About Us
WANCHAI SPARTANS FC
30 years and still going strong….
The Wanchai Spartans Football Club has a long and storied history. The club’s roots lie with a loose congregation of English misfits missionaries who could usually be found preaching the gospel in various bars and clubs in Hong Kong’s famous red- light district Wanchai. These lost souls originally decided to build a new church in the area sometime around the year 1988, but having failed to find any hallowed (or even unsullied) ground in the Wanchai area, they did find a barren piece of land in Victoria Park that they could make a pilgrimage together for some much needed soul-searching.
Saint Clive “Hitler” Bunyard and Reverend Andy “Boris” Blank were looking for answers to help the congregation and decided to bring a football to their prayer sessions. Many of those in the congregation had never actually seen a football before but this was the start of something wonderful for these lost souls who, by now, had started to bond closely and took to the activity of football with much gusto.
It was around this time the Hon. “Big” Martin Wright had finally secured a chapel in TST named The Stags Head. The misfits had found a football league called the Yau Yee and started to play against other misfits from the area. However the magnetic pull towards Wanchai never dissipated and, when an additional house of worship was discovered on Lochart Road found in the heart of Wanchai, in among famous establishments such as Pussycats and Club Bunny, the misfits fell at home once again. The chapel was to be named the White Stag and the wandering footballers had finally had a place to rest their weary souls. Like all good scholars, they began trace their ancestry, and soon discovered that their DNA stretched all the way back to ancient Sparta, and so Wanchai Spartans FC was born.
“I have been in HK for 3 weeks and with the Spartans for two… BUT I KNOW!! IT IS NEVER A PINT OR TWO!!! NEVER!!! ”
-Dev Rai (2004)
“One of the great training sessions of all time, only 2 of the 3 of us in attendance ended up with season ending illness & injury after that!!!!”
-Eashan Rooban (2016)
First ever photo taken of the Sunday Spartans at Happy Valley in 1991/1992 Season
List of Spartans Managers and Overseas Tours over the years
* League Winner
+Cup winners
| Season | Sundays | Saturdays | Nites | Sohos | Masters (o35s) | 5’s | Soho 5’s | 7s | Strollers | ADW | Immortals (o45s) | Happy Valley (o35s) | Tours |
| 1991/1992 | Clive Bunyard | ||||||||||||
| 1992/1993 | Clive Bunyard | Clive Bunyard | |||||||||||
| 1993/1994 | Andy Neal | Kevin Vestey | |||||||||||
| 1994/1995 | Andy Neal | Kevin Vestey | |||||||||||
| 1995/1996 | Andy Neal | Courtney Davis | |||||||||||
| 1996/1997 | Jonathan Southgate | Clive Bunyard | |||||||||||
| 1997/1998 | Tony Slack | Eddie Gallagher | Manila, | ||||||||||
| 1998/1999 | Jim Grant, Mark Edney | Eddie Gallagher | Manila Bangkok | ||||||||||
| 1999/2000 | Keith Lee | David McCormick | Manila | ||||||||||
| 2000/2001 | Tony Chan | David McCormick | Manila,Macau | ||||||||||
| 2001/2002 | Hamis Lane | David McCormick * | Bangkok | ||||||||||
| 2002/2003 | Russel Pang | David McCormick * | Bangkok | ||||||||||
| 2003/2004 | Jonathan Southgate | David McCormick | Bangkok,Manila | ||||||||||
| 2004/2005 | Jonathan Southgate | Henry Vera,Robert Townsend | Jonathan Southgate | Bangkok,Shanghai | |||||||||
| 2005/2006 | Jonathan Southgate | Henry Vera | Jonathan Southgate | Bangkok | |||||||||
| 2006/2007 | Jonathan Southgate | Henry Vera | Jonathan Southgate | Singapore | |||||||||
| 2007/2008 | Jonathan Southgate | Henry Vera* | Patrick Mansfield, Dev Rai, Jason Locke | Jonathan Southgate | Bangkok, Manila,Shekou | ||||||||
| 2008/2009 | Jonathan Southgate | Henry Vera | Patrick Mansfield | Henry Vera | Bangkok, Manila, Tokyo | ||||||||
| 2009/2010 | Jonathan* Southgate | Henry Vera*+ | Patrick Mansfield | Patrick Mansfield | Henry Vera | Bangkok,Singapore,Manila | |||||||
| 2010/2011 | Jonathan Southgate | Henry Vera* | Patrick Mansfield | Patrick Mansfield | Paul Hoy | Henry Vera | Bangkok, Manila | ||||||
| 2011/2012 | Paul Hoy | Henry Vera | Patrick Mansfield | Patrick Mansfield* | Paul Hoy | Henry Vera | Richard Cowley | Bangkok, Manila | |||||
| 2012/2013 | Paul Hoy | Sanjoy Sanyal | Richard Cowley | Patrick Mansfield | Paul Hoy | Richard Cowley, Steph Kelly | Richard Cowley | Bangkok, Manila | |||||
| 2013/2014 | Paul Hoy | Jim Rose/Mike Knowles | Richard Cowley | Patrick Mansfield | Henry Vera | Richard Cowley, Steph Kelly | Paul Kay | Richard Cowley | North Korea, Bangkok, Jakarta, Taipei | ||||
| 2014/2015 | Paul Hoy | Steph Kelly/ James Woodhead | Don Brooks, Dan Booth | Paul Kay, Dan Harrison | Henry Vera | Dany Hunt | Paul Kay | Bangkok, Taipei | |||||
