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 )

Nite Spartans SS League (North Division)

Oli Miles ( miler88@gmail.com )

Masters Legends League – (Over 35s)

 Henry Vera ( hvera@csi2csi.com )

Spartans Strollers – SS League (East Division)

Spartans logo

Henry Vera (hvera@csi2csi.com)

Marc Beaton ( marcbeaton@outlook.com )

Immortals Legends League – (Over 45s)

 Clive Bunyard ( cbunyard01@yahoo.com )

Happy Valley – Legends League (Over 35s)

SaturdaySpartanslogo

Jon Wheatley (jon6145@gmail.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