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All blogs are penned by Bruce Holloway unless otherwise stated. Feel free to have your own say in the Melville forum.
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| Editorial, programme v Three Kings, 7.8.2010
Melville’s 1-0 away win over league leaders East Coast Bays last week was very reassuring after our previous home capitulation to Waitakere City . This was a solid, focused showing by Melville, in which they asserted themselves early on and showed mental toughness to retain the edge even when reduced to 10 men.
The frustration is that the victory came too late - in the wake of that Waitakere defeat - to give us anything but a mathematical chance of retaining the title with four games to go.
But it at least reasserted our credentials as a serious force in the northern region of New Zealand , given Bays’ pedigree in the league and cup, and the fact it was a feat no other team has managed for 2.5 years.
The game was played at a good clip, and was settled by a clinical piece of finishing by Alex Barlow, who picked up his fourth goal of the season.
If some supporters were concerned about the five bookings and one send-off Melville received, the good news is at least one of those bookings – a late card to Tewi Te Pou for timewasting - actually work in our favour long-term. He is suspended today but along with Barlow and Adam Thomas, is missing on New Zealand under 20 duty anyway.
Today we welcome Three Kings United, the club which imposed the biggest loss of the season upon us in the grading round. Though we had a couple of bad patches in qualifying, it’s fair to say we never quite matched the horrors of our 5-1 away loss to Three Kings, where we offered up the easiest of goals after 25 seconds, and pretty much butchered everything else for the following 90 minutes. I’m picking the scoreline will be a little closer today. Speaking of Three Kings, we must acknowledge the role coach Paul Marshall has played in rebuilding that club from division one also-rans into one of the best performed in the premier league in two seasons in charge. Dangerman for Kings is striker Luiz Delmonte, who leads the golden boot with 18 goals.
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I was surprised to learn former Melville player Jeremy Field is turning out for Hamilton Wanderers. I knew Jeremy was back in town (for about seven weeks) but what astonished me was no transfer clearance was sought from Melville, where he played in 2003 and 2004.
Wanderers (successfully) sought clearance for Field from Tauranga, where he has played in 2002-03 before transferring to Melville. This was duly approved by the federation, and as far as I am aware, no steps have been taken to rectify the error since it was pointed out to them.
Field may not have been "active" on our registration list, but in my view, that does not mean another club has the right to clear him for transfer.
Records compiled by New Zealand football historian and statistician Barry Smith show Field made 16 appearances for Tauranga (in the national league) before transferring to Melville and making 16 northern league and Chatham Cup appearances for Melville (including the Chatham Cup final). In 2004 Field expressed interest in returning to Tauranga in the northern league but was required to play for a Waikato club under the terms of his Waikato University sports scholarship. He duly made 19 appearances for Melville
There is no evidence we can see that he has been registered with, or appeared for, Tauranga since. His registration with Melville was never legally challenged. By contrast, his "registration" with Tauranga has never been factually established. And yet it’s as if nobody knew this.
My view is that to approve such a transfer brings into question the basic credibility and integrity of the whole transfer system.
Melville have not lodged a formal protest – partially because the whole protest system is badly flawed, in that unlike other justice systems, even if your case is upheld, you don’t get "costs" or a refund of the lodgement charge – but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s all a bit dodgy.
I have passed to the federation the broad observation that something is not quite right within our structures when this can occur.
The federation has not acknowledged or responded to my email making these points. In light of that vacuum, it would seem reasonable to now publicise what I see as an abuse of football’s registration system. Readers can make up their own minds on whether this is a problem for the game or not.
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Waikato AFC’s AGM was one of those meetings populated by a smattering of diehards such as myself, where it was impossible to avoid noticing that problems were in far greater supply than solutions. The 2009-10 season was the worst year in the franchise’s history, with the team finishing last. Financially the clubs revenues and fundraising are at an all-time low as well.
We can’t ignore the fact, because Waikato’s finances cast a shadow over the whole game here, simply because of the amount of money they have the potential to take out of community sources that we are also vying for.
The club reported a "rough surplus" of $3650, though did not have accounts from 2009-10 ready to present to the AGM. perhaps more worrying was that its schedule of fixed assets came to no more than the same amount. The most significant trend though, was the huge decline in income, with community grant funding all but collapsing. Waikato pocketed just $55,000 from trust funds, compared with $174,998 the year before and $393,678 in 2008. Illustrated another way, in 2007 gaming trust revenue accounted for 87 per cent of revenue, in 2008 it accounted for 85 per cent of revenue, but in 2009-10 it accounted for just 4 per cent of revenue.
World Club Championship prizemoney of $104,000 rescued Waikato in 20109-10 but for 2011 that won’t be there, with New Zealand team failing to qualify.
The club had the best theoretical plans in the world, and had sought to widen its revenue base through increased crowds, membership and sponsors and offering entertainment value on game days. All noble ambitions. Problem was it didn’t really have a product capable of delivering that. It had champange aims, but on a beer income.
Nevertheless, Waikato FC will be back in action this summer, where it has entered into a ‘service level agreement" with the Waikato-BOP federation to provide its administration and daily operation.
Readers will have their own views on whether it is a good idea for a regional umbrella association body to also be administering one of its affiliates, but under this arrangement Waikato FC will pay the federation $40,000 (plus GST) in five instalments for management and operational services. These payments take priority over any other calls from creditors, and do not include payments to coaches or players.
This is a significant move, though does raise a few questions. Who now arbitrates if, say, our club has an administrative dispute with Waikato FC? Surely not the administrative folk who are also running the federation?
To be fair, Waikato are no different from most league franchises in having struggled in finance, human resources, communication and community buy-in. They have been unable to compete with those 2-3 franchises that have the resources to create a better environment for players and coaches.
The way I see it, Waikato FC is slowly dying. Despite the hook up with the federation, the fundamental problems of mass buy-in have not been met.
Even with the federation propping it up administratively, Waikato is in danger of becoming "a ghost club": one fielding teams every week, but with no members, no assets, and bugger all finance.
We probably need to go back to fundamentals here and revisit the whole point of Waikato FC, because the bottom line is we can’t afford the national league. And yet, we can’t afford not to have it either.
So somehow the costs structures have to be brought more into line with the income streams from those who pay at the gate. At the moment, looking at Waikato FC’s financials, (ticket sales of 12,000 on expenditure of $440,000), every punter through the gate is being subsidised to the tune of $160.
If that doesn’t concentrate the mind, then the following fact should. In the past four seasons Waikato FC has sucked just short of $1 million out of the community in the form of pokie funding. So even for those of you with no interest in the national league, imagine what could have been done with those funds in terms of building club facilities.
Imagine if a fraction of that money had gone into the sort of facility development we are working on with floodlights? Of course, the real challenge is to be interested in the national league.
I was a supporter of Waikato playing at Ngaruawahia for the past two seasons, because of the civilising effect it had on the wider game, ie, prompted significant Waikato District Council funding for facility upgrades there that will serve the code at all levels for years to come. But I can’t see how the same conclusion can be drawn from having a rugby club ( Hamilton Old Boys) host matches this summer.
Somehow we have lost our way at national league level.
Editorial, match programme v Waitakere, 24.7.2010
Last week’s win over Forrest Hill Milford was one of Melville’s most cohesive performances of the season.
And it raised a common refrain from recent years, that we have become very much an end-of-season team. We often tend to strike our best form in the final weeks of the season, and we may be seeing that again after two good home wins following a string of indifferent performances.
The Top 8 draw has helped to a certain extent, with five home matches, though counter-balancing that of course, is the state of Gower Park . It has the worst surface in the premier league, and we have done our best to bring that to the attention of Hamilton City Council.
Indeed, coach Steve Williams was only half joking when he said last week that he was considering taking training sessions on some of Hamilton ’s more beautifully tittivated and cultivated traffic islands. Our view is it would be wiser to invest in capital development with pitches rather than spend the same money on weekly maintenance with no apparent improvement.
Speaking of capital development, work is underway on our major floodlighting project as the eastern end of the pitch. Goalkeeper Graham Wilson will be overseeing the foundation work for a project that is the most ambitious undertaken by the club since clubrooms were built in the mid-80s. We are indebted to Hamilton town planners Bloxham, Burnett and Olliver for their pro bono work in preparing a comprehensive planning consent application. Also to Paul Smith. Andy Murray, Stu Timings, Phil Wheatley, and Michael McMillan, who undertook excavation work last Sunday.
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We haven’t played today’s visitors, Waitakere City , at Gower Park since 2004 (when they won 2-0). Interestingly, Melville still have a number of "veterans" from 2004 in the 2010 squad, including skipper Steven Holloway, Aaron Scott, David Samson, Josh Billman, LJ Pijnenburg and Wayne Bates, while Jeremy Field is also rumoured to be back floating around town.
By contrast Waitakere appear to have just manager Jeff Aspinall and physio Craig Neale around from 2004. (Back then Waitakere’s squad included the likes of Michael Utting, Geof Gray, Hone Fowler, Craig Wylie and Yoji Tanabe.)
The teams drew 1-1 at Waitakere last month, but today’s match will be contested under very different conditions. While Gower Park has reduced in size for a variety of reasons this season, Fred Taylor Park always appeals as a very spacious domain, and not just because it is not so well populated as a lot of premier league venues. It’s a very big pitch, whereas ours is now one of the smallest.
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It struck me the other day that the World Cup controversy over whether balls have crossed the goal line could be settled with a form of technology already in place at Gower Park . If you have enough mud behind the goal-line, then the ball is unlikely to bounce back out the goal.
This simple but effective solution could be deployed at every level of the game without the need for hi-tech equipment, simply by putting mud in each goal behind the goal-line. Of course here at Gower Park the bigger problem is we have even more mud in front of the goal.
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Following the speeches after last week’s encouraging home win over Forrest Hill Milford, a concerned club member at the bar made the following observation: "Every week Steve Williams stands up, win or lose, and says nice things about everyone else. How come nobody ever says anything nice about him?"
Well, okay, fair play. Steve is a life member of Melville, and not many clubs can say that of their first team coach. But more importantly, he is one of the key thinkers and visionaries of the club. All successful clubs need workers and thinkers, and as far as Melville is concerned, Steve brings both qualities to the table. In an era when there is cross-over from summer and winter seasons, the job of coaching a northern premier league team is even more complicated, but Steve has managed this more effectively than most. Like most successful people, Steve can be dogmatic as well as very driven in his approach. But his biggest strength is his ability to draw support personnel in around him and get people on side.
So, there you go. Nobody knows how the final weeks of the season will turn out for us, but if you see Steve at the bar, please offer to buy him a drink. I doubt he will refuse.
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This is Gavin Douglas’ last game before he disappears for three weeks to his brother-in-law's wedding in the UK , (though he will be back for the last two games). Gavin has been to more weddings this winter than most priests, though has signalled his commitments well in advance. Meanwhile Charlie Hoyle has headed to the South Island for the rest of the season to work on the ski slopes. That's a shame, becuase he had become one of our most consistent performers.
Editorial, match programme v Takapuna, July 10
It’s been a sensational month for the code, on the back of the World Cup, and the All Whites achievements.
Short of qualifying for post-group play, going unbeaten in the tournament is about as good as it gets, and remarkable for a team starting with 2000-1 odds. The All Whites have come home as just the sixth team in World Cup history to be eliminated despite not losing a game. Previous unbeaten non-winners were Scotland (1974), Brazil (1978), Cameroon and England (both 1982), and Belgium (1998). Ahead of Monday’s final, the only teams unbeaten in South Africa have been New Zealand and Holland (which should explain the very satisfied looks on the faces of the Noorland clan today).
Curiously, the people most stunned by the All Whites efforts have been those of us within the game rather than those outside it. I’m not sure whether that says more about us, or the efforts of the All Whites in showing they were worthy of the highest stage.
But the degree to which the game has been carried along on a surge of good publicity and mass public backing has been truly remarkable.
The big question now, is where to from here? How does the code as a whole make the best of this, how do we as a club make the best of this?
It would have been nice to have been able to offer that here in Hamilton, the Phoenix playing a pre-season match v Brisbane Roar was a good start.
However I’m left with the impression this is actually as exercise which parades the worst weaknesses of our code as much as its possibilities. I was disappointed that as the region’s leading northern league club Melville had no consultation or dialogue over the imposition of a fixture which cuts right across our own scheduling and hosting ambitions at premier league level.
In an ideal world this match – the only premier league game in the Waikato today — could perhaps have been played as a curtainraiser. As a note of self-criticism, it should be noted we were also too slow in subsequently seeking to change our schedule with Auckland Football a week ago – to having this match played last Saturday - and duly got stuck with a horrible clash. A match that should have been a celebration of the game, has contributed to a bad look all around.
But back to capitalising on the World Cup. How will me measure the impact on the game. Junior registrations are offered as an obvious yardstick, but this is a slightly one dimensional barometer. Registrations rise and fall for all sorts of subjective reasons.
Moreover, at senior levels growth is actually tinged with all sorts of risks, given any monetary advantage is tenuous when subs are balanced off against the major costs of field hirage, affiliation fees, gear purchases, referee fees – and the possibility of incurring unrecoverable fines for incorrect or late team cards, misconduct provisions or the fielding of unregistered players.
A more telling barometer of a surge of support for the game at senior level would be the flow of money into the code via sponsorship at a regional or club level. Melville puts its hand out to businesses for sponsorship every year, perhaps to an extent beyond any other football body in the Waikato, so it will be interesting to see if there is any momentum shift in that exercise.
But will any parallel effort be undertaken at regional level to try and take advantage on the back of football being "cool" again? Can the game address issues of "quality’ rather than "quantity"? I’d like to think it could at least assist towards a more sympathetic ear from councils on ground preparation and maintenance, which is one area where things are in a remedial state in Hamilton. But we’ll see.
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After our 1-1 away draw with Waitakere City last week Wayne Bates offered the view in his post-match speech (Steve Williams wasn’t feeling up to making one, and skipper Steve Holloway - often spotted behind a microphone in his non-football life — argued it wasn’t part of his job description) that Aaron Scott was the best right back in New Zealand.
It was a big call, but good that Bates was prepared to make it, particularly in Waitakere’s clubrooms. The culture of the game in New Zealand is such that we need to be proactive in talking up our achievers. Aaron remains on the fringe of the All Whites and has performed at a consistently high level for Melville in recent weeks.
However media coverage at this level of the game is seldom of such a granular degree that there is any perceptive comment on the performance levels of individual players. So they most effective way to get any meaningful discussion out there in the chattersphere of football is to have team mates and team officials venture the odd opinion. In football we tend to dwell more on our problems and failures than our successes. which is understandable, because as volunteers our minds are forever concentrated on "fixing things up". But it is important we also make the effort to lead football opinion in a positive manner.
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Today we welcome Takapuna, a club we have not played at premier league level since late 2003, when we beat them 4-0 at Taharoto Park. Coach Clive Campbell is a former All White of some note, a member of the squad which qualified for the World Cup in 1982, though not a member of the party to Spain. He was also the first player to chalk up 200 appearances in the old national league. Campbell has also had various coaching posts, including at age group level for New Zealand.
