Sporting rivalry between Wyndham and Edendale runs deep, but softball has united the two towns for close to five decades.

A mere 5km separates the two Southland settlements that have long been fierce rivals on the rugby field.

But in the 1970s, when the Edendale Softball Club wanted to expand, it brought Wyndham into the fold, forming the Wyndale Softball Club, which marks its 50th anniversary next month. 

The club’s co-founder Christine Milne said the rural towns coming together was for the good of the sport. 

“In those days, Wyndham and Edendale … [had] fierce rivalries in all sports, so all of a sudden [the club decided] to join hands, and really make a softball club that everybody would remember,” Ms Milne said. 

“Well, funnily enough … a lot of the rugby boys came on board and played softball.”

The new club, which featured Wyndham’s name prominently, retained Edendale’s black and white player uniforms, which included rugby socks and knickerbockers, Ms Milne said.

Co-founder Trevor Smith, who was living in Wyndham when the Wyndale club started, said at its peak, the club had close to 100 players, in eight teams.

“Back in those days, softball was a dominant summer sport,” Mr Smith, who started playing softball when he was 8 years old, said.

The team played in the Wyndale Invitation Tournament from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s against teams from South Otago, Invercargill and Bluff, Mr Smith said.

Trevor Smith co-founded the Wyndale Softball Club, which is celebrating 50 years next month. Photo: Supplied

“There was always a waiting list of teams to get into the tournament,” he said. 

In the 1980s, Mr Smith, who had coached at the Wyndale club, was involved with the installation of softball diamonds at the Gore Showgrounds and in Wyndham.

The pad at the showgrounds was still used today. 

The club had not operated for the past two years, Mr Smith said. 

Mr Smith’s parents, Joyce  and Stan Smith had been founding members of the Panthers Softball Club in Otago, and Softball New Zealand board members.

Mr Smith had helped build New Zealand’s largest softball ground, the Rosedale Park Stadium, in Auckland. 

The Wyndale Softball Club’s 50th anniversary celebrations will run from September 25 to 27, in Invercargill. 

gemma.sinclair@alliedmedia.co.nz