill Brackenbury.

It is said that if you sit long enough on the wall housing the plaque you will end up being President of the Club. That is how former president Michael Bourdoulis claims he became President. Our first woman President Rosalie Viney continues the tradition.