SCOTT DONALDSON
Do you have any sports uniforms, photos or souvenirs which showcase the history of the Wanderers Sports Club?
Club president Jimmy van der Colk would love to hear from you.
Wanderers Sports Club is celebrating its 75th anniversary on 14-16 August 2026 and Jimmy is hoping to have plenty of memorabilia on display.
Jimmy, as one of the organisers, would love to find photos, particularly rugby ones from the 1960s and 1970s, netball, rugby league, tennis and cricket photos to mark the occasion.
Old Brightwater or Wakefield rugby jerseys pre-dating Wanderers’ beginning in 1951, would also be of interest to Jimmy.
“If anyone has an old Brightwater Pirates or a Wakefield Rovers shirt, the clubs that existed before Wanderers, we will treasure it,” Jimmy says.
Jimmy is also interested in any other items or collectables from years gone by, including leather balls, and old boots that people wore before the 1970s.
“We want to piece our history together,” Jimmy says.
“To show how central to Wanderers netball and tennis were and our other codes outside of rugby.”
Jimmy already has some interesting items to display, including an original Wanderers 1951 shirt.
“It was tatty and covered in paint, but it's cool to have one of the originals,” he says.
According to Jimmy, someone brought in the first-ever skirt worn by the netballers in 1980, with the story of who made it.
“I believe it was a seamstress in the team at the time called Pam Riley,” Jimmy explains.
“They had to pick a uniform and ran with Wanderers colours - blue and gold.”
“She whipped them up and they became their skirts for a few years.”
The team started playing as Wanderers, won the Grade 1 championship in 1981, but did not officially join the club until 1984.
There are also old travel bags that were taken on a trip by the club’s rugby team to Fiji in the 1970s.
Jimmy also has some intriguing photos of the Wanderers 1951 team and the original clubrooms.
What makes Wanderers unique is that it has always been a multi-sport club, which was “incredibly rare in the 1970s and 80s”, but more common nowadays.
“It is said that AC Wood, when initially drafting the constitution, left it open to become a multi-sport club rather than only rugby,” Jimmy says.
“Some amazing vision.”
Former All Blacks forward Don Max represented Brightwater Pirates before Wanderers was formed and made the motion to start the Wanderers Rugby Club and Brightwater Cricket Club, which subsequently became Wanderers in 1982.
“He was essentially the founding father of Wanderers as it is today,” Jimmy says.
The squash courts were added in 1974 and tennis in 1985.
“Wanderers had great facilities and other codes locally were drawn to using them,” Jimmy says.
“It meant the bar could operate year-round as well, with cricket coming aboard.”
Today, Wanderers has rugby, cricket, squash and a community gym, with a total of 787 members.
Get in touch with Jimmy or register for 75th anniversary celebrations on the Wanderers Sports Club’s website.
Registrations close on 2 August.