Takapuna feature several players with Waikato links. Nobby Stiles was a member of the Melville United national league squad back in 1997-98. Jeff Campbell was a late addition to Waikato FC last summer, while Scott Campbell was a fringe member of the Waikato squad two years earlier. Josh Stick is a former All White.
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The first visible signs of our major floodlighting project can now be seen at the eastern end of Gower Park, while piles have been driven for the lighting tower foundations. This is a $150,000 project and perhaps the most ambitious project of its type in the history of Waikato football. It is putting a certain amount of strain on the club, and we would appreciate if al those who have pledged to take up a $1000 debenture forward the money to myself of Rory Noorland as soon a possible. And to those who have not yet made such a commitment, it is not too late.
Match programme v Albany, 6.6.2010
The result of today’s match may very well define the shape of the rest of the season for both clubs.
Should Melville win, we will be very well placed to secure a berth in the top 8 and will then be able to turn our attention to the business end of the season, where the top eight clubs play each other once more, with accrued points carrying over. In that respect our games will take on a new purpose, as we start eyeing how close we can get to the title race, rather than the preliminary objective to date, of making the top 8.
From Albany’s perspective, if they don’t win today they risk being among those clubs that won’t make the cut, and, at best, being involved in a real dogfight at the periphery of the top 8.
Interestingly, it’s a whole new ball game for clubs that don’t make the cut. The bottom 10 are joined with the top two from Div 1, and have their points recalibrated to zero.
So, for some clubs, the whole league exercise to date will have been little more than a giant pre-season programme, and the mind boggles as to how the lanscape may change ahead of the transfer deadline, with the prospect of a whole new league effectively yet to start.
But back to Melville. We are still very much alive and eyeing a scenario where we are trying to rein in league leaders East Coast Bays, who are six points ahead with 10 games to go.
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In the Chatham Cup next weekend Melville have drawn Forrest Hill Milford, the team that knocked us out last year. That was after beating Papatoetoe, the team we knocked out in 2008. It would be nice to get a different club in the cup one of these years. But in the interim, Melville have opted to play this match on a Sunday (2pm), something we have not done for many years, in a move to explore the possibilities of feature games at a time when all club members can view them. Please be aware there will be a gate charge for this match (card-carrying club members, life members and sponsors exempt). Please alos not our away match against Waitakere in a fortnight is also on a Sunday (2.45pm)
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Today we welcome back Che Bunce for the first time this season, while we are due to farewell Charlie Hoyle, who is off to the World Cup as a fan. Bunce will be the 24th player to turn out for Melville this season. And for those interested in player stats, last week Wayne Bates made his 190th first team appearance for Melville.
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Our planning consent application to erect 60 new 1500 watt floodlights down at the eastern end of Gower Park has finally been lodged with Hamilton City Council. This is a $100,000-plus project and this is a reminder to all members and supporters who have already pledged $1000 debentures towards this end – as well as others out there who may also be well placed to contribute — that now it the time to be lodging these funds. Please see treasurer Rory Noorland or myself. There were some complications with potential light spill and nuisance glare that caused a minor redesign of the project, bt hopefully progress will become obvious over the next few weeks.
In the interim we have upgraded the lights at Kahikatea Park and are also modifying existing 25-year-old lights on the No 2 pitch in what is one of the biggest development exercises the club has confronted.
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In advance of New Zealand being in action at the World Cup next week, I went to The Soccer Shop and bought a souvenir All Whites glass to drink from.
It was an overdue purchase – finally after over 30 years of following the All Whites I had national football football glassware to go with my Phoenix glasses, my Melville handle and, ahem, my old Waikato Unicol handle.
But I couldn’t help thinking whoever designed these things didn’t put quite enough thought into it. This is the first time the All Whites have qualified for the finals in 28 years. It’s not like we do it every cycle. But the souvenir glass failed to mention anything about South Africa 2010, or World Cup finals – the very things that would make it a genuine collector’s item.
Indeed, when I look at my new glass, it looks like Uncle Arthur designed the thing on his Commodore 64. But all that aside, the glass is not a bad idea.
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Match programme editorial, Wanderers, May 29, 2010
Form doesn’t mean anything in derbies, apparently. It’s 11 v 11, it’s all on the day, it’s the team that wants it the most etc. Feel free to throw in your own cliché at this point, but being derby day today got me thinking.
We haven’t actually got a form book to biff out or disregard. It’s a bit like "bragging rights" — the form book is more about mythology than reality: often talked about, seldom utilised.
I had a look around the club the other week and the closest I could see to a form book was Pommie Allen’s book of quotes and fines.
So in order to have something to throw out in advance of our big local derby with Wanderers - who require no introduction - we need to create a very simple form book.
So here goes: Honest Bruce’s Form Guide.Melville: L, W, L, W, W, L, W (results earliest to most recent). Finished strongly over the last 15 minutes in last outing, and haven’t lost a derby in 20 years. Proven over the distance, but run hot and cold. Erratic, unpredictable, capable of scoring or conceding bucketloads. Melville think they play better on narrow pitches, but in actual fact they play a lot worse - though it’s just that sometimes they play slightly less worse than the team they are up against. Which is significant. But if that’s too deep for you, just remember, Melville don’t have to be able to beat every team in the league today, they just have to be able to beat Wanderers. Best move: defenders scoring from corners and free kicks.Wanderers: L, P/p, W, L, L, W. Got stuck in the gates at the start of the season, but now hitting a purple patch, with a couple of wins in their last four matches, though can still hardly buy a goal. Players very focused — as long as they don’t get lost on their way to the park. Have absolutely nothing to lose. Law of averages says they are due for a win after 20 years. Best move: conceding loads of penalties only for keeper Vlad to save them with his party pieces.
Okay, under derby traditions that form guide should now be thrown away or completely disregarded, regardless of its brutal accuracy. My own theory about local derbies is that it is actually the team that wants it the least that will will win, because their players won’t get all het up and overly emotive and will concentrate on doing the basic skilful things on the pitch which fundamentally demarcate winning teams from also rans. Rather than getting all excited about the consumption of the game, a successful team will concentrate on the production side of the equation.
But however fate should take things today, it is usually a safe bet that it will be a tight game, with the result highly savoured by the victors.
Indeed, I know Steve Williams is still pissed off that Melville lost to Wanderers back in 1990. Having said that, derby notions can be overstated. For instance, a rough glance suggests about half the Melville squad have still to play a derby in Melville colours.
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Melville United got fined $150 by the Waikato Bay of Plenty Federation the other week after one of our recreational teams named a player as sub on a team card who wasn’t registered with the club.
It was a silly mistake, and we deserved to lose the points. But I can’t help thinking the overarching regime of fines in football is totally absurd for such recreational levels, and we have to find punishments that better suit the crime.
It’s not just registration issues, it’s the $25 a head every time a player gets booked, or the $50-plus for a send-off. As it stands at the moment, misconduct provisions cost clubs thousands of dollars a season. While you can’t argue a case in favour of sanctioning misconduct, neither can we keep beating ourselves up financially by having our administrative infrastructure suck these amounts away from the coal face of club football.
While some misconduct misdemeanours, such as dissent, can be planted in the ‘dumb actions’ basket, to a certain extent committing fouls and being booked is an occupational hazard for players competing at northern league level, which is why in most cases the clubs pick up the tab, rather than the player.
That effectively means the financial penalty adds no deterrent factor. Indeed, the spectre of suspension from accrued bookings is far more feared, which is of course the sensible penalty.
But even beyond that, a monetary penalty is silly in an amateur competition. Apart from anything else, the cost of a fine levied against, say, New Zealand’s top caravan salesman would carry a totally different weighting to a fine imposed against, say, a wage-slave painter on the poverty line, or a student.
Unfortunately our whole regime of costs and penalties code is base on a form of bureaucratic infantilism, where we are treated like naughty schoolkids, with a very prescriptive punishments.
The matter has been extra topical this week, given the agitating being done by Dave Cook of BOP club AFC Fury. He was upset his club had been pinged $150 for registering a player who said he had not previously played for another club when it later transpired he had signed a registration for another club, but never played for it, and did not owe it any money.
Cook suggested in such circumstances it would be more sensible just to tidy up the paperwork without penalty. And while you can’t judge a case without knowing the full facts, it is hard to see the need for financial sanction when there is no injured party,
Cook has floated the idea of forming a Waikato-BOP Football Clubs Association to discuss such issues, provide one strong voice and make proposals to better the game in our region. That is of course the fundamental proposition which led to the formation of associations over 100 years ago, where there was a need for a ways and means agency in touch with inter-club issues.
But if we must be stuck with this monetary regime of punishment, let’s at least make the best of it. I would suggest the money from such fines should be redirected into the sphere of the game from which it is extracted. In the case of the northern league, I would argue money sucked out through misconduct penalties should be pumped straight back into the northern league.
We already pay a referee development fee at this level, so the accumulated fine money could be disbursed equally to all clubs at the end of the season as a "misconduct dividend". Those that had contributed the least, would effectively be rewarded for their good behaviour
Finally, one more thought on fines. In a federation invoice last week we were incorrectly billed for an extra field. If the "error" principle and disciplinary regime form paperwork was imposed in reverse, by rights we should be fining the federation $150. Worth thinking about.
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What a tonic last week’s win against Lynn Avon was. They weren’t a good side by any stretch, but you still have to break them down, still have to work hard for your goals. It’s not often a guy who only plays half a game gets player of the day, but in this case Alexei Davies-Campbell deserved it. He didn’t score or directly set anything up, but he significantly changed the whole dynamic of the game, and pinned Lynn Avon back with his lively front-running. You can’t ask more of a teenager than that. Tewi Te Pou also deserves credit for the calm manner in which he took his two goals. Tewi still has a bit to learn in playing with his back to goal, but when he is facing or running towards goal he is already full of possibilities.
Match programme editorial, Papatoetoe, May 8, 2010
If for no other reason, Melville’s away win over Forrest Hill Milford last week was significant because it was the first time this season we have beaten a team that was placed higher than ourselves on the table.
That’s important, because the table is steadily starting to divide itself in half, with Melville right on the cusp of qualification for the top eight. Ominously, it was during this weekend last year that we began a fine run of form that was to thrust us into the top two of the league: four wins on the trot, including three at home, and a 3-1 victory over today’s visitors, Papatoetoe.
Not that we can get carried away with comparisons with last season. Last year we lost just four matches in the league. This year we have lost three already.
Victory over Forrest Hill was very satisfying. They have a very useful squad, attack at pace, and have high expectations. But it wasn’t a pretty game. In many respects it was a victory built on the qualities of graft, commitment and attitude. Perversely, those are the very characteristics of football that I had editorialised upon in a previous programme, suggesting they alone were not enough for teams to succeed at northern premier league level. But they sure do help.
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It was something of a collector’s item last week when we got both Gavin Douglas and Wayne Bates on the scoresheet. Both these lads (anyone under 40 in football is a "lad") have played well over 100 first team games for Melville but this is the first time I can recall them both scoring in the same northern league match.
While Douglas is Melville’s unrivalled master of the goal celebration - rumour has it he stays behind for hours after training to work on his moves - he’s also a big fan of Bates’ goalscoring prowess. Two years ago, when overseas, Douglas joined our sponsor ranks, pledging $20 to the club for every Wayne Bates goal scored. Bates, curiously enough, has never offered to reciprocate and be a dollar a goal sponsor for Douglas. But if anyone in the squad is overdue a goal, it’s probably right back Dave Samson. He’s quick, has a bionic right foot and likes to get forward, but hasn’t scored for years. Goalscoring can sometimes be defined as an attitude, a state of mind. If you don’t think you are going to score, you never will. Over to you, Dave.
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The Waikato-BOP federation has its AGM coming up next month, (though it’s in Rotorua on a Monday night, so only the diehards will attend). It’s being held a month after New Zealand Football’s national Annual Congress, which is completely the wrong way around for anyone who believes in old fashioned notions of grass roots democracy.
But for all that, it is still our ‘parliament" where we get the annual opportunity to raise policy matters with our servants. One thing that gets up my nose with current federation policy, is that if you lodge a dispute or appeal about some matter the charge is $100 plus GST — but there is no refund of this money if your action is successful.
Back in the day, the fee was refunded when an appeal was upheld, but these days the federation tells me the charge remains, because the costs incurred in investigating and ruling are the same if an appeal is successful or not.
Perhaps so, but to my mind that’s about as bad as it gets for an incorporated society. The notion of refunding of fees for successful appeals and protests adheres to the principles of natural justice. Those who succeed with a judicial case should not be penalised financially for the public good they have achieved in highlighting a miscarriage of justice, and the costs should fall elsewhere.
I would argue, that as with other judicial matters, the burden of costs should - in the first instance - lie with the party or parties which were in error. I can think of no other parallel where a successful appellant is the only one burdened with the costs of justice. It just feels wrong. It is hardly justice if, when an appeal or protest is upheld, for costs to be solely borne by the party which had just been proved correct. I’m tempted to raise a notice of motion at the AGM that in such a situation, at the very least, costs incurred should be shouldered by "the game as a whole", rather than a "successful" club. Then again, perhaps life is too short to spend a Monday night in Rotorua.
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During the aftermatch speeches last week Melville coach Steve Williams sportingly took time to acknowledge Forrest Hill Milford’s legacy as the original New Zealand home of former Waikato goalscoring legend Darren Fellowes, who went on to win national awards such as NZ Players’ Player of the Year. Of course Fellowes left FHM for Waikato United back in 1991, and that’s nearly 20 years ago now. So perhaps it was no surprise Williams’ comments drew mostly blank looks from the gathered Becroft Park throng, who seemed to have little idea of who Fellowes was.
There was a touch of pathos about that. One of the very best players that club has ever had, but no collective memory. Not even anything on the clubroom walls. Then again, it got me thinking. How many current Melville people would know anything about Melville "legends" of 20 years ago?
I checked the archives, and Melville names in the news 20 years ago included Mark Pitchford, Stu Timings, Wayne Barton, Gary Monaghan, Mark Leo, Scott McKee, and, er, skipper Steve Williams. These days Stu and Steve are life members, Gary is on the committee, and Wayne Barton can often be seen at the bar on matchdays. Whether that qualifies as legendary status can be debated over a beer. But that’s not a bad post-first-team-involvement retention rate by New Zealand football standards.
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It’s worth noting the Melville youth team’s 10-1 home victory over Papakura last weekend, which retained their perfect record in Auckland U19 football. When I asked coach Declan Edge about the game, it was vintage Declan. His phlegmatic summation was Melville simply hadn’t played as well as they had the previous week (2-1 away win over Glenfield). Declan did however point out this was a good sign for the club, with future northern league players matching off against future northern league players from other clubs. He added such victories were not unexpected, despite all but one of his players being under 16, given they were effectively "full time" (in training) and playing against youths training just twice a week. Particular congratulations are due to youth player Jack Taylor, who scored six goals against Papakura. It is not the first time a Melville player has recorded such a feat, but is worth acknowledging.
Match programme editorial, East Coast Bays, April 24
We welcome East Coast Bays back to Gower Park for the first time since 2004, in what is a special occasion, with the northern premier league defending champions hosting the 2010 league leaders.
