Hurlstone Park Wanderers Soccer Football Club
Established – 1924
Home grounds – Ewen Park (previously Hurlstone Park Reserve) & Beaman Park (current)
Notable members – Bill Brackenbury*, Ante Juric (Australian Representative), Jim Fraser (Australian Representative), Jimmy Moore (Australian Representative), Tom North (Australian Representative), Albert Stein (CDSFA Life Member), Michael Bourdoulis (CDSFA Life Member), Lyn Bajic
Hurlstone Park Wanderers Football Club (HPWFC) is an organisation participating in the CDSFA.
It organises teams of all ages and levels and facilitates their registration within the CDSFA. The club also acts as a representative to the CDSFA for all its players, coaches and managers.
The club was originally formed in 1923 when the CDSFA approached Bill Brackenbury and convinced him to form a team to enter into the under-16 competition for the 1924 season.
One of the boys’ fathers – Mr Hayden - was elected president and Bill volunteered to do all the secretarial work and organising.
That first team went on to win the knockout competition in the first year and a year later many were members of the under-18 team that won the club’s first premiership.
The club enjoyed its golden years in the late 1940s and into the 1950s when it won the Club Championship a total of seven times and dominated the metropolitan-wide Canterbury Cup. But even in the years when success was harder to achieve, the club has continued to thrive and always because of an army of volunteers and the local communities that supported it.
The club also had success in Champion of Champions, with six titles over the competition’s history.
Canterbury Council allowed the newly-formed club to use what was then known as Hurlstone Park Reserve. For some time, players had to mow and cut the park, as well as mark the field with lime.
The ground was later renamed Ewen Park in honour of a former local mayor and quickly gained a reputation as having one of the best playing surfaces in the district. At that time Ewen Park had three pitches, with one being used by a churches competition.
The pitches ran parallel to the river with the only problem being the lack of trees to prevent many balls landing in the water. The park was upgraded as part of extensive works in the Cooks River area in 1969-70.
Further improvements were made with the help of Canterbury Council with a canteen erected in 1968, new dressing sheds in 1973, many trees planted in 1979 and flood lights in 1982.
The fields at Ewen Park have undergone improvement, with new drainage and turf in 2017, and new lights in 2020. HPWFC has also been successful in applying for grant funding for a new club house, canteen and change rooms in time for the club's own centenary year.
