Abbotsford Juniors Football Club
Established – 1965
Home grounds – Campbell Park & Lysaght Park
Current members – 1200
Notable members – Alan Moore (foundation president); Dennis Craig (foundation secretary); Ray Evans (foundation Treasurer)
Abbotsford Juniors Football Club (AJFC) Abbotsford Juniors sources the majority of its players from the Sydney suburbs of Abbotsford, Chiswick, Drummoyne, Five Dock, Russell Lea and Wareemba.
Today, AJFC has more than 1,500 registered members and offers junior, youth and senior competitive football within the CDFSA. Teams range from under-6 to over-45, with boys, girls and mixed teams playing in the junior ranks.
The club’s primary objective is to provide a safe and friendly environment for football players of all ages to develop and enjoy playing football.
As its name suggests, AJFC’s core focus is on junior football player development, with an Executive Committee member assigned to football development who coordinates an age-based training program ensuring that all kids are taught age-appropriate skills.
Abbotsford Juniors also offers an extended skills training and academy program for keen junior soccer players who are more serious about developing their footballing skills as well as regular school holiday skills development camps.
The club was formed as a result of a need for the local Abbotsford community to have a sporting club for its growing young population.
The initial meetings in 1965 were held in the Scout Hall in Hampden Road and as a result, the new club played its first season in 1966.
The club’s first committee was Alan Moore as President, Dennis Craig as Secretary, and Ray Evans as Treasurer.
Numerous others were involved in achieving the momentous feat of creating a new entity and having seven teams on the field within six months of the club’s first AGM.
AJFC played in the Western Suburbs Soccer Association’s competition, with the first competitive match involving its under-7A team played at Campbell Park and the match kicked off by local Federal member of Parliament at the time, Dr Malcolm Mackay.
Teams played in blue and gold striped shirts and white shorts with blue and gold hooped socks.
The playing shirts were provided to the club by the proprietor of the Five Dock Sports Store (Mr Jack Lambert), who allowed AJFC as much time as needed to pay them off.
The shirts were paid off before the end of the first season as a result of the amazing work by the club's Ladies Auxiliary headed by Marj Wellings, 'Babe' Young and Mavis Verity, along with many other volunteers, through running a canteen tent at both Campbell and Russell Parks, social events like bingo nights, tennis nights, Gala Days and raffles.
To call these ladies merely a Ladies Auxiliary is a disservice as they quickly became the heart and soul of the club and remained so for much of the subsequent 15 to 20 years.
The Western Suburbs Soccer Association (WSSA) at the time was made of clubs including Five Dock, APIA, Concord, Leichhardt Police Boys, Balmain Police Boys, Balmain RSL, Strathfield, All Hallows, Ashfield De La Salle, Haberfield & St Columbas.
APIA & Concord were probably the more dominant clubs of the time, but Abbotsford wanted to have a say about that.
As the number of clubs fluctuated in the WSSA, there were short term ‘combined’ competitions with the Northern Suburbs Association, including clubs like Greenwich and Mosman, and similar teams from these areas before the WSSA competition ultimately merged with the Canterbury Association in the mid-1970s.
It was about this time that the Abbotsford Juniors club moved into the NSW Protestant Churches Soccer Football Association until 1993 when it returned to the CDSFA fold.
