NUAFC 1968-2018

THE GORMEN
Neil and Charlie Gorman featured exclusively in the goalscoring
in the Northern League opening match against Turangi as
Narra won 3-0.
Chas netted his (a back-pass interception) and then had to
leave the field with what was diagnosed as a spiral fracture of the ankle.
That same weekend the 3rd Division took to the field with
eight of the team being experienced goalkeepers! - White,
Prendergast, Bell, Henckel, Hill, Duffull, Riches and Wright.
SUBS
The 1978 subs were set at $10 adult, $4 student and $1.50 Junior.
PLAYER SHORTAGE
It is well known that teams tend to play better when down
on numbers. This was proved so in one of our Waikato 3rd
Division matches against Cambridge. Rodney Hill
celebrated his birthday by flattening a striker and getting sent off. This
was after we had made both of our substitutes! Paul McLennan
was soon injured off and we were down to 9 men.
With the halftime score at 3 -2 to Cambridge the
old proverbial finger was pulled out and Staf Magee netted a hattrick
followed by a penalty from Ben Henckel.
The first half scorers were Ricky Duffull and Trevor
McLaughlan. Final score 6-3 to Narra.
CHARLIE'S ANGEL
A very young player was asked if he played for Mr Gorman's
team and was heard to reply "Na! I play for an old man called Charlie!"
ON LEAVE
A club member's wife was asked how long the clubhouse
had been under construction and her reply was "Well, I think it's
about two years now. That was the last time my husband was home
on leave!"
NEW BOOTS
George Sunnex and Steve Williams received their new
football boots from England but suffered complaints from their
wives Janet and Maxine. The wives claim their boots messed up the
sheets at night
PIG HUNTING
The Southern Hemisphere's largest pig-hunting competition,
hosted by Narra, got underway again on August 6th with prizes for Biggest
Boar $150, Biggest Saw $50, Best Tusks $25 and Longest Tusks $25.
The competition is in its 6th year, having been started in 1973
by AFFCo Rangers used to raise funds for their fire-razed clubrooms.
The current record was - Boar: D Bradbury 93kg. Sow - W
Schubert 56kg.
CAMBRIDGE PRE SEASON
Narra finished as runners-up to Ellerslie in the Cambridge
pre-season Tournament, winning $150.00.
PRE SEASON
Early-season training for berths in the senior side saw the
following turn up: Sean Finn, Mike Liddle, Jason Cargo, Ken Murray,
Malcolm Burt, Steve Williams, Phillip Bullivant, Eddie Carrigan, George
Sunnex, Charlie Gorman, Jeff McLaughlan, Ray Guy, Rene Noorland,
Tim Coyne, Mark Snowden, Alan Rose, Jim McCaig and Mike Heappey.
1978
A pre-season friendly against Wanderers saw goals scored by Jim
McCaig, Mike Liddle, George Sunnex and Phil Bullivant for a 4-3 win.
Another pre-season match resulted in Melville 2nd
Division winning 3-1 over our 1st Division (goal by Glen Solomon) and
the Melville 1st Division winning 2-0 (Pepe Veidema & Tom
Finnegan) over our Northern League squad.
RONNIE JOHNSON MEMORIAL TROPHY
Our Pre-season Ronnie Johnson Memorial 3rd Division
Tournament was a success for us. On the first weekend of play the results
were:
On the second weekend play continued. Semi­finals: Te
Aroha 1, Unicol 1 (Te Aroha 5-4 pen.) Ngaruawahia 2, Hillcrest 1.
In the finals Ngaruawahia blew Te Aroha away 11-1, even
lending them our keeper Sean Finn for the second half! Team and
goalscorers were Grant Prendergast, Staf Magee, Ben Henckel,
Trevor McLaughlan (1), Jeff McLauglan (3), Steve Buchanan, Jim McCaig,
Maurie Frankhouser, Glen Solomon (1), Andy Bell, William Harding, Dean
Haggie (4), Bruce McIntosh (1) & Ken Murray (1).
Group 1 W D L Pts
Ngaruawahia 1 2 0 4
Te Aroha 2 0 1 4
Tokoroa 1 1 1 3
Fraser 0 1 2 1
Group 2
University 2 1 0 5
Hillcrest 2 0 1 4
Cambridge 1 1 1 3
Morrinsville 0 0 3 0
STAF MAGEE
This was the season that Staf Magee really became famous for
his pie-eating exploits and was at one stage thinking of challenging
the world pie-eating record of 19 in 30 minutes!
CLUBHOUSE
By early March the mezzanine floor of the clubhouse had
been poured under the direction of Wal Williamson, with the
exception of the terrace area.
ALAN COTTER WINS INTERNATIONAL MEDALS
Alan Cotter, a past Club member, won a bronze medal as
cox for the New Zealand Rowing Eight this year. The World Rowing
Championships was held at Lake Karapiro, near Cambridge, New
Zealand. The squad was third behind East Germany and West
Germany. Of the 14 events this year, this was New Zealand’s only
rowing medal.
Alan made six appearances for our Northern League side in
1977, and was also prominent as a diminutive striker for the Club’s
Waikato sides as well as the local Ngaruawahia High School in
previous years. He was also (obviously) involved in the Ngaruawahia
Rowing Club as a cox.
In the following year (1979) Alan coxed the New Zealand
rowing eight to a silver medal behind East Germany in Yugoslavia.
In 2008 he was appointed as High Performance Director for
Rowing New Zealand, resigning in 2018.
67