Like all North Harbour clubs, Bays have been missing from the northern league for the past two seasons, after their federation barred them from entering in 2008 and 2009.
But nevertheless they maintained their standards within their in-house federation league, where they won the title in both years, and have returned as a real force.
I recall the time in late 2007 when club and league administrators were trying to find a way past the impasse created by the US1 federation’s refusal to allow any of its clubs entry to the northern league.
While some North Harbour clubs probably need to take a good long hard look at themselves in the mirror and ponder the role they played in almost brining about the demise of the northern league, Bays consistently sought to continue in the competition.
Indeed, I recall how they even floated the idea of playing out of Bill McKinley Park in Mt Wellington, and under a different name, as a possible temporary solution.
Independent of their strong showing on field, it's because of that sort of comitment that I regard them as one of the pillars of the northern league.
Melville United shares that commitment, in that we have always strived to compete on the basis of ability, rather than geography.
However we have little else in common with East Coast Bays. They are one of the biggest clubs in the county, with almost 1000 juniors and over 200 seniors.
By contrast, we remain a boutique operation. While we are Waikato’s leading football club, under our existing set-up we cannot all things to all people, and at present are focusing on trying to do a handful of things well: most notably running a flagship team in what is New Zealand’s best winter competition.
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During the week I noticed Onehunga Sports coach Brian Turner copping a fair bit of flak on the northernleagueforum.co.nz website.
I’m a fan of interactive supporter-based dialogue about the game, and do think it is good we have such outlets – it is good people care enough to want to discuss how we produce and consume our game — but I can’t help observing that it is axiomatic of the internet that those least well placed to comment tend to have the loudest voices.
But back to Turner. A couple of Onehunga fans were lamenting the woeful shape of their team under Turner – only Wanderers below them in the league — and pondering possible salvation with a replacement appointment.
Now, I’m not well placed to comment on Brian’s coaching ability, but am of the school that at northern premier league level it is as much the players who make the coach, as it is the coach that makes the players. In other words, no matter how good your coaching ability, you will not survive if you don’t have pretty good raw material to work with.
Indeed, in days gone by I used to tease the late Brian Coe that in his heyday with Hamilton AFC, his players were so good it wouldn’t have mattered if Homer Simpson was the coach.
Though that is of course not correct either. In the New Zealand game the coach is the key personality and that is where a club looks itself in the mirror. He sets the agenda, the objectives, and the mood, and if you have a duffer, all sorts of telltale little things start going wrong, regardless of the quality of the players.
The tricky thing for those in the coaching hotseat in the northern premier league is that in any year, regardless of how good they are, at least two coaches will be sporting relegated teams. Given how that can affect a club’s livelihood, structure and future, it is arguably a more pressure-filled job than taking the helm at NZFC level, where if you finish bottom, "oh well, always next year". Finish bottom and you still have a good chance of keeping your job.
But in the northern league the pressure concentrates the mind. From a coaching perspective there is almost an in-built obsolesence, in that no matter what the standard is overall, somebody always has to be at the bottom, someone always has to fail.
It is even worse than usual this season, given our necessary but bizarre league structure. Come the halfway mark of the season, 10 premier coaches will have been doomed to failure, assuming their immediate goal was to make the top eight.
Here at Melville we are very fortunate to have Steve Williams at the helm. I am struggling to think of any other premier club where the coach has put in 15 seasons in charge, and is also a life member. From an administrative perspective, that is excellent, because it allows you to put more energy into developing facilities and club infrastructure (which are spheres where we trail the bigger Auckland clubs by quite some margin).
But speaking of coaches, I always used to be amused at the English tradition, whereby so often they would appointing somebody as the gaffer seemingly on the basis of him having had a good left peg in days gone by.
Until I started thinking about it. How do we, here, scrutinise the aptitude of somebody before they are appointed coach? Did anyone give Brian Turner a bag of balls and cones and invite him to run a session? Indeed, did anyone inquire as whether an All White legend with over 100 caps, and assistant to Ricki Herbert, still had the necessary pulling power with players capable of mixing it in a very competitive premier league? I don’t know the answers. I’m just happy I am able to speculate on this subject in such a detached manner, rather than being all emotionally torn about it, as I would be if it was my club which had only taken two points out of a possible 21.
Match programme editorial v Bay Olympic, April 10 2010
It is an old truism that you learn a lot more from your losses than your victories in northern premier league football.
Whereas a win or two can hide a multitude of faults, there is nowhere to hide after a complete tanking. The shortcomings stand exposed for all to see, even for the most ardent and glass-half-full fans, such as myself.
Our 5-1 away loss to Three Kings on Monday is the obvious case in point. On the balance of play it was tempting to conclude Melville weren’t four goals worse than Three Kings overall. And yet, when you break it down, yes, we were a couple of goals sloppier in defence, at least one more in arrears in terms of our inexact passing and vague crossing in the final third, and probably one more worse for good measure in terms of our panic-attack shooting.
So there you go. That’s all it takes to lose at this level. And from what I have seen so far this season, this monster 18-team northern premier league is looking very competitive at the top end.
There are probably 10 clubs capable of beating anybody on their day. And, for that matter, just as many clubs capable of losing to anybody else if every single player doesn’t do their own job well. Clubs that don’t play somewhere near their peak will be beaten.
Having said that, Melville have at least come through a tough opening to the season, in which we played five premier league matches in 16 days, with a bare pass mark of three wins and two losses. However the jury is still out over whether we are good enough to make the top eight.
Notwithstanding Melville’s defensive errors, after five rounds it has become apparent that the teams that are to succeed this season will need to have the X factor, or players capable of doing to do something a bit special in attack.
While tactics can always nullify skill, it will be very hard to just grind out results on the basis of simply showing a lot of ticker and passion and hoping for the other team to make a mistake under pressure.
To win matches against well-organised defences will require players with a genuine nose for goal, and good team awareness.
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It was frustrating to lose in injury time to Central United, having led approaching the final eight minutes. But they have looked the best opposition I have seen so far, and played with good pace and skill.
By contrast the loss against Three Kings was harder to stomach, given our wealth of possession. But two away games at Easter is tough, particularly given the travel factor. It was at least good to get our game against Onehunga Sports brought forward to the Friday.
One of the reasons this hadn’t occurred in the draw originally, I am told, is that there was such a myriad of football overlap with summer NZFC still being tidied up, as well as youth league semifinals, and the particular drain on officials.
But I don’t understand why the national youth tournament should be left to run so late in the "summer", given most of its participants are very eager to cement themselves into spots with winter league clubs, which is the best place for the best young players. The family of football is still not completely in harmony.
On a similar theme, this is the first of three consecutive home games for Melville - hard on the heels of four away games on the trot.
Normally it would be tempting to suggest they’ve got a duff computer at HQ, but I guess we have to make allowances in this "interim" season of an 18-team premier league, particularly given some clubs had problems with pitch availability early season.
But what is more concerning from an overall "promotion of football" perspective is that on the opening day of the season we had Melville, Ngaruawahia and Wanderers all at home. Then none at home the next weekend. There is much work to be done still to promote the best of winter football in the Waikato.
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In trying to draw parallels with today’s match in terms of last year’s efforts, it’s hard to know where to look.
Bay Olympic came down and beat us 5-2 - and duly finished bottom of the league. By contrast, Lynn Avon - who personnel-wise contained the bulk of what is now the Bay Olympic class of 2010 – came down and lost 5-1 and duly won the minor premiership. So all in all, it's doing my head in. What we do know is Bay Olympic are strong in all departments.
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If you are reading this programme, and are a regular reader, how about signing on to be a $1 a goal sponsor? Short of us instituting a gate charge, it is the most fundamental level of financial support for the team -- and it does cost a lot to operate a competitve team at this level.
A further suggestion, particularly for those who are regular clubrooms visitors, would be to become a social member, at a cost of $30. This gives you a membership card, and $1 off alcoholic drinks and gives you even more of a sense of belonging.
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Goldfish policy: Melville United has no formal policy on goldfish. But as a rule of thumb, we would see them as pets rather than a source of protein. However this would be open to review if any club member
NZFC Licence
27.1.2010: An article in the Waikato Times on Monday night implied Melville United were bidding for an NZFC licence for 2010-11, which would possibly see them going head to head with Waikato FC.
That is not the case. The club has an open mind on future football structures and relationships in the Waikato but it is important to clarfy that we are not planning any precipitate action.
Melville United president Bruce Holloway was approached for comment by the Times on the subject of NZFC licenses and Melville's stance. In response, he supplied the following statement:
Bruce Holloway, chairman of northern league champions Melville United, said his club had not formally discussed the possibility of seeking a franchise licence, and would not do so without first consulting Waikato FC personnel.
But it remained a subject of interest, particularly among coaching staff.
"When so many of our Melville players transfer to and fro to play for two different clubs at different times of the year it naturally invites consideration of whether there is a better way to structure things," he said.
"We do see the need for winter operations to go hand in hand with the summer, and can see the benefits this has created for the likes of Auckland City and Waitakere United.
"Having said that, we cannot be all things to all people, and at present our energy is being channelled into facility improvements at Gower Park. But like those Auckland clubs, Melville United also has a long term vision of confronting the challenges of elite football.
"So while we applaud Waikato FC's efforts in keeping this province afloat at top level, we have to keep an open mind on what works best structurally in fielding an NZFC team that does not have its own ground, clubrooms, or home base."
Holloway was a founding member of Waikato FC, is a former matchday programme editor for that club, and is a season ticket holder.
Times reporter Matt Richens has since defended the article's speculation as having been based on talking to other Melville sources, rather than just Holloway. Regrettably, he failed in the article to name or even acknowledge those sources, leaving the public with the impression that Melville was formally preparing an NZFC bid. That is not the case.
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Melville submission on Northern League restructure
6.11.2009: Firstly, we acknowledge the fundamental importance of a return to a full, three-federation regional league, and the sound underlying principles expressed in the proposed transition structure, as circulated in the documents of October 29.
Secondly, we acknowledge the Waikato-BOP federation’s more progressive stance towards the return of a mirror reserve league as a significant advance from its more regrettable position of the past two years.
Overview
In the first instance, this model returns six US1 clubs to the northern premier league, the same as they had in 2007, and reunites the family of regional football.
However, while this is very important for the game, there is one stark weakness in the otherwise cogent package of documents put out for discussion.
Glaring by its absence is the lack of contextualisation of this restructure, and if we don't learn from our history, we may well be doomed to repeat it.
There has been no contrition by any party, no acknowledgement that the game was poorly served by those who forced the break away in the first place or denied others entry to the previous regional competition, and no explanation of what changed to allow a reconciliation.
An expression of regret from some quarter should be a fundamental part of any regional reconciliation. Without it, we are denied an understanding of WHY this structure is the best and most fitting means of moving forward, as opposed to new NRFL clubs merely entering at the bottom.
Further, both clubs and their federation servants, need a general warning that should this situation arise again, the northern league not abide such an accommodation, and next time any return will be at the bottom for clubs, regardless of whether they point to wider mandates or rogue elements in their hierarchies.
This is also an opportune juncture to consider future northern league governance issues, and how we avoid a future disconnect between those who pay the fees in our game and those who make the decisions.
We need fee-paying clubs to have a far more direct voice on policy issues regarding the northern league. ie, no further structural changes or revamps without direct mandate or endorsement from a majority of clubs.
Ideally a northern league AGM should be instituted, from which clubs elect reps onto a Northern Provincial Council or a similar policy-making body. Clubs need a far greater, far more direct say in the destiny of the northern league, than exists under the more detached federation control model.
2011 outcomes
We would prefer to see the end result in 2011 as having a 12-team premier league and 10 teams in the other two divisions. This is founded on a belief that it is the better players and the better clubs that deserve to be playing more football, rather than those of inferior-ranked status.
As it stands, apart from teams involved in playoffs, in 2011 premier teams will have just 18 league matches. That lacks "critical mass".
Start time and draw
If the NZFC is still in operation, there should be no overlap with its regular season.
And the earliest possible publication of a draft draw would be most useful from a funding perspective.
For a competition where standard “home and away” arrangements will not apply, there also needs to be some explanation of the mechanics and philosophy by which the draw is arrived at.
Northern Reserve league
The concept is fundamentally sound. However we would prefer the Waikato dispensation for Over 21 players to be increased from four to fine.
This would allow the full first team bench to have a run on matchdays, without and fear of being fettered by age factors.
Waikato-BOP issues
The objectives behind the establishment of special critieria for Waikato-BOP teams to enter reserve team leagues are well intentioned but make some rather heroic assumptions.
Our club will attempt to meet the challenges set, in attempting to field both a travelling reserve team and a federation team, in the desired spirit, even though we think this threshold is quite high.
But several points need to be stressed.
The requirement to field a federation team as well as a reserve team will
dilute the development focus of our club, rather than concentrate it.
It will offer a theoretical opening for more players to compete at a reasonable level. But within our club hierarchy, our energies and finance will primarily be directed away from the federation league, because the fundamental fact is we are focused on a higher level.
And at a time when Melville, Ngaruawahia and Wanderers will all be scrambling for promising players, some basic truths will become self-evident. Any promising Waikato player who wishes to compete at federation level would be better advised to do so with a club which at least has the federation league as its major focus.
By contrast, the reality at Melville is that we cannot be all things to all people. At this level (third team) we are effectively looking to develop good club members rather than good players.
And mixing recreationally-focused players with the more ambitious can have unintended consequences.
We may end up, for instance, with three-point control on matches where neither the playing ability, nor the subscription input of our players warrants it at third team level.
Competing in both the federation and reserve league will add significant operational costs, and the reality is subs meet less than 25 per cent of our club’s overall costs. And there is a glass ceiling beyond which it is hard to raise them in today’s economy.
This is money that could otherwise go into facility development or coaching.
Overall, we suspect an insistence of a Melville presence at Federation level will pay lip service to the notion of a federation league, which in the final analysis will succeed or fail on the basis of its own merits as a specialist competition for non-league clubs.
We fear it will only exacerbate the worst features we already get with reserve teams playing first teams of other clubs, in everything from issues of pitch allocation to the weekly variation of playing strength.
Indeed, we wonder if the token participation of northern league clubs at this level might only serve to undermine the notion that the federation league offers a pathway to development for players in the federation's more far-flung corners.
Having said that, there is scope to pursue overall growth of the code in the Waikato, but this needs to be nurtured through other mechanisms.
One suggestion would be for either a reduced entry fee for all senior team entries after the first six teams from an individual club, or entries in excess of the 2009 returns.
We believe there should be a mandatory review of the specific Waikato-BOP federation thresholds at the end of the 2010 season, taking cognisance of the experiences of all participating clubs.
Summary
We welcome the return to a three-federation league, but would like to see a political statement to accompany what to date, have essentially been details of processes and structure.
And we would prefer a 12-team premier league in 2011.
At Waikato level we will attempt to meet criteria requirements to enter a northern reserve league team in the spirit in which it has been proposed. But we harbour a number of doubts about whether long-term this will meet the wider objectives of such a strategy.
