1970 Chatham Cup

The 1970 Chatham Cup was the 43rd annual nationwide knockout football competition in New Zealand.

Early stages of the competition were run on a regional basis, however the structure of the competition was altered from previous years, largely due to the commencement of the New Zealand National Soccer League. Whereas in previous years qualification matches had been entirely run on a by-region basis culminating in two finals, one in each island, the draw from 1970 became more open, with regional qualifiers facing National League opposition in the final rounds. This led to several firsts for the competition, with Nelson United becoming the first South Island team to play a (pre-final) Chatham Cup match in the North Island, Western Suburbs becoming the first North Island team to play in Christchurch, and Stop Out being the first North Island team to play in Dunedin. Caversham was the only regional qualifier to make it as far as the semi-finals in the National League's first year, beating two league teams (Christchurch United and Stop Out) in the process.

A further boost was given to the competition though Gillette, who became the Chatham Cup's first naming-rights sponsors. The competition was to be known as the Gillette Chatham Cup until 1974, when Lion Breweries took over sponsorship of the competition.

In all, 105 teams took part in the competition, with the eight National League teams being joined with a further 67 North Island and 30 South Island teams. In the National League's inaugural season, Blockhouse Bay became the first team to win the league and cup double. Note: Different sources give different numberings for the rounds of the competition: some start round one with the beginning of the regional qualifications; others start numbering from the first national knock-out stage. The former numbering scheme is used in this article.