Bill Smith 95th Birthday!​​​​​​​

A special 95th HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our Founding/Life Member - Bill Smith

A big thank you for the invitation to Bill’s 95th birthday celebration. I feel very privileged to be included and to attend on behalf of Tawa AFC. It means a great deal to the club to be part of recognising Bill, his extraordinary milestone, and the huge part he has played in shaping Tawa Football Club into what it is today.

Thank you as well for sharing the memories and history around how Tawa AFC came to be. It is inspiring to hear how much passion, belief, and determination it took in those early days to get the club off the ground. It’s a reminder that building something meaningful isn’t easy — and that it took foresight, courage, and a willingness to step outside the usual way of doing things.​​​​​​​

Although we’re now well into the 21st century, the spirit remains the same. We face new challenges and new expectations, but the heart of the club is unchanged. We continue to build, adapt, and move forward, guided by the same values that Bill and others lived by all those years ago. Their legacy continues to guide and motivate us today.

Thank you again for including us in this very special occasion.

- Jan Lang (Tawa AFC Secretary)

A wonderful message from Ron Weitzel:

Happy Birthday, Bill. I hope you have a great day celebrating this special milestone. I’m sorry I’m unable to join the gathering with family and friends, but please know I am thinking of you.

My memories of Bill go back to 1973, when Grant Parker talked me into joining a fledgling Tawa Football Club, of which Bill was a founding member.

I still remember the story Bill shared with me many years ago about how Tawa AFC came to be. Before 1971, Tawa was part of Western Suburbs, which spanned from Tawa to Pukerua Bay. It was a large club, and with that came operational challenges—particularly within the junior setup. Bill and other Tawa parents were unhappy with what they felt was disorganisation.

So, one Saturday morning at halftime, Bill and a couple of other fathers retreated behind a shed to use the facilities. During that conversation, they vented their frustrations, and someone suggested forming a separate junior football club. And so, the inspiration for Tawa Football began—somewhere behind a shed, back in 1971.​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Once the club was formed, Bill and other like-minded committee members set out a vision: to build clubrooms of their own and progress the First Team to the Central League First Division.

This vision became reality within 10 years. New clubrooms were built at Redwood Park, and the First Team rose from Wellington Division 3 all the way to the Central League First Division.

It was a remarkable achievement. But soon came the challenge of repaying a mortgage to the Tawa Council within three years. The club embarked on an ambitious fundraising effort, exploring all sorts of income streams.

One such venture involved members taking part in the production of TV advertisements. Bill stepped up and featured in a video shoot for local band The Warratahs and their hit song Hands Off My Heart.

Bill showed his deft dance moves, waltzing to Hands Off My Heart in the music video. The song went on to be a major hit and spent months in the charts. So every time it played on TV—which was often—it was “cha-ching,” with funds flowing into the club’s fundraising efforts. And if you’d like to relive Bill’s moves, you can still watch the video on YouTube today.

To all Bill’s friends and family, I’m sure you’ll agree that Bill is one of life’s good guys. I know you will celebrate this occasion in a way he will remember fondly.

- Ron Weitzel

#95YearsYoung #TawaAFC