Bruce Holloway
Melville programme v Lynn Avon, 23.5.2009
Admittedly this is a perverse observation for a match programme where the top two teams in the northern premier league are doing battle, but a home win today would likely assure Melville of safety from relegation.
The last time there was a 10-team northern premier league — in 1984 — surviving teams needed more than 17 points to avoid being in the bottom two. Approaching kick-off, Melville are almost there, with 16 points, while Lynn Avon, with 21 points, could reasonably have popped the anti-relegation corks last week.
That’s worth remembering because, while winning the league would be nice, avoiding relegation has traditionally been the foremost concern of premier league clubs. That is because it is so hard to get back in once you are out — it took us three seasons — and an unacceptable 20 per cent of entrants are headed for the drop this year unless there is yet another change of structure.
So, regardless of how the scrap for title honours unfolds, it will be nothing compared to the shitfight for survival at the bottom of the league, come July and August. And no club is going to want to be embroiled in that.
A relegation battle eats away at the heart and soul of a club like nothing else. Self doubt creeps in everywhere, from players and coaches to administrators. Everybody questions the point of their personal commitment to the cause, energy gets expended in all the wrong ways, and the whole concept of "club" comes under pressure.
By contrast, when you are in the top two, you smile and the world smiles back at you.
And yet, for all that, it is the very spectre of relegation which keeps the northern league honest, real, and meaningful. The standard of play in the summer NZFC might higher, but there is less at stake in terms of results. A club’s immediate future never goes on the line when a team steps onto the park., like it does in the northern league.
But back to the Orwellian year of 1984 for a moment. That season, Melville’s forefather, Hamilton AFC (coached by former Melville president Brian Coe) won the league with 35 points, losing five matches and drawing two. In winning the 10-team league, they did so by scoring just 25 goals (and conceding 10).
Already this season (today is the halfway point if you set aside the top four sideshow) we have scored 20 goals in nine matches. Happily, we are the most prolific goalscoring team in the league at present. In football, the goal is a very highly valued currency. You can thrash a team and only win 1-0, so goals deserve to be treasured.
So let’s acknowledge our latest goal machine. Much of our new found goalscoring ability this season has come from the new lease of life Che Bunce has enjoyed as striker, born again after being tragically type-cast as a defender for the bulk of his career.
Che is leading the premier golden boot race with seven goals from seven appearances.
In one sense goalscoring is an attitude, a state of mind. If you don’t think you’re going to score, chances are you never will. Conversely, if you really fancy yourself, it’s amazing what can happen.
Che deftly sidefooted home, first time, from about 14m against Suburbs, perfectly slotting the ball just between the post and the prostate keeper. It could not have been any more perfect. But only a confident player, someone who had already scored six goals in six games, would have potted it.
To again return to 1984, in that year Keith Neiderer was top goalscorer in the title winning Hamilton team. His whole season tally? Seven goals.
Incidentally, the success Bunce has made of the transition to playing up front, and the equal success Scott Robinson has made of donning the goalkeeping gloves is prompting others to ponder if they shouldn’t reinvent themselves.
On being honoured for his 100th appearance for Melville against wanderers, veteran defender Gavin Douglas suggested he might also be worth a trot up front.
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Referees quite rightly take exception when somebody accuses them of cheating — and everybody has a fair idea of the sanction they can expect in return.
But what happens when a player is accused of cheating? Is it any more acceptable to call a player a cheat than a referee?
I ask the question after Wanderers fans on the sideline a fortnight ago accused Che Bunce of cheating, when referee Mike Hester adjudged he was fouled in the penalty area.
Bunce later noted it wasn’t very pleasant, and he was glad his kids weren’t present, (which is itself an indictment.)
One of the beauties of the game is the passion it evokes, but we would all be wise to bite our tongues now and then in our capacity as fans, regardless of who we support.
Referees are now well protected. The final frontier for the game might be to consider the players. They’re the last unprotected species.
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Today we welcome Lynn Avon, the club that joined us in promotion in 2007, and duly pipped us for third place in the league last year. Lynn Avon have emerged as the team to beat this year, with a very solid record. Encouragingly, our record against Lynn Avon last year was a home win and an away draw. The two meetings between the clubs last year produced 15 goals.
Mind you, last time Lynn Avon came to Gower Park they were in fancy dress, and some of their defenders must have come as Santa Claus, because they gifted us plenty of goals. They may not be quite as generous today with former Waikato keeper Danny Robinson in goal.
Melville programme v Wanderers, 9.5.2009
Hosting a local derby against Wanderers is always one of the highlights of the northern league season, and long may it continue.
These matches are always keenly anticipated, and doggedly contested, with much public interest, particularly when both clubs have made promising starts to the premier league season.
But such matches are only a focal point because they occur within a wider context of week-in, week-out competition against the best clubs in Auckland.
The bottom line is, we are always seeking to compete on the basis of ability, rather than geography. We go into battle against each other knowing that we have already established our credentials as worthy premier league clubs.
That’s important, because it is no good just striving to be the tallest dwarf in the Waikato. We need to measure ourselves against the best that Auckland — and hopefully — North Harbour clubs can offer.
In other words, being in the highest possible league is more important than playing a derby match. Here at Melville we always want to be competing against other top teams, regardless of where they come from.
That’s worth re-stating this week, given the turmoil that is again festering north of the Harbour Bridge.
To recap, last year United Soccer 1’s leading clubs were bullied out of the northern league, when that federation instituted its own in-house league and refused all clubs permission to enter the northern league.
Now US1 chief executive Keith Johnson, the architect of that league, has resigned, as has the whole board, though mainly over the state of the finances, with the board — and this is ironic, given that financial sustainability was one of the reasons advanced for their enforced northern league breakaway — $193,000 in debt.
But it seems a majority of North Harbour clubs still want to stop the likes of Waitakere City, Glenfield Rovers and East Coast Bays returning to the northern league (though the more ambitious clubs are already discussing a possible framework for re-entry).
I’ve yet to find anyone arguing for a retention of the 10-team premier league we’ve ended up with this season, with some US1 figures arguing a solution might be to go in the other direction and have 14 teams next year — to allow a space for at least the best two US1 teams to re-enter at the same point at which they were ousted.
That’s bound to prompt plenty of debate, particularly with a northern league advisory board meeting set for the last week of May.
Whatever happens, I believe rules need to be amended to stop administrators or politicians in any federation having the power to nobble club’s regional ambitions. Pre-federation, clubs could enter the northern league as of right if they qualified. Subject to eligibility (meeting criteria) competing at a regional level should again be a right, not a privilege.
Here at Melville we’ve had a few battles on this front, albeit at youth level, this season, with administrative attempts by another club and a school to stop us entering teams in the Auckland Metro league.
As it happens, we have successfully rejected the arguments propagated. But we were uneasy that our ambitions could, in theory, be determined by the whims of others.
On the subject of youth football, after grading matches Melville has successfully applied to have its U15 teams compete in the Metro U17 league (away to Hibiscus Coast this weekend).
At the same time we have withdrawn our U19 team altogether, with those players now competing for places in other club teams, or free to transfer elsewhere.
The whole point of the U15s was to extend the boys, and that was not happening in their league. However many U15s were also supplementing the U19 team, which would no longer be possible with their games now on Sundays.
At least the Sunday match should improve the availability of referees, and better pitches.
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Getting some terraced seating at Gower Park is not as easy as it sounds. We’ve discovered that not only do we need a building permit, but — after talking to council town planners – we also require quite a pricey resource consent. That is despite a requirement that the terraces must be able to be removed at the council’s say-so.
Some preliminary earthworks have been undertaken to prepare the sidelines for some cobblestones on which the terraces units will eventually sit – we hope.
But the seats them selves can’t be erected until all the paperwork is complete.
Elsewhere the improvements are continuing at Gower Park. Latest addition is the football-flavoured sign at the entrance to Gower Park. This makes it very clear it is a football venue. Credit to first team coach Steve Williams, who designed the sign and led the team which installed it.
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Last week’s loss to Onehunga was very disappointing. Even putting the result aside, most of the play looked too much like bottom-of-the-table hunt and grunt football. We will have to do a lot better today against a Wanderers team ahead of us on the table and with a spine of well performed players.
The good news for Melville is out track record against Wanderers is solid, having not lost to them in our last 12 northern league meetings. (A fuller derby record can be found elsewhere in the programme). Still, that will count for nothing if lads don’t do the basics right once the whistle goes.
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Today it is Gavin Douglas’ 100th game for Melville, and there will be a small presentation in the clubrooms during the aftermatch. Gav has been a real trooper for Melville since making his debut in 2000 and we have been delighted to have him back after a long spell overseas.
This may be a good time remind everyone that you are all invited back into the Melville clubrooms for the aftermatch function, regardless of the result. It was unfortunate that this traditional football convention somehow got overlooked at the conclusion of the two pre-season meetings where we hosted Wanderers.
Melville programme, v Manurewa, 25.4.2009:
It was no surprise Steve Williams fired up in his aftermatch speech last week and spoke out about his concerns about our northern league structures.
In the New Zealand game coaches traditionally tend to be the conscience of clubs and the keepers of the flame. By contrast, administrators, by the very nature of their job, become overly embroiled in "fixing things up" and too easily find themselves inadvertently distanced from the bedrock issues that affect the production of the game.
But back to Steve’s soapbox moment.
"There is a serious wrong happening in our football," he said at Metro. "It is obvious things aren’t right."
Steve was referring to the decision to reduce the premier league to 10 teams and run top four playoffs this season. There appears to be no mandate for such a move among clubs – nobody wants a 10-team league in which 20 per cent of participants get relegated — but it has been foisted upon us anyway.
Steve also held up a Metro programme which contained the draw for Auckland’s premier reserve league, which this season has been reduced to eight teams (because of the absence of Melville and Wanderers).
This is the "mirror" league Melville sought to enter our reserve team in this season, but were told that no such league existed.
We badly wanted to be in this league, because it would mean always having a supply of subs on hand for the first team, and having a playing outlet every week of the season for northern league bench players.
In short, from a coaching and team management perspective, it made good sense to have us there — as well as for Auckland clubs, who would love the same latitude when they travel to Hamilton.
It was no disrespect to our federation league – where our reserves face a very accomplished Taupo team today — or a question of playing standard. It was a simple matter of matchday logistics, and what worked best for the overall cohesion of the club.
It frustrates us that for at least half the season (away matches), teams which could work so well together in tandem on matchdays, must be separated.
It’s not so long ago that having a travelling reserve team was a prerequisite to be in the premier league.
We want to be there, Auckland clubs appear to want our reserves there – if nothing else it would give them a 10-team reserve league and make their draw issues more seamless. So what the hell is stopping us?
Our league structures need to be more answerable to clubs. It is not as if there is a cogent argument from clubs anywhere against a travelling reserve league.
That’s the bad news. The good news is, the other week Waikato-Bay of Plenty northern league club chairmen met (Cambridge was the only absentee) and had a frank and hearty discussion about these very issues. We were in agreement on most points.
We have since established a common position, with a collective view to put to both Waikato and Auckland federations, that in 2010 Waikato-BOP clubs which want to compete in northern league mirror reserves leagues should be allowed to do so.
Also that the premier league must revert to being a 12-team competition in 2010
Further, there is a need for regional league entry to be mandated by a regulation of New Zealand football. In other words, clubs can enter the northern league as of right, rather than being at the mercy of federation operatives.
On the subject of northern league politics, last month Waikato-BOP federation manager John Turkington resigned as one of Waikato’s two representatives on the Northern League Advisory Board.
This was after John could not bring himself to table draft motions our club had formulated recommending the very things Waikato clubs have since agreed upon above.
I believe John did the right thing in resigning. It is unfortunate that John’s views are out of alignment with northern league clubs, but anyone on an advisory board who can’t bring themselves to represent the feeling of the people they represent in such a forum has no place at the table.
I have since been appointed by Waikato clubs as John’s replacement, and look forward to working with our other representative, Maxine Williams (Ngaruawahia), who does a good job.
Wanderers president Brendon Coker had also indicated a desire to serve on the advisory board, but at the 11th hour indicated he instead planned to seek a seat on the federation board. That’s good. The lesson of recent years is we need more people with a background in, and understanding of, the northern league in our decision-making bodies.
Questions about conflict of interest may be occasionally be raised, but I think issues of answerability to clubs is actually more important at present than notions about perceived independence.
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It was great to see Melville come from behind to win last week. It is always a good feeling to win away from home, and we will be a better team for the experience.
The way Melville are at the moment, we are always going to make the odd mistake. But the good news is we have still to fully harness our goalscoring potential, and are starting to create a number of chances.
I have really enjoyed watching Che Bunce up front in recent weeks, romping about like a colt in springtime with a new lease on life.
And when Gavin "Lurch" Douglas scored the winner last week he did a merry little jig near the corner flag.
"When you don’t score very often, you learn to appreciate your goals," he said.
It got me reaching for the club stats. This was Gavin’s ninth northern league or Chatham Cup goal for Melville in 97 appearances since debuting in 2000 (with four seasons off) and his first since 2003.
Sometime during the season we will get updated stats on the club website. In the meantime, the Metro match was Wayne Bates’ 170th first team outing for the club. That’s not bad when you consider he’s also had a whole other northern league career with Ngaruawahia as well.
Melville home programme v Bay Olympic 11.4.2009
Welcome to Melville United’s first home game of the 2009 northern premier league season.
You should notice a few changes around the place, following a repaint of the clubrooms and changing shed exterior, extension of the clubrooms deck, new scoreboard, changing room door replacement, and new park and clubrooms signage.
What is less visible to the public is a major makeover of the changing rooms, particularly the No 1, where the room has new paint, seating, a door removed, and new storage and shower fittings.
This has been a major undertaking, and I must acknowledge the leading role coach Steve Williams has played in making this possible, along with the labour input of committed club members such as Harry Noorland, Graham Wilson, Howie Bettridge, Stu Timings, Wayne Bates, Dave Samson and others.
In the very near future we also hope to have some terraced seating units in place at Gower Park.
Obviously this has all come at a cost, and on that front it is also worth reminding people that while our bar prices have risen slightly, all those in possession of a 2009 Melville United club card qualify for a significant bar discount. Cards are issued upon receipt of subs for players, or on payment of the annual $30 fee for social members.
We encourage all supporters to pay this fee, and are delighted so many have willingly done so. First team players, who do not pay subs, are also urged to sign up as social members.
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This season the premier league is a 10-team competition, reduced from 12 team last year, with a top-four rugby league-style playoffs competition tagged onto the end of the season to compensate.
It is not a move I personally favour – 12 teams gives a league more critical mass and stops the absurd situation where 20 per cent of entrants get relegated at the end of the season -- and our seasons are far too short anyway. Further, there is a fundamental time-honoured integrity to a "league" where everyone plays home and away and the best team is honoured as the best team. End of story.
Still, the worst thing about the change is not the mechanics of it, but that nobody ever asked or cared about what we thought as a fee-paying club. That is an even more fundamental problem with the northern league than the inability of North Harbour clubs to enter these days: answerability to constituent clubs. We have raised our concerns with our reps on the northern league advisory group and I am sure we will have more to say about this in future.
