Melville Magic 17 e-NEWSLETTER

Chairman's Welcome Today we welcome Birkenhead United to Gower Park for the second time this season.

On their first visit, back on July 2, they won 2-0 to end Melville’s four-match winning run of midwinter and avenge our 1-0 win against them at Shepherds Park on April 15, which seems a lifetime ago when you think we still have another three weeks to go after today.

Indeed, I was chatting with club historian Ron Anorak the other day and he reflected on how the quest to find a workable national league format has this year possibly given us the longest amateur season on record.

Back in 1990 when the national league was a 14-team winter league (including our predecessor club Waikato United) and then had a top 5 “premier series” built in on top of that, a competition which began on March 11 finally wrapped up on October 7, seven months later - to a general consensus the season was far too long.

By contrast, our first competitive match this season was on March 26, away to Auckland City, and assuming we don’t make the final, our season will end on November 26, away to Auckland City exactly eight months later.

Of course it could be even longer for Birkenhead, who are still in the frame for the grand final early next month after a 5-3 win over Cashmere Technical last week.

It was very heartening to beat Christchurch United 5-2 away last Sunday in trying circumstances, with a number of players out, on an artificial turf, and with a delayed flight, to notch out first win of the national league component of the season.

It’s indicative of how our squad have had plenty of opportunity to build team spirit through overcoming adversity on their travels. And team spirit can often become a defining feature of our football memories.

I was reminded of that fact by a matchday reunion of sorts this weekend of our 2003 Chatham Cup final team, of which I was proud to be a member, as part of the club’s 50th birthday celebrations. It’s been great to see so many old team mates who have still got the football skills and fire in their belly, and while we only played another Melville team, it would have been fascinating to see how we might have shaped up against the Uni-Mt Wellington class of 2003 all these years later.

Finally Melville’s AGM has been set for 2pm, Sunday November 20 at Gower Park, where I will present a positive annual report. All club members are encouraged to attend.

Batesy