Wellington Football Club (1988–1996) Woodlands Wellington was founded as
Wellington Football Club in 1988 as a splinter group of
Delhi Juniors (a team of
Singaporean football enthusiasts, dating back to the 1940s, that were among the pioneers of football in Singapore). The name stems from the Deptford Ground located on Wellington Road in
Sembawang where the team started playing football in 1988. In 1991, they participated in the
Sembawang Group League and
National Island-Wide League, winning as champions in both competitions and setting a national record by beating
Seletar Football Club by a 27-goal margin. This was one of the biggest wins the club had ever achieved, as they beat their opponents 28 – 1 at the Woodlands Stadium on 17 November 1991. Louis Amalorpavanathan scored a record 12 goals in that match. The following year, Wellington FC joined the
Singapore National Football League in
Division 2, from which they were promoted as champions in 1994. The following season they finished first in
Division 1 (going unbeaten for 24 matches) and were runners-up in the FA Cup.
Woodlands Wellington Football Club (1996–2014) Wellington Football Club were selected as one of eight clubs to compete in the newly formed
S.League in its inaugural season in 1996, prompting the club to adopt
Woodlands Stadium as their home ground and to change their name to Woodlands Wellington Football Club. Following their admission to the S.League, Wellington's founder,
R. Vengadasalam, was appointed as the Team Manager of Woodlands Wellington and
Bandai were announced as a sponsor in their maiden season in the
S.League. Following this, they signed
Jan Janostak, Joe Caleta and
Ervin Boban, from the
Malaysia Super League, as well as
Singapore national players Borhan Abu Samah,
Tamil Marren,
Zakaria Awang, from England
Notts County legend
Darren Davis and Croatian goalkeeper
Sandro Radun, who played for the
Singapore FA in 1992. Woodlands Wellington played to capacity crowds, including their pre-season friendlies. Woodlands won the
President's Centennial Cup in 1998, a cup competition organized by the
Philippine Football Federation to celebrate the centennial of
Philippine Independence, beating
Sembawang Rangers 4–2 in the semi-final and
Hong Kong Rangers 2–1 at the
Negros Occidental Sports Complex in the final in
Bacolod with both goals from
Razali Ahmad. While they enjoyed a relatively successful period throughout the late nineties, Woodlands finished last in the
2001 S.League season, prompting them to sign
Singapore internationals Zulkarnaen Zainal,
Goh Tat Chuan and
A. Siva Kumar. The transfers of Goh and Siva Kumar were particularly controversial as Woodlands and Jurong were well-known rivals in the league. Woodlands Wellington made the headlines in the
2007 S.League season for a walkout by the entire Woodlands squad in a match against
Tampines Rovers as a protest to the decisions made against them by referee P. Pandian. Woodlands were fined $30,000 for the incident and had six points docked.
Tampines coach
Vorawan Chitavanich was reported as saying "I spoke to their coach just a little while ago and he said that they acted on the instructions of their club chairman."
Reported withdrawal from the S. League in the
2013 S.League. A report by
The New Paper on 22 November 2012 suggested that Woodlands may be in financial trouble and could be the second club to sit out the 2013
S.League after
Gombak United has announced earlier that it would not be taking part in the league in 2013. This sparked off a supporter-driven "Save Woodlands" awareness campaign on the same day. The club held an open meeting with the supporters and press at
Woodlands Stadium later that evening and quashed the report. Team manager, Matthew Tay, also said that the club was already preparing a pre-season tour of
Malaysia, and that the club would be signing players and would also be aiming for a minimum 8th spot in the table this season.
Merger with Hougang United In November 2014, it was announced that Woodlands Wellington and
Hougang United would merge for the 2015 season. However, the move did not materialise. In 2016, Woodlands formed teams to play in the
Island Wide League (IWL) and
Women's Premier League (WPL). After two years, they restarted their football operations, at least at the youth and grassroots level, as they began to work their way back into the S.League. In 2017, Woodlands Wellington reportedly pulled out of IWL after one season. ==Supporters==