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As with every year, there are changes in the Melville squad. After 140 games for Melville, Eddie Trubshoe has transferred to Metro, which is understandable seeing he has been living in Auckland for well over a year. Eddie described leaving as being "like breaking up with a long term girlfriend" – and at times it was just as messy — but decided he had to do it.
We are delighted however to have Scott Robinson to replace him. Scott made his goalkeeping debut in the premier league last week and was outstanding, making three critical saves. Scott is a key club member, also coaching the women’s A team and assisting Steve Owens on the sponsorship front.
Matt Friel, also living in Auckland, has opted to play for Central United over the winter, though because of his success with Auckland City over summer is unlikely to be on deck this weekend. Nathan Holten has transferred to Wanderers after 99 first team games for Melville.
On the credit side, Joe Simpkins (Wanderers last winter) has shipped in after a strong summer season for Waikato FC, though has been struggling with inuury, while youngsters Shaun Kipara and Tewi Te Pou have stepped up from Melville Reserves. And of course, Gavin Douglas – our Chatham Cup final skipper — is back from a 100 years overseas.
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This season new pre-match protocols, designed to raise standards and address behaviour issues in the game, have been introduced.
This includes a fair-play hand-shake before kick-off. Readers will have their own thoughts on how much difference handshakes will make, but it is a programme being introduced all over the place and we have had quite specific instruction on this, and even the odd diagramatic map.
Each team must line up on the side of the halfway line. The home team, led by their captain, then walks to shake hands with the referee(s), and then the away team. Once each home team player has finished shaking hands with the last away team player they disperse. Once the last home team player has passed by, the away team then follows their captain to shake hands with the referee(s). Once the handshakes have been completed the referee then tosses the coin. The theory is, it should reduce the instances of dissent. I’m picking the ref’s arm will be so knackered after all that handshaking, he won’t have the energy to reach for his cards even if somebody gets gobby-mouthed.
But to help get everyone on the pitch early enough for handshakes, Melville have installed a new dressing room buzzer system in the changing rooms, which will be very useful with the new pre-match protocols.
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Last week’s 1-1 draw with Papatoetoe was one of those strange matches with almost a pre-season tinge to it. Looking back, we were seldom in trouble, but simply didn’t create enough in the final third to deserve to win. We had our moments, with a heap of possession, but didn’t get the ball into the box nearly enough. Too often it was a case of the final pass being crap or just not having enough numbers forward. Hopefully that is not the case today.
Teenagers Sean Kipara and Tewi Te Pou made their northern league debuts, as did Alex, a new Chinese lad.
Regardless of the result today, please join us for an Easter drink in the clubrooms afterwards. --
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Waikato FC’s template for success
27.12.2008: Should Waikato FC’s table-topping efforts in the New Zealand Football Championship at the Christmas break prompt a re-think of the fundamentals of sporting success?
Admittedly the summer soccer season is still far from over, but "The Volunteers", as some of us have nicknamed the Waikato class of 08-09, don’t conform to any conventional archetype for success.
This is a club which was due to pull the plug on its very existence a couple of weeks out from the season start, but now sits two points clear at the top of the table. By rights they should be down with the dead men.
Whichever way you look at it, Waikato’s achievement flies in the face of logic, reason and assumption. And for those of us brought up on a steady diet of trials, tribulations, and disasters in Waikato football, it’s doing our heads in.
This is the first time I can recall a Waikato soccer team sitting top of a national league of any description since the old Waikato United (The Bulls) did so in July 1992. So it’s been a long time between drinks.
The question is, could other teams, clubs, or even codes learn from the curious Waikato FC template? Let’s go through a quick checklist and see what has made Waikato tick so far this summer.
- Preseason
. Waikato simply didn’t bother. The first match they played together as a team was the opening league match, away to Hawke’s Bay. They lost, but played so well it didn’t feel like a loss -- and long-term it hasn’t hurt them.
- Players
. Waikato left it till the very last minute to see who was really keen – and offered them exactly nothing. They still managed to pick up most of the best of the locals, and dragged in a clutch of kids and a bevy of leftovers from Auckland. And they have since all worked their socks off.
- Coaching
. Waikato ditched the coach they had hand-picked after interviews and instead went with a bloke they had shown the door to after failing to win a match just two seasons earlier. The clincher was that, like the players, Dave Edmondson agreed to do it for free.
- Team strip
. Forget the theories about good kit leading to good performances. Waikato are playing in last year’s unflattering strip, which embarrassingly advertises Distraction Bar, a Hamilton establishment which has since been through two names changes.
- Venue.
Waikato thumbed their noses at the league criteria and instead went down-market. They ditched the state-of-the-art facility at Waikato Stadium which had been a key plank in Waikato being accepted into the league in the first place, and settled on the more undulating surface of Centennial Park, Ngaruawahia -- where they seem to get by just fine without a single security guard, and nobody checks bags or tells family groups they can’t bring sandwiches in.
- Administration.
Who needs flash offices? Club manager James Raffan runs things out of the front room of his Hamilton flat. Meanwhile chairman Keith Ward added to the bizarre flavour of everything to do with Waikato FC by resigning – just a couple of days after the team went top. There is no powerful administrative machine at work here.
- Gate receipts
. You’d think this would be vital for a cash-strapped club, but Waikato FC simply haven’t bothered. Entry is free to their home games at Ngaruawahia. Weirdly, Waikato place the lowest possible value on their performance at a time when they have the best product to offer.
- Fans.
It’s not as if there is some hardcore fandom passionately driving Waikato’s aspirations. Several hundred turn up to home matches, but the buy-in is limited, with most punters pathologically tight-fisted. I took a bucket round for donations during the home match aqainst Otago, and just three of at least 200 fans I approached were prepared to donate the full $10 they would have been charged at Waikato Stadium.
However it should be acknowledged that this checklist doesn’t tell the whole Waikato FC story.
The wider truth is Waikato have a spine of players who are as talented as any in the country and a couple of youngsters who will be hot property in a few years. Waikato have a group of lads who badly want to be playing, and as a unit they benefit from the team spirit that inevitably builds when you have your backs to the wall.
In Dave Edmondson Waikato have a coach with plenty to prove, who is seizing an unexpected second chance. He is steadily moulding a formidable unit, capable of playing in a number of formations. And as a coach it must be said Edmondson is far more ready to be in charge at this level than he was first time around in 2006.
Working from a club base at Ngaruawahia has also helped enormously in tying everything together. The work of Maxine Williams and her dedicated off-field team at Ngaruawahia United has made a huge difference. The club is the basic unit of organisation in football, and despite summer league critieria trying to play it down, the most successful teams have always had powerful club backing.
So, are Waikato are succeeding because of the cumulative effect of their unusual approach -- or in spite of it?
It’s always dangerous drawing up cause and effect relationships in anything as fickle as sport, and perhaps it is still too early to make a final call on that.
But what we do now know is it will take a very good team to beat Waikato FC when the New Zealand Football Championship resumes on January 11 (Waikato at home to Hawke’s Bay, 2.30pm).
# Bruce Holloway was a founder member of Waikato FC.
Thoughts on Waikato v Hawke's Bay
10.11.08: It was a surprisingly good performance for a Waikato team having its first outing as a team.
There were a couple of negatives, but first the positives...
For the most part the back four were capable of looking after anything thrown at them, and Waikato showed spark on attack when they got forward.
Marco Rojas, who has just turned 17, made an excellent debut when he came on at left midfield in the second half, and Craig Wylie did much to fix the problems on the left flank with a strong game at fullback.
Gaham Pearce organised well in defence and showed sound judgement, and up front Steven Holloway had an energetic game, coming out well from a very physical joust with his Melville team mate Che Bunce (who was booked, and subbed off before the end with injury).
For a 30-minute spell in the second half Waikato completely bossed the game, aided by the same strong wind which had been their enemy in the first half. They scored one and went within an ace of scoring several more.
Waikato, playing into the wind, fell behind in about the 15th minute. Ben Hunt needlessly lost possession on the left and Hawke's Bay swifly moved the ball forward to Vanuatu striker Seule Soromon. He was credited with the goal, but I think it was Nathan Strom who got the topuch which sent it past Jason mann for Napier's opening goal. Strom generally had a strong game, with his long throw a real weapon. I did wonder if Mann should have stopped it.
Waikato immediately had a chance to level. Holloway played Hunt in, but with just the keeper to beat, his shot was saved and the rebound cleared.
Holloway then reached the byline on the left and pulled back perfectly for Shaun Van Rooyen, but he fluffed his shot. Van Rooyen also had two good second half openings, but never even got close.
Joel Mathews played a good 1-2 with Stu Hogg and hit the byline, but his cross was cleared.
Napier made it 2-1 when Leon Birnie cruised past van Rooyen and it all opened up for him.
In the second half Wylie hit the cross bar with a curling left footer from the right of the penalty area.
Shortly after Waikato pulled a goal back. Wylie's right-wing corner was met at the near post by Holloway who squeezed between some pretty tall timber in Bunce and massive new import, Daniel Kirkup.
Two knock downs fell to Van Rooyen in the area but he was unable to capitalise.
Rojas came on as sub for Hunt, playing on the left flank, and immediately made an impact with his ability to beat players and fire in crosses.
And Strom bombarded the Napier penalty box with his huge long throws.
Holloway had the ball in the net again following a set play, but ref Chris Kerr -- who I thought had a good game -- ruled Pearce had fouled a defender.
Rojas got cleaned out in a tackle early on, earning a yellow card for a defender, and had one great run where he swerved past two defenders and laid in a good cross. On another occasion he earned a free kick from which he went within inches of scoring with a bending right-footer.
Margetts also came on as sub, for Nick Robson on the right. it was not his debut - that happened last season - but this was his first meaningful involvement in the national league.
Meanwhile for Napier Alex Barlow came on for Bunce, with first-choice left back Chris Davies switching to centre back.
Holloway almost levelled the game in injury time, but the wind carried his looping 25m left-footer just over the bar and onto the roof of the net with the keeper beaten.
Because so few fans made the trip, here are some player comments with scores out of 10:
Jason Mann: Jury is still out. Might have done better with first Napier goal, but good distribution. 5
Joel Mathews (RB): An intelligent player, and usually makes it count with his overlapping runs. 7
Nathan Strom (CB) Powerful in the air, strong in the tackle, and his long throwns add an extra dimension. Unfortuate to score an own goal. Coughed up a silly booking for hand ball in trying to do the Diego thing. 6
Graham Pearce: (CB) Marshalled the defence well, good decision making at the back 8.
Craig Wylie: A saviour for Waikato in that he has added steel to the backline. Played some great balls forward and loves to attack down the flank. good set plays 8
Nick Robson (RM): ran hot and cold. Better going forward than defending, but has good potential and still worth a start. 5
Joe Simpkins (CM): had a great second half where he won a lot of ball and distributed well after a non-descript first half. 6
Sean van Rooyen (CM) : Disappointing, failed to impose himself on the game and shooting was wayward. 4
Ben Hunt (LM): A youngster, work in progress. Maybe should have been subbed earlier. 3
Stu Hogg: Didn't star, but an important foil up front and ran hard. 6
Steve Holloway: Strong game, and held the ball up well. Had a real tussle with the big Napier defenders and gave as good as he got. His goal was his sixth in his last three natinoal league outings. Incidentally he is Waikato's all time top goalscorer (10) after just 16 games. 8
Marco Rojas: 7. Waikato lose a bit defensively when he comes on, but gains much more attacking-wise. Could be Waikato's "find" of the season. The most exciting Waikato player to watch.
Sam Margetts; didn't see enough of him in action to make a call.
I really only have two criticsm of Waikato. Paul Stewart really should have played. He, Jon Stableas and Rhys Ruka were the unused subs. Paul is now well blooded at national league level, and is a tenacious customer. In my view Stewart should have started at left half, when ben hunt struggled, though equally could have come on for van rooyen.
When you consider this was effectively Waikato's "pre-season" - their first run - they were well organised, and competitive. Dave Edmondson (the less animated of the two coaches) has done well to put this team together on a shoe string.
But will Waikato have to change formation to cope with Auckland this week? 5-4-1 anyone, with Pearce sweeping? Or 4-5-1, with Hogg into midfield (and Stewart as well)?
Big on Japan
5.11.2008: Japan have left town, but they are still the team everyone is talking about at the Fifa U17 Women's World Cup in Hamilton.
In the latest round of group matches at Waikato Stadium, Germany and Korea PDR grafted to a 1-1 draw last night to both proceed to the quarterfinals from Group B. Then Canada and Denmark trudged through an often dour scoreless stalemate to emerge as the successful teams from a Group A.
But while it made for a happy group ending for all four teams on show in Hamilton, it also left many of the 3283 fans suffering withdrawal symptoms from the absence of the Japanese.
Germany and Korea DPR are resolute and well-drilled teams, while Canada and Denmark are similarly tenacious, and they have all had their moments.
But none of them possess the X factor which made Japan such addictive viewing on the first two match days.
The contrast was such that the success of these four quarterfinalists - all worthy in their own ways – perversely only served to underline how special Japan had been, with their electrifying movement, mercurial skills and keen eye for an attacking chance.
For all that, Korea DPR have already shown in qualifying they have the measure of the Japanese, while the Germans gave a hint they would be well enough organised to assert their physical superiority in a head-to-head meeting.
The Koreans, who played up to stereotypical pre-conceptions by all sporting the same pageboy-style haircuts, received magnificent sideline support. Waikato's Korean community formed a small enclave at the front of the Wel Energy Trust stand, where they incessantly chanted and banged pots, pans, or anything they could find.
It was something leathery-faced coach Rl Ui Ham said gave great heart to his players, though Korea seldom appealed as a team driven primarily by emotion. Their play was generally crisp and concise, but like Germany, they lacked the spontaneity and unpredictability of Japan in the attacking third.
German coach Ralf Peter said it was the first time the Koreans had shown "their true face" in the tournament and warned they would be hard to beat in future rounds.
But that sums up most of the tournament teams. They are hard to beat.
So far Japan stand apart, because, by contrast, they are hard to stop from scoring.
Meanwhile Canadian coach Bryan Rosenfield saw plenty of promise in the two teams which failed to qualify from his team's very even group.
Colombia, like many South American countries, were an emerging force in women's football, he said.
"They bring some magnificent things to the game that we don't have in North America," he said. "As soon as they get the athleticism more, it is going to be tough to beat the South Americans."
And yet he was not surprised that New Zealand beat them 3-1.
"New Zealand comes out and plays hard. It is always tough to play the host country, and of course they (NZ) wanted to come out and show that 'hey, we are a good team' and can beat some of the good teams. "
He said New Zealand had similarly been very competitive against his team and Denmark.
"They just didn't get it on the day. I felt sorry for them, becuase they worked hard and deserved it as well."
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The Group of Goals
2.10.2008: One of the prime reasons Hamilton's Group C matches have been so entertaining in the Fifa U17 Women’s World Cup has been the general edge attackers have enjoyed over defenders.
While Group C is unavoidably destined to be the "Group of Death for either France or USA this week, it has been anything but the "Group of Dearth" in the two rounds so far.
