Page 39 - NUAFC EBook

Club Logo Receives Royal Approval

During this 1977 season club member George Sunnex was instrumental in
getting a logo designed for the club.
He approached one of his fellow workers at the AFFCo works at Horotiu,
“Doggie” Wharakura, who submitted a collection of designs.
The designs were drawn up following approval of a Maori theme by Dame
Te Atairangikaahu, the Maori Queen.
Of the designs submitted, the one to strike a chord was an incomplete
doodle in the margin of the drawing sheet. George asked Mr Wharakura to fully
develop the design, which was approved by both Dame Te Atairangikaahu and the
club as suitable for use in representing the club and the community.
The Taniwha is deliberately incomplete, indicating a young, unfinished or
emerging entity. The split tongue indicate neutrality of gender.
To the club’s knowledge, this was the first sporting logo given approval by
the local Tainui people through their Queen.
The logo first appeared on the playing shirts in 1978 where the screen
printing process added a border. This border was later removed when the logo was
“tidied up” in 1980 by club member Sandy MacDonald. The logo was also later
added to the formal dress shirts of the players.
Red was added to several aspects of the design and several horizontal
stripes were included where the logo was to appear on stationery. Banners top and
bottom were added that contained the club’s name.
The logo was to appear in large scale in two locations in the club - one on
the outside upper cladding of the clubrooms and one over the bar. The logo over the
bar was later replaced by a montage of hundreds of Ngaruawahia player’s action
shots that, from a short distance away, showed up as the Taniwha.

Painless Promotion

The great feature of note this year was the
amalgamation of AFFCo Rangers and Ngaruawahia
United under the banner of Ngaruawahia-Affco United,
giving AFFCo Rangers a lifeline and Ngaruawahia
automatic re-entry into the Northern League 4th
Division.
The team played in the AFFCo strip of sky blue
shirts with white facings, a white strip on the left side
and sky blue shorts. Les Vuletich was the coach. The
team retained their position in the League with 7th spot.

NORTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION 4 TABLE, 1977
P W D L F A GD Pts
Tokoroa 18 11 6 1 42 17 25 28
Kelston West 18 11 4 3 40 25 15 26
Central 18 10 7 1 46 21 25 25
Fraser 18 10 3 5 36 22 14 23
Otara Rangers 18 9 2 7 45 24 21 20
Waikato Unicol 18 5 5 8 25 27 -2 15
Ngaruawahia-Affco 18 4 4 10 23 53 -30 14
Teachers United 18 5 3 10 41 40 1 13
High School Old Boys 18 3 3 12 18 41 -23 9
Onehunga-Mangere 18 3 1 14 17 63 -46 7
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