Porirua City Football Club capped off a standout 2025 season with its 7th annual Junior Prize Giving, celebrating the growth of its youth programme and recognising exceptional team and individual performances. The event was held recently at the club’s home ground, Adventure Park in Whitby.
The celebration was attended by Porirua Mayor Anita Baker and former All White and Wellington Phoenix star Ben Sigmund, alongside Phil, Neil and Paul Brown, who presented the Theresa and John Brown Memorial Cup for Junior Team of the Year. The Brown brothers played a pivotal role in the club’s development from its founding in 1968 through to 2000.
The club’s First Kicks junior programme, launched in 2019 by Steve Phelan and Gary Jarrett, has expanded from 25 players to 83 across multiple age grades. Sigmund, a key supporter of the programme, provided essential kits and gear in its early years. Among the club’s former juniors is Ben Waine, who played for Porirua City FC from 2013 to 2016 before joining the Wellington Phoenix Academy and representing New Zealand at the 2021 Olympics. Waine now plays professionally for Port Vale in England’s League One.
This season, the club fielded teams across the 5–11-year-old age groups, with several players joining through the Football For All initiative, a programme supported by Capital Football, Wellington Phoenix, and Mobil Oil to help new Kiwi families with gear and registration costs.
joined by Ben Sigmund. Coaches Matt Boyadjian and Robbie Jones.
The standout team of the year was the 11th Grade Lions, who boasted a 93% win rate in regular competition. They claimed their division title at the Wynton Rufer Stop Out Tournament and finished runners-up in Palmerston North. Their achievements earned them the Theresa and John Brown Memorial Cup for the fourth consecutive year.
Porirua City FC’s senior men’s side, Saint Germain, also impressed by securing promotion to the Capital Football 3rd Division after winning the 4th Division title with a week to spare. Striker Todd Painter claimed the Golden Boot with 26 goals. The Masters 3 team narrowly missed promotion, finishing third after a tight end to the season.
4th Division title win after securing promotion with a week to spare.
The club extended thanks to its dedicated coaches, managers, parents and players, as well as its key sponsors, NZ Community Trust, Harcourts Kapi Mana, Whitby New World, Carrus Corporation, and the Whitby Bowling Club, for helping make 2025 a successful and memorable season.
Porirua City FC looks forward to welcoming both returning and new families for the 2026 season.