The four games to date have produced 25 goals, with the only surprise being that the total hasn't been even higher, so dominant have the strikers and wingers been in crafting meaningful attacks on goal.
In that respect it has helped that Japan have played with a real swagger, and arguably emerged as the most exciting team in the tournament.
With two rounds of matches complete, Japan have six points and 10 goals to their credit, despite having played two of the more fancied contenders in USA and France.
If their 3-2 win over USA was enthralling, the subsequent 7-1 demolition of France was as close to perfect as you could expect from teenage female footballers. They made France – 6-2 winners over Paraguay three days earlier -- look like novices.
French coach Gerard Sergent used terms such as "scientific" and 'synchronised" to suggest three or four of the Japanese players -- most notably Mana Iwabuchi and Chinatsu Kira -- were operating at a level well beyond his own charges.
There is certainly a magnetic quality to Japan's play, with slide rule passes, creative interplay, inventive flicks, and telepathic understanding. When they push forward -- which is extremely often – they are irresistible.
But above that, there is also an obvious joyfulness to their play. Kira summed it up when she admitted she enjoyed playing with Iwabuchi and the pair have a lot of fun when they are on the field together. "We think the same and are on the same wavelength."
However at the other end of the park Japan are less convincing.
The most glaring weakness has been in the goalkeeping department, where first choice custodian Saki Nakamura has looked extremely vulnerable.
With the talent they have displayed in Hamilton, this is shaping as Japan’s best chance to win a Fifa tournament. But the unanswered question is: can a team win at this level with a goalkeeping weakness?
Japan have managed it so far, mainly by keeping the ball up the other end of the park, though coach Hiroshi Yoshida has indicated he will give one of his other keepers a run in Christchurch.
Meanwhile USA coach Kaz Tambi, who found out just how good Japan were a few days earlier, said the tournament was a trip into unchartered waters for players and coaches.
"I have no idea where we are compared to the rest of the pack," he said after the come-from-behind win over Paraguay.
"We just take it game by game. Everybody will have a better idea of what the height of the U17 age bracket looks like at the end of it.
"It will be a tremendous tool for us in terms of assessing our game in our country and basically learning the lessons of the world cup and taking back home the insights that we gain here so we know what to work on with out own kids.
He described the tournament as a learning process.
"I think after the experience is over we will be able to sit back and really see where the game of soccer is going around the world with this age group."
Japan displays great Mana in Group C
30.10.2008: Remember the name Mana Iwabuchi.
The diminutive Japanese 15-year-old is destined to emerge as one of the future stars of international football, judging by her mercurial efforts on the opening day of play in Group C at the Fifa U17 Women’s World Cup tournament in Hamilton.
On a day of multiple highlights, Iwabuchi’s inspirational playmaking was a key factor in Japan’s enthralling 3-2 victory over a highly fancied USA team.
France also unveiled an emerging star in striker Pauline Crammer, who notched the first hat trick in Fifa women’s U17 finals as her team romped to a 6-2 win over Paraguay in the late game.
But Iwabushi was something else again. She says she has modelled her game on Brazilian female great Marta, and it shows.
She is highly skilled, with an array of party tricks, and a keen eye for when to best use them. She has lovely poise, movement and vision – and an educated left foot to match. Her touches in the attacking third were invariably brilliant.
However her most breathtaking moves at Waikato Stadium were based on sheer simplicity. Carefully weighted through balls, perfect dummies, and crisp one-twos were presented as objects of footballing beauty.
Iwabuchi later said she could do a lot better with her dribbling, and confessed to suffering from nerves. But it is the teams yet to face her who should be feeling more anxious.
It was a bonus that a crowd of 4816 – believed to be a record for a football match at Waikato Stadium - was present to add atmosphere to a rollercoaster match. Busloads of schoolchildren shipped in, populating the Wel Energy Trust Stand, which like everything else at the stadium, has been stripped of its usual identifying ads and replaced with Fifa hoardings.
Rather than be rattled by conceding a soft early goal, Japan took control and peppered the USA goalmouth with a series of enterprising moves. They finally gaining reward when Iwabuchi – who else -- fittingly pounced on a crossbar rebound to slam home a crisp left footer.
It was one of six occasions in two matches that the crossbar at the western end of the ground camer into play. Teams will be reassured to learn that Oceania confederation official Seamus Marten was able to personally confirm that the bar’s height checked in at the regulation 2.44m.
The game changed completely at the start of the second half. USA dominated, got their passing going, and Japan wilted.
Having shown the best of women’s football, Japan duly displayed the worst. For a second time a goalkeeping howler gifted USA the lead following a speculative shot from Mandy Laddish in the 51st minute.
Under no pressure, Japanese keeper Saki Nakamura fell over, allowing the ball to bounce over her and into the net. If that was embarrassing, Nakamura at least later redeemed herself with two fine late saves which secured three points.
Natsumi Kameoka provided another of the day’s highlights when she thundered home an amazing 35m volley to again draw Japan level, after being set up by Iwabuchi. And six minutes later super-sub Kei Yoshioka banged in another volley for the winner.
At the final whistle the Japanese, who had been so inscrutable with much of their play, celebrated passionately. They offered a combined bow to the feverish support they received from the Wel Energy Trust Stand.
It was Japan’s first victory over the USA in a women’s Fifa match and may yet prove decisive, though Laddish was confident the USA would bounce back strongyl in the next two matches.
"But we have to do better in midfield," she said.
Japan, USA and France all have much to commend them, but only two teams can progress. It’s an unwritten rule that every Fifa tournament needs a Group of Death, and in this case it may be Group C.
Japan have a quicksilver midfield and slick attack, but it won’t have gone unnoticed that their backline is nowhere near as sharp.
French coach Gerard Sergent was among those impressed in the stands.
"It was a very good match," he said. "Japan are a very good team. They play beautiful football."
Sergent’s team had a clear edge in technique, tactics and physique against Paraguay and should have won by a wider margin.
As a contest it was not quite as riveting as the Japan-USA game, but it still produced plenty of drama.
France raced to a 3-0 lead and really should have doubled that, with Crammar showing pace and composure in the final third to net twice, while Charlotte Poulain also scored in the opening 17 minutes.
The goals mirrored the moves the French had worked so hard on in a training session at Gower Park a day earlier.
But Paraguay showed resilience to snatch two goals against the run of play, including a brilliant curling free kick from Jacqueline Gonzales just before half time.
With France 5-1 up and the match seemingly of statistical interest only, controversy erupted.
Lea Rubio – who had already been yellow carded -- received a straight red card from Thai referee Pannipar Kamnueng for a high foot in a midfield challenge. It was perhaps worthy of a free kick, but the bottom line was this was nightmare refereeing, and the poor kid left the pitch in tears, her tournament perhaps over. All the officials are female. You can't help but get the impression the players might have preferred to have a cross-section of northern league referees.
The match was then reduced to a 10-a-side contest when Gonzales created her own slice of history, becoming the first player to score a goal and be dismissed in the same women’s U17 finals match.
Gonzales had protested at the awarding of France’s final goal, after substitute Camille Catala shrugged off two attempted fouls in a surging run down the right wing.
The assistant referee waved her flag for the foul, but referee Kamnueng played the obvious advantage, given Catala was on her feet and goalbound.
However the ferocity of the flag-waving prompted the final Paraguayan defender and keeper to pull out of their challenges and Catala nonchlantly slid the ball home on a tight angle.
There were numerous stoppages, and the game lost direction in the final 20 minutes, though it did give the stretcher bearers a good workout with numerous incursions onto the pitch.
In stoppage time Paraguay grabbed an unexpected consolation goal in pouncing on some indecisive French defending for Paola Genes to nod home.
France wont be able to get away with such sloppiness against Japan, though on the evidence of their opening performance, still have much in reserve.
There seems to be a tendency for coaches to play down the impact of their stars at this level.
Crammer’s classy and composed finishing has thrust her forward as a possible Golden Boot candidate. But Sergent ‘s verdict was brief and non-committal.
"She can score more," he said.
Council opens its wallet for Waikato-wahia
28.10.2008: Waikato District Council has effectively chucked $20,000 into the pot towards Ngaruawahia United hosting Waikato FC matches at Centennial Park this summer.
At a full council meeting yesterday, councillors endorsed a recommendation from chief executive Gavin Ion that the funding be approved from existing council budgets.
"This year Waikato FC has been unable to find sufficient funding to run the team in the normal manner as a semi-professional team," he said.
"Ngaruawahia United has stepped in to assist Waikato FC and to keep the team alive."
Hosting the NZFC matches is subject to the club making a number of improvements to Centennial Park, and the council has agreed to fund upgrades relating to council facilities. These consist of "security fencing" of the No 1 pitch ($12,000 after allowing for grants from Lion Foundation) and lining the changing sheds ($7500).
Ngaruawahia United had sought $28,500 with the extra $9000 covering temporary seating costs and extending the dugouts.
In a letter to the council, Ngaruawahia said it was also converting the upstairs facilities for Waikato FC and media, while their kitchen will need to be upgraded to cater for aftermatch meals (which must mean the national league players are getting better nosh than what is served in winter!).
Ngaruawahia said clubrooms upgrade work would cost between $20-30,000.
Ion told the meeting it was an opportunity to put Ngaruawahia on the map, football-wise.
In moving the motion, deputy mayor Clint Baddeley praised Ngaruawahia's initiative in stepping in and ensure the future of Waikato FC, noted far more children played soccer than rugby, and said it was good for the district.
Ngaruawahia councillor Moera Solomon had a few doubts, and predicted it could cause difficulty with other codes.
"It is like our golf club," she said. "Most of the members are from Hamilton."
She questioned why a security fence was suddenly needed, but Ion rejected the inference that it was to make it a charge ground. He said the fence would protect the piotch from the lies of motorbikes.
"I understand the club is not proposing to charge anything (for matches)," he said.
Cr Allan Sanson (Whangape) took issue with council plans to take $4000 from the Rural Ward Discretionary Fund to help fund the project, when no money was being allocated from Ngaruawahia community Board budget.
But Mayor Peter Harris said there was enough money within the existing sports park upgrade budget to cover the cost anyway, and nobody voted against the motion.
In a funny sort of way, the spontaneous/urgent nature of the Ngaruawahia request helped at civic level. There was no time to consider it at committee level. The politicians bought into the notion that this was all happening very quickly and were carried along by the sense of an active last-ditch saviour exercise. There was simply no time to shag around with staff reports etc.
My view is this is fantastic for Waikato football.
In chasing a national league dream, Ngaruawahia will also gain the fringe benefit of achieving a significant upgrade of their facilities which will be significantly funded by ratepayers. Good on them.
To be a strong code we need strong clubs. And part of being a strong club in a community context is being able to unlock public-sector support and drink from the public trough, as other codes have long done.
What a week for Waikato-wahia
18.10.2008: For a financially beleagured club, seemingly on the point of calling it quits, Waikato FC -- or Waikato-wahia as it will surely become now known -- has achieved a remarkable amount in the past week.
It has deconstructed the historic NZFC criteria and gained provisional permission to play its matches at Centennial Park, Ngaruawahia – at a saving of at least $40,000 on Waikato Stadium (my estimate).
It has been a major player in the revamp of the league, to 14 matches from 21 (though with top four playoffs so elongated you hardly need a grand final).
Waikato-wahia has reduced its player bill by about $50,000 by deciding to opt for those who will play for free. And it has saved tens of thousands of dollars by installing "volunteer coach" Dave Edmondson. It has re-patriated training to the Waikato, rather than Auckland.
It has also experienced an upsurge of interest in season tickets and small sponsorship packages. Amazing stuff.
All in all, it neatly sums up one of the major paradoxes about the national league. We can’t afford it (when run properly) - and we certainly can’t afford not to have it.
Because of this, change and upheaval have been the defining feature of the national league, in its various guises, since 1987 at least.
Over the history of the league since 1970 you find the same recurrent themes and arguments debated over and over again, as football circumstances vary wildly.
In recent seasons the NZFC has been built on a deck of cards. If people stopped gambling, the financial lifeblood would dry up. I estimate that last year, every punter through the gate was being subsidised to the tune of $200, if you were to meet expenses through gate takings.
That’s unsustainable. We have to find an economic model that works.
There are other major battles headed for Waikato. Can they make it work at Ngaruawahia? (It’s not like they’d have to get too many along to beat Waikato Stadium crowds.) Will they have a product that is worth paying to see? Will there even be a charge at a non-charge park? Can a team of volunteers match it with the likes of Auckland and Waitakere?
I don’t know the answers. But if Waikato-wahia can get over these hurdles, they can get over any.
Goodbye Kevin
16.10.2008: Waikato FC has parted company with its most successful coach. Kevin Fallon never lost a match in his time with Waikato. Okay, so he never got to lead his team in a competitive match, with his spell restricted to a couple of trials, but in gloomy times such as this, you have to talk these things up.
Fallon yesterday became the first major casualty of Waikato's funding crisis, leaving the club after it told him it could not afford to pay him under its financial rescue plan.
That's not only saved tens of thousands of dollars, but left the way open for volunteer Dave Edmondson to make a return as coach, nearly two years after leaving the job under a cloud, in the wake of poor results and three of hisn players arrested for fighting outside a Napier pub.
Fallon, who leaves having never coached his team in a competitive match, said the parting with Waikato was amicable.
"Football has got to carry on in the area, but working there as an amateur is not my cup of tea,'' he said.
But what about his replacement?
Edmondson's first trot with Waikato was disastrous, but the bloke has a real passion for the game, as can be seen from his multiple roles at Ngaruawahia United, Claudelands Rovers (women) and Hamilton Boys' High.
He appears to have got the job by being first to put his hand up, which at least shows a certain initiative. There may have been others who would jump at the job, but when a club is in crisi mode, you tend to overlook matters of process.
New Zealand Football officials were today due to inspect Ngaruawahia's Centennial Park Waikato's proposed new home venue to see if it would be acceptable for New Zealand Football Championship matches. if it is, it will not only offer waikato a lifeline, say much about how the national league landscape has changed in terms of adherign to mandatory criteria. Still, reality usually trumps dreams.
The rescue package
14.10.2008: Waikato FC development manager James Raffan is frantically working on a rescue package that will allow the beleaguered club to take its place in the New Zealand Football Championship this summer.
Teams must register their intent to play in the competition by October 15.
On Saturday the club said it was likely to withdraw from the league -- due to start on November 9 -because it was about $90,000 short, after failing with applications for community gaming funds. But today Raffan was due to table a new budget with the club's board, under which expenses would be slashed by about $100,000.
At the same time, the club has received a steady flow of pledges of support from the wider football community, alarmed at the spectre of Waikato again disappearing from top domestic level.
A flurry of season ticket sales and small sponsorship packages in the wake of the news of Waikato's problems have also added thousands to the coffers.
``This at least gives us a fighting chance,'' Raffan said. ``It is a bare bones budget, but we have our backs to the wall, and this would at least get us through the season.
``I have been amazed at the offers of assistance. People are scared of losing it (Waikato FC). My phone has been ringing off the hook.
``In effect we are talking about a franchise re-start.''
