Clashes between Auckland and Wellington go right back to the very inception of organised women's soccer in this country, 1973, with one of the key protagonists in the history of the women's game in New Zealand, Roy Cox, wasting little time in putting a trophy at stake for the code's oldest rivals to contest whenever they clashed at senior level. Thus was born The Roy Cox Shield, the original version of which was mislaid somewhere between this end of the island and that over the years - hence the more “trendy” version which is at stake today. This afternoon's clash is the 46th encounter between the provinces which have largely dominated the women's scene over the years. The very first was played in Wellington in 1973, and was won 4-0 by the home team, who also won a return encounter at Newmarket Park later that year, 1-0. Indeed, the 1970s were rather bleak in this clash as far as Auckland were concerned, for all ten clashes between the teams during that decade went Wellington's way, including a couple of hidings - 6-1 (in 1976) and 6-0 (1977). The first indications that Auckland were beginning to get to grips with the “auld enemy” came in 1980, a 2-2 draw in Dunedin. A year later, a 1-1 draw in the National Tournament Final saw the penalty shoot-out go to sudden death. 5-4 was the outcome, and both the national title and The Roy Cox Shield were

heading north for the first time ever. That result marked the start of a five-year period in which the trophy - and often, with it, that of the National Tournament winners' crown - was akin to a hot potato! Wellington won it back in 1982, and prevailed 6-5 on penalties in the 1983 Nationals final, only for Auckland to record their first-ever outright win over their arch-rivals in 1984. 1-0 was the outcome on that occasion, for which Wellington gained revenge a year later, 2-1. The Aucklanders then took a shine to the honour, winning ten consecutive clashes between 1986 and 1993, before drawing the first of two clashes in Nelson in 1994.

The second saw Wellington win their penultimate National Tournament crown thanks to a 4-2 triumph in the final, and they held onto the Shield courtesy a 2-1 win a year later. Auckland gained sweet revenge in 1996, thrashing their rivals 6-0 to relieve their rivals of the trophy. But Wellington had it back in their hands by the end of that bitterly cold week in Christchurch, 1-0 the outcome, one of nine occasions that scoreline has determined bragging rights in this long-standing rivalry. 1997 saw the National Tournament taking place in Auckland, and with the host province fielding two teams that year, the need to differentiate between them saw the birth of the “A Team” tag for the province's flagship combination. They lived up to it, winning back the Shield and retaining it until the final National Tournament in 2001, when Capital Soccer, as Wellington were by now known, prevailed 2-0 in the round-robin encounter. Since that clash, the advent of the National Women's League has seen The Roy Cox Shield again take on “too hot to handle” properties, with both provinces enjoying the opportunity to sport it in their end-of-season team photo over the past four years. Auckland retained it with 5-1 and 3-1 wins in the 2006 clashes, repeating the latter scoreline in both 2007 encounters, and the former one in the first clash between the teams in two years, in the 2009 NWL Grand Final.