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Club Honour
Club Honour
Auckland Acknowledges Club Stalwart In Special Fashion
by Jeremy Ruane
When you enter numerous football clubrooms and look at the memorabilia adorning the walls, every so often you'll find framed signed shirts on display, usually New Zealand ones signed by All Whites of varying vintage.
Never any signed by Football Ferns of days gone by, however. Until now.
On July 3, Auckland United paid tribute to the many years of service Carol Waller gave its parent clubs, Eden and Three Kings United, by mounting and unveiling a special tribute to New Zealand's very first international women's footballing number one.
The signed New Zealand shirt Waller wore while keeping goal throughout the 1975 Asian Women's Cup Finals, and the team photo of the New Zealand squad, have been framed and are now permanently displayed in Auckland United's Keith Hay Park clubrooms.
Joining Waller at the unveiling were three of her team-mates from the 1975 Asian Women's Cup-winning squad, Barbara Cox, Carol Knox and Sandra Twiname, while another of the Auckland representatives in the squad, Nadene Elrick, was unable to attend due to isolation requirements.
Cox, Elrick, Knox and Waller were members of the Eden women's team during those pioneering years in the women's game, with the goalkeeper making 104 appearances for the club, as well as representing Auckland and her country, the latter in all four matches played in 1975 in Hong Kong.
As well as playing for Eden, Waller doubled up as the club's secretary, and continued in that role when Eden and Mt. Roskill merged to form Three Kings United in 1997, eventually stepping down from the position in 2007, well into her fourth decade of service to the club.
Auckland United chairman Murray Holdaway led the tributes to Waller, who also served the game as chairperson of the Women's Soccer Association of NZ, prior to its absorption into what is now NZ Football in 2001.
She is a life member of Eden AFC, Three Kings United FC, Auckland United FC and the Auckland Football Federation, and has received numerous acknowledgements in recognition of her dedication and service to the game, most notably a Sport Auckland Services to Soccer award in 1995, and the Friends of Football's Medal of Excellence in 2019.
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 Carol Waller, Barbara Cox, Carol Knox and Sandra Twiname, 1975 Asian Cup-winning squad members
 Murray Holdaway and Carol Waller following the unveiling of the special tribute to NZ's first women's international goalkeeper
 Carol Waller with her framed shirt and team photo
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