Under the Raffan plan Waikato would play all its home matches at Ngaruawahia if accepted by league management player payments would be slashed, and he would run club operations out of his own home.
Waikato's national league youth team - originally run by the federation -- would also be axed.
Raffan said Waikato FC was rejected by some community funding agencies because its existing operations were considered to be ``semi-professional''.
That will certainly not be the case under a radical rescue package.
If Waikato's player budget is emasculated, the likely effect would be for many "travelling" Auckland players to withdraw. That in turn would open the door for second-tier Waikato-based players who would otherwise not get a sniff of national league action, to step up.
But would that work? Would Waikato still have a product worthy of competing at that level if we relied mostly on the remaining Melville, Wanderers and Ngaruawahia lads? Post your thoughts in the Melville forum.
People wishing to pledge financial support can contact Raffan, Ph 027 6007090.
Waikato FC pull the plug
11.10.2008: Well, things are a LOT worse than even I thought with my previous post yesterday on the NZFC front. Waikato FC is withdrawing from the NZFC, citing a drying-up of gaming trust funds. Wellington is also struggling financially big-time, though on the positive side (but watch for an ethnically-based South Auckland outfit to make a big push in the coming days.
Anyway, here is a press release from Waikato FC.
WAIKATO FC MAY SEEK A LEAVE OF ABSENCE
Waikato Football Club is likely to withdraw from the 2008-2009 New Zealand Football Championship, due in large part to the current economic climate.
"As it stands Waikato Football Club are currently about $90,000 short of being able to compete this season and we have to take the tough, but correct financial decisions" said board chairman Keith Ward.
"Many of the financial avenues we have relied on in the past four seasons are no longer possible with charitable trust money heavily reduced and facing increasing competition compared to previous years. We are seriously considering pulling out of the competition early next week and have advised New Zealand Football accordingly."
In the four years since the competition began, Waikato Football Club has provided a career pathway for a number of talented players including five of the New Zealand Olympic squad.
After successfully bringing national league football back to the region after a six-year absence, the franchise made the playoff semifinals in the competition’s inaugural season.
Against the odds, Waikato has managed to raise a total of over $1,000,000 in operating funds in the past four seasons, but this year the cupboard is very bare.
"We are absolutely gutted that we may have to sit this season out because hundreds of people have supported this club and worked to make it viable and successful in its purpose, despite the doubters".
Waikato’s only hope for this season would be a cash injection from an "as yet unknown white knight," commented Ward.
And here's a Waikato FC letter to sponsors....
Valued partners and friends of Waikato Football Club
Today Waikato Football Club issued a press release stating that due to financial uncertainty we may be unable to take part in this season’s New Zealand Football Championship. In truth, the only way we could start the season next month would be due to a massive cash injection and with growing financial uncertainty across many industries, the likelihood of this is minimal.
The news is almost certain to break tomorrow so I felt it was appropriate to let you know in advance. Unless such a white knight can be found Waikato FC will petition New Zealand Football and the other club chairmen for a one year leave of absence. Many of the other clubs are also finding it financially tougher this season, but the league is expected to proceed in 2008-09.
I would like to offer my own assurances as development manager that this was not due to negligent spending but rather the unexpected closure of revenue streams. Since we discovered the news on Tuesday, the board and I have explored every viable avenue to replace the lost income. The decision we have to make is not one taken lightly, as we are effectively suspending the playing careers of a combined 48 players this summer and disappointing around 500 children who signed up for free tickets.
I will be meeting with the board on Tuesday to discuss the future of the club. My preference, if it is viable to do so, is to stay on as development manager and work to sell off some assets while working on creating new revenue streams such as a thriving high performance programme that caters for players aged between 15 and19. If Waikato Football Club is to succeed it will be on the back of new partnerships with the federation, local clubs and the corporate sector and I am confident that we can achieve this.
However I would like to thank you for your commitment and will make myself available to each of you after Tuesday to discuss the future and the impact on our relationship.
Sincerely
James Raffan
Development Manager
Waikato Football Club
Waikato worries
10.10.2008: When does a Waikato football team cease being a "Waikato" team?
I've been musing the question, because it appears increasingly likely Waikato FC will be training in Auckland this summer. Wednesday and Friday sessions at Mangere or Mt Albert Grammar seem the most likely option, at the time of writing.
When you have a coach that lives out of town, and the bulk of your players living in Auckland, having the team train outside their "home" province makes a certain amount of sense.
But you can't escape the fact but it's another sign of Waikato football erosion. Last season Waikato lost proper aftermatch functions. This summer we are in danger of losing our "home" training base.
Where does it end? How long before the "elsewhere" rationale is further extended to include "home" matches. No suitable Hamilton venue? I know, how about Mt Wellington, or North Shore? After all, a lot of "our" players live closer to there than Resthills. Not enough fans? Loads more in south, east and north Auckland.
So the real question is: Are we losing Waikato FC by stealth? And if so, does anybody care?
The founding rationale behind Waikato FC was to have an entity which allowed the province to have a presence at top domestic level. From a club perspective, it would not only stop our top players having to travel -- but would also provide a lure to re-populate the game at winter club level, with ambitous players being attracted to settle here.
Not any more. We could yet end up with more Waikato-affiliated players active in summer teams NOT playing for Waikato FC than playing for them. You might scrape four or five Waikato players in the Waikato squad this season, but it is looking grim.
Players have always gone where they feel they best fit, and the coach's prime task is to mould a winning team, not a "Waikato" team. But I can't recall a situation of "loss of belonging" quite like this before in national league annals. It is absurd.
But who is to blame? Why hasn't there been a better buy-in? Why hasn't there been a greater sense of ownership? Why hasn't their been greater leadership?
I am not being anti-Waikato or anti-Fallon. I still hope Waikato do well, and shall be supporting them again this summer (though not uncritically.) But something is terribly wrong. I believe we are in danger of "losing" Waikato FC as a meaningful Waikato football entity.
How do we change that? Do you people care?
Unfortunately I've only got questions. Has anyone out there got any answers? Appreciate some thoughts.
Plans for 2009 (from programme, 10.8.2009)
Northern League administrators recently announced that the Premier Division will consist of just 10 teams next season.
This, they say, will allow time to create something at the end of the season such as a playoff, which they believe will "enhance the appeal" of the later stages of the competition and keep more teams involved in meaningful competition right to the end. They say it has marketing appeal.
At the same time, division one will have 13 or 14 teams.
So, the bottom two premier teams will be relegated, and the next two from bottom will playoff with the second best from Division one to fill the final sport (with the division one champion getting automatic entry).
This is being touted as a one-off arrangement, while everyone waits to see how the dust settles in the North Harbour region after their top clubs were bullied out of being allowed to compete in the northern league this season.
My preference would be for the premier division to stay as a 12-team competition. The 12-team concept has stood the test of time, it offers critical mass, without having an overly long season in an environment when some clubs lose their pitch rights over summer, and few clubs have floodlights.
However the new solution is something the northern league advisory group has come up with. So while nobody actually asked us as a club what we wanted, there is at least a slither of accountability through the system. Waikato clubs are represented on the advisory group by Maxine Williams (Ngaruawahia) and John Turkingon (federation manager).
From an economic perspective it is important the club has at least 11 home matches a season to promote itself and justify its sponsorship income.
But I prefer the simple "home and away" format of a league more for reasons of competition integrity. You play every team home and away, and at the end of it you have a proven and worthy champion that nobody can argue with.
The notion of league, as such, is a hallowed one in football, despite the bastardisation of a number of southern hemisphere competitions under influence of other codes.
The prospect of a club which finishes, say, fourth, finding a fast-track path to title glory through an end-of-season knockout, grates with me.
If you want a competition where everything can come down to one match "on the day", go for the Chatham Cup. But leave the league as a league.
The good thing about the 2009 arrangement is that at this stage it is just a one-off, and it may allow an obvious pathway for 2009 to allow the two strongest North Harbour clubs back into premier ranks, which would certainly strengthen the competition, and lend credibility to the league as a whole.
Speeches (from programme July 26)
Amongst a host of "talking points" following Melville’s 3-0 away win over Papatoetoe last week was the fact coach Steve Williams never got to finish his aftermatch speech.
He quickly tired of some dweeb standing nearby making his own comments, stopped mid-sentence and handed him the microphone. Even more surprisingly, rather than reassert control and invite Steve to continue, Papatoetoe officials did nothing — with the microphone simply passed to Billy Harris to reply.
There is a long tradition in the game here of having speeches after northern league matches, and it’s one I favour.
While some have questioned it, arguing it is "a rugby thing" and noting there is no parallel at professional level, it has stood the test of time (apart from at Murdoch Park).
Because our press coverage is so spartan, and our own communication channels so haphazard (despite worthy attempts with websites, programmes, newsletter etc), it is a frontline means of imparting information and opinion in the amateur game.
Whereas overseas fans might learn what their coach thinks through the back pages of the papers, here "a little bit of hush" between pints has become a foundation for an exchange of ideas, and the basis for club acknowledgements, organisation and even agitation.
It gives a focus to the contest just witnessed and helps contextualise the game for all those that care. Indeed, you could argue our game has a stronger oral tradition than a written tradition.
The aftermatch speech has become more sanitised in recent years, but let’s not kid ourselves, the ones we love are when some speaker has an axe to grind: the aggrieved and angry coach, the conceited captain, the madcap manager or drunken director.
To recollect a few of these moments, in 1994 Eddie Edge, as Waikato United coach, told a perplexed audience he wanted his players to "bleed from the nipples" (which subsequently led to much bloodletting at Muir Park).
In 1996 Paul Nixon, rather than wishing Nelson a safe trip home, offered the following parting shot: "I hope you don’t vomit on the plane".
About the same year, after his team was beaten by Melville, West Auckland coach Dave Heath said he would bare him bum in the Farmers shop window if Melville won promotion. They did, while he resigned two days later, though Farmers remained a bum-free zone.
Waikato FC dropped aftermatch speeches them last summer, with their aftermatch attendances similarly dropping. As one fan told me, if they couldn’t be bothered making the effort, neither could he.
But back to last week’s experience. The major crime last week wasn’t that Williams was so rudely interrupted – there are dickheads everywhere these days - so much as the club did nothing about it. So take heed, if anyone interrupts the visiting speaker this afternoon, they risk having their head nailed to a coffee table
A football home (from Melville programme, July 12)
Waikato BOP federation recently convened a meeting to discuss plans for a Waikato Home of Football. It’s hardly a new concept, with the notion having been the subject of investigations since 1990, with a number of bursts of activity by various parties, including Melville United in 1996-98 -- but no tangible end product.
It is a worthy concept in my opinion - as long as there is a holistic approach towards facility development and a very clear understanding that a football centre should not be intended as a substitute for clubs also pursuing their own development plans.
The club is the basic unit of the game – and we need a model for development which acknowledges this. Waikato lacks badly in the sphere of football facilities, and we have been the last major code to drink from the public trough in Hamilton.
But at the same time it is a fundamental strength of the code that a number of clubs are pursuing their own development paths with their own home bases in terms of grounds, floodlights, and clubrooms. We don’t want to end up like hockey or cricket, where they have wonderful provincial flagship facilities - but not a single club with its own headquarters.
The federation has a broad vision of a complex with up to three training grounds and one main ground. The most talked about locations are on the far side of Tramway Rd, almost opposite Porritt Stadium, or at Wintec.
The home would be a focal point for all football bodies, a playing and training ground for rep football, referee training, administrative headquarters and a charge ground for Waikato FC.
The federation has appointed retired Hamilton businessman Brian Croy to head the latest push. They see the key as having an independent person at the helm, and there is no question Brian is a very able and resourceful man.
However I think questions of "inter-dependence" are more critical than those of "independence". For the project to gather any meaningful momentum, we need a very clear vision of how all parties are connected to it, what football needs it is expected to cater for, and what sort of ownership model there should be.
A draft organisational structure chart for the proposed home for football showed the link between the home and clubs as being a "council of clubs". By contrast, Waikato FC (not represented at the meeting) was pencilled in with a direct link to the facility - but no connectivity with the other clubs, or indeed, anyone.
When you look around other centres, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch (English Park is a one-pitch venue) and Dunedin have nothing comparative. Napier’s Park Island is perhaps the nearest comparison.
But whatever happens, Melville will be forging ahead with our own development plans.
Today you should see evidence of carpark improvements and a new perimeter hedge. Our major kitchen upgrade is almost complete, further floodlights have been added this season to our training field, and most recently, we have overhauled the interior and exterior sound system, and on Thurday night new tops were put on the older bar leaners. (Come in after the game and see for yourself). Hopefully by the end of the year we will have some terraced seating.
Charles John Dempsey, 1922-2008
It's perhaps unfortunate that Charlie Dempsey will forever be most remembered not so much for what he did during a lifetime's dedication to football administration - as for what he didn't do.
Dempsey, the patriarch of the Oceania Confederation, died suddenly on Tuesday night, aged 87, having gained worldwide infamy for abstaining, without any political mandate to do so, from a critical vote in 2000 on the hosting of the 2006 World Cup.
Against a backdrop of international politicking and alleged bribery, the then 79-year-old Oceania president held the game's destiny in his hands, but ignored clear instructions from those countries he represented and chose not to vote for South Africa, thus allowing Germany to unexpectedly win hosting rights worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The reaction was virulent.
"Welcome to a world that stinks," Henry Winter wrote in England's Daily Telegraph at the time.
"Where the most important decision in football is made by a man not making a decision, where alliances are formed between Germans and an Asian bloc seeking revenge on a Swiss lawyer, where notes are slipped under a hotel bedroom door trying to influence a New Zealander in his pyjamas. Not even Kafka could have dreamed up such a stinking world."
"This old git made a fool of football," screamed The Sun.
Sports Minister Trevor Mallard was equally scandalised. Dempsey had "damaged the international reputation of the entire country," he said.
I even got in on the act myself. As editor of New Zealand soccer fanzine Sitter, I expanded on the Australian penchant for calling Dempsey "Steptoe" (legacy of his striking resemblance to English actor Wilfred Bramble), with a three-page cartoon (Steptoe's Magnificent Adventure) and scathing editorial.
"These were the actions of a rag- and-bone administrator. It's hard to imagine even the most unscrupulous scrap metal dealer acting in the same conniving manner, and it has left Oceania deservedly viewed as the junkyard of world soccer."
But in retrospect, Dempsey deserves more credit than that.
Firstly Germany 2006, as a legacy to Dempsey, was a brilliant tournament: entertaining, well organised, and memorable. By contrast, hosting it in an under-resourced South Africa - while definitely the politically correct decision - would almost certainly have been a disaster.
And dwelling on the no-vote doesn't simply do justice to Dempsey's efforts in developing soccer in Oceania (and New Zealand), the final frontier for the world game. If Dempsey often seemed Machiavellian in his methods, he must be respected for his decades of work in welding together a football confederation - and keeping a lid on the feudal fiefdoms and football mini- despots in Oceania like nobody else has been able to do since.
Dempsey was a successful businessman, and a man driven by a rare passion for football. He could be charming, or a tough-minded straight shooter, and was imperturbable.
It was largely his administrative drive which got the All Whites to the World Cup in 1982. He was a master football politician, and widely respected within the code for his ability to get things done.
