NUAFC 1968-2018

Fraser. 9th division lost 1-3 to
Hillcrest. Lad­ies drew 1-1 with
Huntly. 7th grade lost 0-1 to
Maeroa. 9th grade lost 0.2 to
Newton. 10th grade drew 0-0
with Frankton. 11th grade beat
Knightorl 2-1. 13th grade won
1.0 over Huntly.
Ladies Soccer
The Huntly Press
Wednesday June 15th, 1977
At the Huntly Domain last
Sunday Huntly Thistle Ladies soccer
team drew 1-1 with Ngaruawahia-
Affco United. Thistle only had nine
players on the field but the way they
played you would have thought they
had a full team. They attacked right
from the kick-off into a strong headwind.
All the girls played good
attacking football throughout the game
and were unlucky not to have scored
on a couple of occasions in the first
half, which ended with no score.
The second half was again all
Thistle, with the corners practically all
in Huntly’s favour, and it was from a
corner that Thistle scored their goal.
Margaret Robinson from a left-wing
corner right across the goal-mouth to
Tricia Stewart, who steadied the ball
and blasted it into the back of the net.
Huntly 1, Ngaruawahia-Affco 0.
Minutes later, another corner,
this time from the right wing saw the
visitors scramble the ball off the goalline.
By this time the Huntly
keeper Pauline Cleaver, was
complaining about the cold and not
having anything to do. This was to
change in the last five minutes because
Nga-Affco threw everything they had
into attack and were rewarded with 2
minutes to go to make the final score
Huntly Thistle 1 Nga-Affco 1.
Player of the Day went to a
much-improved Sue Green.
Ngaruawahia Junior Soccer
An enviable record has been
established by one of Ngaruawahia-
Affco United’s two consistently
winning teams – the 8th and the 13th
grades.
The 8th grade (under-12
years) boasts three Waikato reps, and
from six games played to date have
won 5 and drawn 1, gaining 40 goals
and conceding 2. Striker John Bell has
amassed 21 of these goals distantly
chased by Paul McMillan with 11.
Peachgrove were at the
receiving end of the onslaught on
Saturday when John Bell put 5 goals
through with Paul McMillan and
Kerry McKee adding one each.
Goalkeeper Kerry McGee touched the
ball twice in the match but was still
well involved with his team. Peter
McGee and Philip Gray played the
consistent football expected of them
and all the team showed a developing
cohesion not altogether apparent in the
9th grade year in 1976 where they
finished the season in the middle of the
table.
Coach Glen Gray feels that
perhaps the team should have been
graded by the Hamilton Association as
“A” Division, but the boys are making
the most of the “B” Division. The team
has been carrying no reserves since
Graham Henman, one of the squad’s
outstanding forwards, suffered injury
four weeks ago and had to withdraw
from the team. Gary Ridley has been
really dependable and confident in
defence, consistently setting up counter
-attacks from opposition forays.
Other Results:- Northern
league drew 2-2 with High School Old
Boys of Auckland; 1st division lost 1-2
to Wanderers; 2nd division lost 0-7 to
Te Aroha; 3rd division lost 1-2 to
Fraser; 4th division lost 1-3 to
Hillcrest; Ladies drew 1-1 with Huntly.
7th grade lost 0-1 to Maeroa; 9th grade
lost 0-2 to Nawton; 10th grade drew 0-
0 with Frankton; 11th grade beat
Knighton 2-1; 13th grade won 1-0 over
Huntly.
Ngaruawahia H.S. Soccer Reps.
Six members of the
Ngaruawahia High School 1st 11
soccer team have been fortunate
enough to gain selection in age-group
trials for the Waikato soccer teams.
Kani Te Wiata, William
Harding and Dean Haggie have made
the initial squad in the under-16’s with
David White, Glen Solomon and
Andy Bell in the under-15’s.
Waikato and Bay Sides to
Pull Out
of Northern League?
Waikato Times
June 22nd, 1977
From the Waikato angle the
most conspicuous aspect of the
northern soccer league is the lowly
placings of local teams.
Looking down the Northern
League tables one finds no Waikato
team until the bot­tom half of the third
division. There's no doubt as to who is
dominating and reaping the fruits of
the Auckland-based League — and
that's Auckland.
With this state of affairs it is
as good a time as any once again to
ponder over the suggestion, bandied
about for at least the past five years,
that Waikato and Bay of Plenty teams
should pull out of the Northern League
and form a new competition.
TRAVELLING
Generally local Northern
1977
League teams are "brassed off" with
the travelling and costs associated with
the league.
A brief survey carried out
among the managers or coaches of
Waikato's seven Northern League
clubs revealed five favoured the
principle of forming a new league, and
two (Wanderers and Tokoroa) were
against it.
One of the advocates of a
Waikato-Bay of Plenty or Midlands
senior league is Hamilton AFC's
national league coach, Brian Coe.
He said, "One thing that's
going to improve football around here
is to cut out trav­elling to Auckland
and centre it on Hamilton."
Coe's view that Rotorua City
would not be interested in the new
regional league was confirmed by City
coach Peter Robson.
He said; "My personal view is that we
would be isolated anyway and the class
of foot­ball would not warrant it for us.
"But I think in the long term it
would be beneficial for smaller clubs. I
would take a selfish point of view —
obviously we are fairly am­bitious now
and looking for better things, and this
new league would bring us down."
SUPPORT
Coaches of Ngaruawahla­
AFFCO United and Waikato Unicol,
two clubs trying to avoid relegation
from the Northern League this season,
would support a new league.
Unicol coach Tony Wilkinson
was secretary of the Bay of Plenty
League when the idea of forming a
Midlands league was first muted five
or six years ago.
He said, "Now the strength of
Waikato soccer would jus­tify forming
a Midlands league — not next year, but
perhaps the year after."
United coach Les Vuletich, a
member of the Waikato. FA executive,
was "10 per cent behind" a new
Waikato-Bay of Plenty league.
He said. "We would get a lot
more good footballers coming back
into the game because there would' be
less travelling and clubs would prosper
more financially." Presenting a ease for
main­taining the status quo is
Wanderers' coach Paddy Bing­ham,
who said, "Clubs volunteered to go
into the Northern League. They could
stay in the Waikato League if they
wanted.
"If you commit yourself to the
Northern League you've got to try and
reach the top., If we localised the
league I think the standard would
drop."
There are many different
problems to be ironed out if a new
league is to become a re­ality.
Brian Coe was right when he
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