| 2015/2016 | Nick Day, Adam McCarthy, Eashan Rooban | Michael Johnston/Rory Harnett | Don Brooks,Ryan Weyman | Paul Kay, Dan Harrison | Henry Vera | Jens Floor | Manuel Pena | Osaka, Hanoi, Macau | |||||
| 2016/2017 | Nick Day | Steph Kelly/ Peter Solomon | Ryan Weyman, Nial Kelly | Paul Kay, Dan Harrison | Henry Vera+ | Richard Cowley | Manuel Pena, Matt Coombes | Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Bangkok, Jakarta, Saigon | |||||
| 2017/2018 | Nick Day,
Chris Grayland |
Steph Kelly/ Peter Solomon | Ryan Weyman | Paul Kay, Dan Harrison | Henry Vera | Matt Coombes, Roy Weissbach | Henry Vera | Seoul, Bangkok, Osaka, Bali, Jakarta, Shanghai, Phnom Penh | |||||
| 2018/2019 | Eashan Rooban, Chris Grayland+ | Steph Kelly/ Peter Solomon | Ryan Weyman | Dan Harrison, Jonathan Thompson | Henry Vera | Henry Vera | Paul Hoy, Alex Keys | Henry Vera | Osaka, Bangkok, Saigon | ||||
| 2019/2020 | Lee Tsang, Chris Grayland | Steph Kelly/ Peter Solomon | Ryan Weyman | Dan Harrison, Jonathan Thompson | Henry Vera | Henry Vera | Paul Hoy, Steve Craney | Henry Vera* | Taipei, Osaka, Bangkok, Saigon | ||||
| 2020/2021 | Chris Grayland | Steph Kelly/ Peter Solomon | Ryan Weyman | Jonathan Thompson/Chris Macauley | Henry Vera, Leo De Ruijter | Henry Vera/ Mark Beason | Paul Hoy, Alex Keys+ | Henry Vera, Leo De Ruijter, Clive Bunyard+ | David Hagan/ Jon Wheatley | ||||
| 2021/2022 | Chris Grayland/Stevic Dragutin | Steph Kelly/ Peter Solomon | Oli Miles/Phil Peel* | Jonathan Thompson/Marc Beason | Henry Vera, Leo De Ruijter+ | Henry Vera/ Mark Beason | Clive Bunyard* | Jon Wheatley | |||||
| 2022/2023 | Eddie Morgan | Steph Kelly/ Peter Solomon | Oli Miles/Andy Bruce | Jonathan Thompson/Marc Beason | Henry Vera/Leo De Ruijter | Henry Vera/Mark Beason | Johan Liden | Rick Ogden |
Clive Bunyard, the first Spartans manager.
Clive Bunyard was the first ever Wanchai Spartans manager back in 1991 and was one of the founders of the club along with Andy Blank. Clive originally came from Brighton, UK and still lives in Hong Kong. He keeps active by hiking and surfing, and last year he completed the 100km Oxfam Trailwalker just under 24 hours. Clive was renowned for his vodka red bull drinks, amongst other exploits. His kick names ranged from “God“, ”Purple Helmet” to the infamous “Hitler”, which seem to have stuck and was put on the back of his playing shirt. This got the club in some trouble in one league game v Swiss IX. They refused to play unless Clive removed the offensive nickname from the shirt. The only option was to cut it out of the back of the shirt, which after some deliberation, he eventually obliged in doing so the game could go on.
The Wanchai Spartans Football Club of Today.
On behalf of everyone at Wanchai Spartans football Club I would like to welcome you to our official 30th year anniversary of our beloved football club . The club of today has eight 11 aside teams playing regularly in Yau Yee, Legal League, SS league and Legends League in Hong Kong. Thirty years in, the club continues to go from strength to strength, with each team evolving into separate and distinct squads in their respective competitions. Whatever team(s) they play for, however, the players retain a strong camaraderie for the club as a whole and the pursuit of social engagements. With more than 200 playing members, Wanchai Spartans s one of the largest adult amateur football clubs in Hong Kong.
The Spartans philosophy has always been to supply lots of football to our members in an organised, competitive and social manner. This would not be possible without the enormous amount of time and effort put in by our team managers over the years. They are the nucleus of the club and the glue that holds each Spartan team together, and without them there really would be no club. Special mention also needs to go to our many sponsors over the years, some of which have supported us since the very beginning. They help fund the club and allow players to play social football without stretching their wallets too much….Here’s to the next 30 years.
Henry Vera (Chairman)
Sunday’s Yau Yee League – Division 1
Chris Grayland ( cgrayland@hotmail.com )
Oli Miles ( miler88@gmail.com )
Saturday’s HK Legal League Division 1
Peter Solomon ( peter.solomon@aon.com )
Stephen Kelly ( sk033023@hotmail.com )
Sohos HK Legal League Division 1
Jonathan Thompson ( JONNYTHOMPSON@hotmail.co.uk )
Marc Beaton ( marcbeaton@outlook.com )
Spartans Strollers – SS League (East Division)
Henry Vera (hvera@csi2csi.com)
Marc Beaton ( marcbeaton@outlook.com )
Training Nights
Are usually held on Tuesday Nights 9pm at Kings Park which is located in Ho Man Tin short 10 minute walk from Jordan MTR.
Details about location can be found here:
http://www.kingspark.com.hk/#!contact/c2q4
Contact one of the managers if you would like to come to a training session as schedule can change at any time.
KINGS PARK TRAINING AT NIGHT