Dempsey was also one of New Zealand soccer's longest-serving administrators. He was a New Zealand Football Association national councillor for 23 years and chairman from 1982 to 1987.
Mind you, Charlie also enjoyed being on the Fifa gravy train. Dempsey attended 10 World Cups - always with his golf clubs and a few crates of Guinness in tow.
In 1982 he travelled to Spain with the All Whites, uttering perhaps the most famous Dempsey-ism: "My backside may be here in first class, but my heart is with the team back there in economy."
Born in Maryhill, Scotland, Dempsey served in the Royal Navy in World War II, and moved to New Zealand in 1952. He formed a successful construction firm, Dempsey Morton, which built the house high above Tamaki estuary where he and wife Annie lived since 1959.
Dempsey stepped down as Oceania president a week after his voting abstention in 2000, resigning from Fifa at the same time.
On the first anniversary of the infamous non-vote, Fifa appointed Dempsey to its disciplinary committee for a two-year term. Then, two years after the abstention and the international scorn, Fifa made him an honorary life member.
In 2004, he was awarded a centennial order of merit for his services to football. The same year Charlie duly applauded the belated awarding of hosting rights to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.
Fan brooding (from Melville programme, May 17)
In his wonderfully thought-provoking book, "The Meaning of Sport", Times (London) chief sportswriter Simon Barnes discusses the proposition that the act of fanship boils down to seeking out and finding disappointment.
Is being a football supporter just a way of finding a container for disappointment? In football you desire a certain result, but inevitably there are many times when you are thwarted.
As a result, you go to work brooding on Saturday’s loss, and feel genuinely downcast. And in this way football fandom protects you from other more meaningful, less bearable disappointments such as marriage, career, children, or life itself.
Mind you, you have to care enough to feel a very real disappointment of course, otherwise the therapeutic process doesn’t work. Barnes eventually dismisses this theory, concluding football is more an aspect of love, and the joys of love make pain inevitable.
But it must be said the notion of seeking out and finding disappointment certainly had merit for travelling fans at Bay Olympic last week. At the very least we were well insulated from brooding about real life after witnessing a 2-2 draw.
We had the game in the bag at the start of injury time and let it slip. An away draw against an unbeaten team was a reasonable result, but it just felt like a loss.
It doesn’t help that we have yet to win on the road this season, with a testing trip to Eastern Suburbs next week.
At least our home form has been solid in recent weeks. That’s important, because nobody should be fooled into thinking Melville have an easy task today.
Opponents Metro are sitting on the bottom of the table and winless. But they are as dangerous as any team in the league, with a squad peppered with good players. To a certain extent there’s still a bit of a phoney look to the table which won’t be exposed for a few more rounds yet.
Paperwork (from Melville programme, April 19)
No sport can rival football for paperwork. I was reminded of the fact by the stern rebuke Melville received midweek for being late in submitting the team "card" to the referee before last week’s bizarre 3-3 draw away to Lynn Avon. Regulations require the card be offered up 30 minutes before kick-off. In Melville’s case, that was before a final fitness test and warm-up had been completed to determine who would be part of the starting line-up. The choice was to submit a card and then change it - or wait a little bit and submit a correct one.
But in a playoff between common sense and paperwork, the paperwork wins every time in football.
The Melville officials chose the latter course and duly received a written "incident report" from referee Chris Kerr - and a warning from league administrators this must never happen again.
In the old days, northern league team cards were little things you could put in your wallet. These days they are more like an ACC form – only requiring slightly more information. And you’d dare not get one wrong. In 2006 Melville had the wrong number on the team card for Steve Thompson and as a result the ref refused to allow him to be substituted on, versus Three Kings.
Still, we can’t complain too much. The paperwork is, in a sense, just an official reflection of the importance we like to place on the northern league. It underscores the fact that this is a competition to be taken seriously.
Depression
Melville goalkeeper Eddie Trubshoe has suffered from depression for over a year. In the following article, which first appeared in Melville's home programme for the Wanderers match (19.4.08), he talks about his condition.
Fellow Paul Gascoigne: "Everywhere I looked, life seemed to be full of problems and they were just going to go on and on. It was never going to get any better."
Depression is something that can affect anybody, anywhere, but the consequences of somebody living with depression affects everybody around them.
The reason I'm writing this is because I suffer from depression. I’m not writing this so people will buy me a beer after the game. Although if you offer, I won't say no.
But it's more to try and break the stigma around depression.
Celebrities like John Kirwan and Gazza can talk about depression, but their experiences seem entirely alien to me, because I don't have a lot in common with them. I have suffered from depression and its symptoms for over a year, physical and mental symptoms that affected every part of my life. I got so used to feeling down and useless that I perfected wearing a "mask", which is portraying your normal self in public while you're torn up inside.
I just thought it was feeling down and feeling sorry for myself that things weren't going right but about three months ago I hit such a low that it was impossible to get any worse. It was about that time I sought help.
It feels strange now for me to admit it and be so open about it now especially after keeping hidden for so long. Part of the reason was I didn't want to appear weak and vulnerable when I thought I could snap out of it. I want to tell my story in the hope that someone reading this who feels they may be suffering from depression, or know someone they feel may be, will take the step to get help.
Depression should not be considered a weakness. It can be treated and help is always available. Too often since I have been diagnosed other people have admitted they also suffer or have feelings of uselessness but a lack of knowledge and communication around the community in general means it can be hard to take the step to get help.
The reaction of friends, family and health professionals may be a positive surprise to you. GP's are trained to acknowledge the signs and there are heaps of online resources and forums that can link you to people who are also feeling the same.
Although not everybody hits the lows I have, it's still not worth running the risk of it getting that far.
If any of this makes sense to you please visit www.thelowdown.co.nz
I would also like to thank Permashine and the Melville committee for providing me with a car for the season so I could continue to travel from Auckland and play for the club. People in this club are amazing and great friends of mine. I appreciate the opportunity to stay here and not play for a JAFA club.
Waikato FC profits
27.3.2008: Waikato FC announced a surplus of $26,236 (to June 30, 2007) at its annual meeting this week, quite a turnaround from a loss of $32,508 a year earlier.
At a low-key meeting of just 10 people (it was a bit like a Waikato aftermatch, only with speeches) chairman Keith Ward said the club was moving towards a firm financial footing, though its balance sheet still showed net liabilites of $29,390.
Financial highlights included sponsorship and grants rising from $190,646 to $306,628. Gate sales were also up - from $15,774 to $16,808. Grants accounted for 86.73 per cent of income and gate sales 4.75 per cent.
Ward said grant income would rise to about $500,000 in the next set of annual accounts, but is unlikely to be that high by 2009.
On the expenses side, Waikato Stadium costs accounted for $51,605.
"It is a tremendous facility," Ward said. "It is just a shame we can't fill it."
Loking to the future, Ward said Waikato FC was looking at greenfields development for a home for Waikato football - with a 3500-seat stadium - on the east side of the river, with Barry Croy doing scoping work on the project.
He said an NZFC review was underway, and Waikato FC favoured a later start to the season - even at the expnses of clashes at the other end of summer/autumn - in order to allow winter players to have more recovery time before competing in summer.
If that is the case, it is likely Waikato Stadium would only be available for 3-4 games, bringing into question whether an alternate venue might make more sense. Not playing at the stadium would save about $40,000, he estimated.
Other league possibilites included playing just two rounds or instituting a 10-team league, including an island team.
For me, the meeting showed Waikato's major problems have little to do with getting over relatively steep financial hurdles in the NZFC.
No, pokie money can keep the place going quite well. The real challenge is establishing some sort of wider football community relevance. The NZFC is our domestic flagship, but for whatever reason Waikato FC seems to be incidental to the life of most football people here. The Waikato directors are doing a fine job, but outside the board room there is little sense of ownership. It's as if the club exists in a vacuum. It's like it's a ghost club, at times.
Personally I prefer football "as if it really matters", overflowing with passionate struggles. For some reason I never get that sense with Waikato FC, and that troubles me.
Perhaps it's another manifestation of Waikato's "aftermatch syndrome", where it's a bit like missing the final chapter to a book (to steal an analogy from a fellow Waikato fan). There is no effort from anyone to put what has just happened out on the pitch in any sort of official context, whether it be an expression of joy or despair or anger. It never used to be like that.
A more beautiful game
11.3.08: Organisers of the U17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand (including Hamilton) later this year are determined that the event will leave "a legacy" of increased playing numbers and profile for the code.
These objectives were spelled out at a seminar hosted by the Local Organising Committee at Waikato Stadium yesterday.
Fifa development officer Glenn Turner noted previous flagship events in New Zealand had come and gone and not left the desired legacy, but organisers were doing all they could to ensure that was not the case on this occasion.
The event runs from October 28-November 16, with Hamilton the venue for one of the groups. The draw will be done on June 1 at Te Papa. Gower Park is one of three (of four) training sites named so far, and the only one with a football club base. The others are St Paul’s Collegiate and Waikato Diocesan. Further venue inspections will be held on June 3.
Women’s football was touted as "the future of the game" by speakers, because of its enormous potential for growth. Already there are 35,000 females playing in New Zealand, with one in three juniors a girl.
There were hopes the event could double the number of women’s teams in the region.
Turner said the tournament had an economic impact of $26 million.
"With figures like that it is very easy to open dialogue with organisations," he said to an audience which included city councillors Pippa Mahood, Dave Macpherson, Peter Bos and Maria Westphal.
Fifa Head of Development Programmes and selector of instructors Juerg Nepfer said the close co-operation between stakeholders (such as the city council and clubs) should open further opportunities for the code for improved infrastructure.
He said there was a need for the tournament to talked about in football circles, to be included in every speech, and for banners to be erected in the city’s streets.
Sky TV will broadcast games, with TV1 doing delayed coverage of key matches, and feeds going to up 160 countries.
Nepfer said there was a need to justify the U17s coming to places like Hamilton.
"The public must feel part of the event."
Heike Ullrich, Germany’s head of women’s football, spoke of her experience in preparing for the women’s World Cup in 2011, and the need for New Zealand to follow a similar lead in arranging for schools to "adopt a country" of one of the teams based in their city.
She said while Russia had provided magnificent facilities in hosting the 2006 Under 20 finals, the grandstands were empty, and the lack of atmosphere illustrated the need for crowds.
"We want full stadiums."
Organisers also want about 1200 volunteers nationally to help.
This could be as big a challenge as filling the stadiums, given they want to run police checks on volunteers and require passport photos and application forms, but there you go. It’s hard to imagine an event such as, say, The Australian Tennis Open, running on such a volunteer base. But then this is New Zealand, we run most things in a homespun manner.
Tickets for the four Hamilton game days (double headers) plus a quarterfinal will be priced at $30 for adults and $20 for children. Orghanisers are offerign a 10 per cent rebate for clubs elling 50 or more.
Other speakers encouraged fans to make the matches a festive occasion. (Hopefully someone with tell the security guards at Waikato Stadium, where during the national league they even searched players’ bags in their personal War on Terror.)
Club and school representatives attended from Hamilton, Rotorua and Tauranga.
Other parties included Waikato BOP Football, Wintec, council staff, and Chamber of Commerce representatives.
Melville life member Andrea Timings has recently taken up a job as a competition co-ordinator for the tournament.
Any Melville members or supporters wishing to register as a volunteer should contact Andrea. With Gower Park being used as a training base for three weeks, Melville officials will be working closely with organisers to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Northern league update - at last
7.3.2008: The northern league will consist of a premier division of 12 teams -- including Melville -- and a first division of 11 teams this winter.
Northern league clubs attended a lengthy meeting at Manurewa this week to discuss a host of options in the wake of the United Soccer 1 federation refusing to allow its men's clubs to enter the league.
Following that meeting the Auckland Football Federation board decided the premier league would consist of Central United, Eastern Suburbs, Bay Olympic, Wanderers, Tauranga, Lynn Avon, Melville, Onehunga Sports, Metro, Three Kings, Papatoetoe and Mt Albert Ponsonby.
This year's structure is regarded as "interim" with the shape of the 2009 season still under consideration, given the possibility of North Harbour clubs overthrowing their board.
At the Tuesday meeting, clubs voted 13-8 in favour of allowing East Coast Bays to retain their premier league berth by playing under the guise of registration with University Mt Wellington, after club spokesman Ross de Wynter outlined the unpopular, conniving, and bullying methods of work of the US1 federation.
Mt Albert Ponsonby - sixth in the northern league division one last season - objected to this manoeuvre, on the grounds they would miss out on premier status and it was bending too many rules.
The meeting was expertly chaired by Auckland chief executive David Parker, though worryingly only two board members were present to hear the discussion, and one of them - Mohammed Imran from Mangere, who has previously spoken against the northern league - told the meeting he had already made up his mind without listening to what clubs thought.
That was the opposite approach to that of Parker, who acknowledged the vast reservoir of football administrative experience at the meeting, could offer valuable input.
Other league options considered were a 10 team premier league, or an eight-team premier league (favoured by Central United) with teams contesting three rounds.
Melville favoured East Coast Bays retaining their premier league position with their "Trojan Horse" approach, arguing it assisted the integrity and credibility of the northern league competition, and it would be in the best interests of the game to show two fingers to the US1 board.
East Coast Bays said their players were waiting to hear if they would be accepted back into premier ranks, otherwise they would disperse to other clubs. But they were not interested in competing in the northern league first division.
The meeting heard that East Coast Bays, Waitakere City and Glenfield have not entered the new league the US1 league is trying to foist upon clubs. Glenfield and Waitakere were looking at possible legal action, but the northern league had to go ahead regardless.
Some speakers criticised the delay by US1 clubs in taking up the fight with their board, pointing out this shambles has been brewing since May.
Parker stressed that the meeting was seeking "an indication" rather than "a vote" from clubs on such issues, as the meeting was not a council of clubs, with the Auckland board insisting on having the final decision on all matters.
If that showed there is still along way to go to get the northern league to the point where it is answerable to those who contest the competition, there was a concession to clubs. An "advisory group" is being formed, which will include club representatives.
Ken Sargent of Three Kings will represent Auckland clubs, while Waikato representatives on the advisory group will be longstanding Ngaruawahia administrator Maxine Williams and Waikato BOP Football CEO John Turkington. Melville voted for both appointees.
Turkington had good news for Waikato northern league clubs. They are to be refunded $420 each from their fees from last year, money that the old northern league had previously been siphoned off to federations.
Other speakers noted the piss-weak stance of New Zealand Football over the northern league debacle, suggesting they were too distracted by their own financial woes to show proper leadership.
Meanwhile Parker said they were not actively recruiting North Harbour referees, but expected them to increasingly align themselves with the northern league. US1 is unable to hold them to ransom as it is doing with its clubs.
Speakers suggested the exodus of players from North Harbour clubs has already begun, with no transfers to date the other way.
Parker said the "end game" for northern league structures was still two years away. The league entry fee of $3235 for Waikato clubs will include a small promotional fee which will be refunded if not used.
Melville's season starts with a home fixture against Onehunga Sports on April 5, and an away trip to Lynn Avon the following week.
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