EFC opposed to ESL as 2021 season gets underway

Eastbourne FC Chairman, Mike Andrews, says that like the vast majority of football clubs around the globe, Eastbourne were totally opposed to the recent debacle that was the formation of a European Super League.

“The Super Club owners clearly didn’t read the room and suffered at the hands of the fans,” Mike says. “The fans are the lifeblood of any football club, whether it’s one vying for a top spot in European competition, or a fledgling suburban club, struggling to field teams on the other side of the world.”

“Any club that puts money and the selfinterest of out-of-touch owners over the hearts of the masses,” he adds, “has only itself to blame when the masses revolt.”

Here in Wellington, all local football competitions have been underway since early April and Mike says that junior playing numbers are strong again this season, with just as many teams as last year.

“One of the teams (the Lions) have been asked by Capital Football to move up to a Premier grade, because they’ve been trouncing the other teams in their current one,” he says. “Unfortunately though, we again have no women's or senior teams fielded this season.”

As with last year, the EFC has three teams playing in Masters competitions, with our highest grade representatives, the Hammers, in the prestigious Masters 1 League.

“The Hammers are finding it tough mixing it with the best Masters teams in the region,” Mike says. They are currently mid-table, which isn’t a bad effort considering they’re the newest team in the grade and don’t have the playing resources that other larger clubs have.”

Player/Manager,Neil Drummond says it’s great to finally be in the topflight masters grade, which the team are collectively enjoying and he believes they are up for the challenge.

“We got off to a flyer this season by beating last year’s M1 champions Western Suburbs 2 -1,” Neil says. “Since then, we have operated on an alternating win loss strategy and are currently 3 wins and 3 losses. Nigel Butt and Jonathan Rowe are currently our top scorers with 3 goals apiece”

Last Saturday the Hammers scored an emphatic 3-1 win over NW Villa, at their chosen home ground at Petone Memorial.

The Thirsty 5’s (playing in the Masters 6th grade) and the G’s (playing in the Over 45 grade) are both going well.

“The G’s have won all their games at home,” Mike says, “cementing Bishop Park as their fortress and notching up nine goals in their last two games. They’ve lost two away games, but are nicely placed in the top half of a competition, which has been boosted by an additional 3 teams this season.”

On Saturday, the G’s won a local derby against Stop Out - at Fortress Bishop - by 2-0. The first was an unfortunate own goal, with Roo Wilkins bagging the clincher.

The real success story thus far though, is the Thirsty’s, who top their table by two points with five wins from six games played. Their first defeat came on Saturday when they went down to Wainui Pacifica Originals (now second on the table) by a goal to nil.

Their last fixture in round one is at home against Tawa Dad's Army on May 29th (2:30pm).

“They’d love to see a big home crowd for that one,“ says Mike. “Home support is always welcomed and it should be a cracker of a match. If you’re at a loose end, Bishop Park is always home to some great local football.”