MELVILLE MAGIC 01 E-NEWSLETTER

Bates Banter

Today the big ball rolls again as we embark on a new season of northern league football against a backdropofsignificantchange.

TIndeed,insomeregardstodaymarksthestartofa new era, with new coach Jarrod Young at the helm for his first northern premier league match, and Gower Park in the middle of a facility upgrade and preparation to be a training venue for the FIFA Women’sWorldCup

Melville finished an incredibly long 2022 season fifth in the national league – a new high water mark for the club – but for now our minds need to be concentrated more onthebigchallengesahead

We have a host of new faces at the club who hopefully we will get to know better through their deeds on the pitch and in the dugout than anything I could say about themhere.

I know in my playing days we used to regularly experience a turnover of at least 30 per cent of the squad from year to year, so that is nothing new. However this time around our departures have unfortunately been pretty concentrated in attacking areasandwehavebeenhitbythelossofourfourtopgoalscorersfromlastseason.

Offsetting that, Jarrod has already proved himself to be highly organised and committed in his dual role as first team coach and academy director. On that note we should also point out Jarrod is our first northern league coach who hasn’t also played fortheclubatnorthernornationalleaguelevelsinceRayPooleyinlate2005

Meanwhile everything is still mildly chaotic at Gower Park, after the No 1 pitch floodlights were installed in the middle of the cyclone season, the changing rooms were renovated to give us a lot less showers and our clubrooms were hollowed out forFIFAusage

Unfortunately we are going to get very little use of Gower No 1 this winter, so our first matchusageofthefloodlightsisstillsometimeaway.

Finally, welcome to Eastern Suburbs, who feature several former Melville players. We beat Suburbs 1-0 at home last year and 4-1 away though it is sobering to note that every one of the goalscorers in those matches – Oli Colloty, Ryen Lawrence, Stafford DowlingandHarryRose-havenowleftMelville.

Batesy

Vale: Roy Little

Former Hamilton AFC captain and club life member Roy Little has died, aged 75, in Papamoa

Littlehadbeensufferingfrommotorneuronedisease,whichhadsetonquitequickly. Inhisplayingdays,RobertMcGregor(Roy)Littlecaptainedthe1976Hamiltonteamto the northern league and Air New Zealand Cup double, in what was arguably one of thefinestteamstoevercomeoutoftheWaikatoprovince

Despite conceding a height advantage to almost every opponent he came up against, in a first-team career with Hamilton that spanned 23 years, Roy carved out a reputationbiggerthanmost.

Little was born in Northern Ireland in 1949 and became a foundation member of Hamilton AFC as a teenager when the club was formed in 1964. Not till 1987 did he play his last game of northern, or national league, when he turned out against Papakuraattheageof38

Previously he had made 54 national league appearances for Hamilton between 1977 and1982,amongstanestimatedtotalof800first-teamappearances

Little’s passing marks the end of an era. He was there at the start of Hamilton AFC –and there at the end, as a committee member when the club merged with Waikato United in mid-1992. He was one of just nine Hamilton AFC life members. Little then servedasaboardmemberwithWaikatoUnitedforfiveyears

Of many highlights over a lengthy career, top of the list for Little was attaining national league status for Hamilton, achieved by winning the northern league in 1976. That same season Hamilton cut a swathe through the cream of national league clubs as well, to win the $10,000 early-season Air NZ Cup, beating GisborneCity3-1inthefinalatNewmarketPark.

‘Graham Jones, a veteran of more than 100 appearances for Waikato United (and many more for Melville United), worked for Little as an electrician for 10 years, and described him as a bubbly bloke who absolutelylovedfootballandfishing

“His only downside was he was such a keen ManchesterUnitedsupporter,”Jonesmused

AservicewasheldforLittleathishomeonMarch20, attendedbymanyformerHamiltonteammates

MatthewD'HOTMAN QuintonKIPARA

Coach:JarrodYOUNG

AssistantCoach:JetLIM

GKCoach:NeilMOUNCHER

Analyst:KshitijGOHEL

Physio:JamesYOUNG

Trainer:BenTAYLOR

Manager:DannyMILNER

Northern League Fixtures

Academy News

The Melville United Football Academy is again firing on all cylinders and this season we have an intake of 110 boys and 80 girls. At northern league level we are fielding teams in girls U14s and U16s (playing away against eastern Suburbs today) and at U14,U15andU17levelwiththeboys

At federation-wide level we have one girls U13 team, one boys U13 team and two boysU12teams.

Academy Fixtures

Saturday, 25 March 2023

LOTTO NRFL Under 14 Girls | Round 01

ern Suburbs Lilywhite U14 Girls v U14 Girls Academy

Ngahue Reserve, Auckland | 10 30am

LOTTO NRFL Under 16 Girls | Round 01

ern Suburbs Lilywhite U16 Girls v U16 Girls Academy

Ngahue Reserve, Auckland | 10 30am

Sunday, 26 March 2023

LOTTO NRFL U14 2023 | Round 01

Auckland City U14 v U14 Academy

St Peter's College, Auckland | 11.30am

LOTTO NRFL U15 2023 | Round 01

Auckland City U15 v U15 Academy

St Peter's College, Auckland | 1.00pm

LOTTO NRFL Bottom 6| Round 01

Auckland City U17 v U17 Academy

St Peter's College, Auckland | 3 00pm

Melville Golf Classic

The 2023 Brian Coe Memorial Golf Classic has been set for Sunday April 30, tee off 11.30am at the Ngaruawahia Golf Club. Please lend a hand to one of Melville’s key fundraisingactivitiesfortheyearbyentering.Foodanddrinksuppliedon-course.

Entry is $50 per player or $180 per team of four. Alternately you can sponsors a hole for$500plusGSTandenteracomplimentaryteam

Tolodgeanentrypleaseemailinfo@melvilleunited.co.nz