Page 9 - NUAFC EBook

and Kit’s father, came to visit him and agreed to do a improving and when Waikato FC found itself without a home
speaking engagement as a fundraiser for us. Awesome night for the 2010 season, we offered to host them and share their
it was too with visitors from all over the North Island wanting workload too. Given how short on numbers we already were,
to purchase tickets. this was a huge undertaking for the existing committee
It was great watching the growth of the Club but, of members but we did it happily. The benefits to the Club were
course, success generally comes at a cost! By the mid- huge because apart from the financial gain we received we
eighties we had six senior men’s and women’s teams and also enjoyed the connection to the players from all over NZ.
th
fourteen junior teams. We even had trials for the 9 (5 Watching them play on our home turf over the summer was
th
teams) and 11 (3 teams) grades because of the number of great!
kids in those age groups that wanted to play. We ran out of It’s so easy to think of so many good times associated
room at Centennial Park so we used St Pauls, Horotiu and the with Narra. Give me a name, a game, or a tourney and I can
High School for training and even some games. tell you a story about it. With over forty years’ worth of
Lack of space meant we had to complete the work experience believe me it has sure been for the most part a lot
started on the new pitch in front of the clubrooms and along of fun.
with the help of the Council and some hard working There have been some really sad times too. Getting
members in Charles Jnr and George Snr we got it done and relegated is always hard on the people involved but a double
playable in the early nineties. relegation as we suffered in 2010 was cruel. Having to pull
We had many great coaches over the years Dave out of Northern League in 2016 was undoubtedly the hardest
Hall, Kit Fagan, Dave Hayes, Ray Pooley ( for whom we’d all thing we have had to face football-wise and was a sad day for
chant “Who do you think you are kidding Mr Pooley if you us all.
think we’re on the run”….!), Gordon Glen Watson, Mark However nothing is as hard as losing the great people
Cooper, Dave Edmondson to name a few. that we have lost from our club and our lives over the years
But Jeff Coulshed was our most successful. He was so anything else, pales in comparison. People matter, they
also the most entertaining in terms of his after-match can’t be replaced, anything else can be.
speeches even if a couple of them resulted in trips to The last big event in the club history was celebrating
th
Auckland to face the Disciplinary Board! our 50 Anniversary this year. What a fantastic weekend it
The excitement around getting to the semi-final of was. I won’t lie, it was lots and lots of hard work by a small
the Chatham Cup and the trip to Dunedin in 1998 was the dedicated bunch of us but well worth it. In the words of
biggest thing in the Club’s history at the time. Such a buzz Winston Churchill, “ Never has so much been owed by so
being part of all that, only in Narra would you get the hype many to so few” I looked around at all the people there and
and level of news coverage that we got. felt so very proud not just of the Club and its great history,
We actually managed to raise a substantial amount but of all of you. So many of you I have known since you were
of money for the team, and the club as a whole benefited very young and to see you married with children of your own,
hugely from the success of that campaign. One of the best such handsome, healthy, happy individuals made me very
flights ever with just about everyone on it being Narra chuffed indeed.
supporters! There were 65 of us. Not bad for a wee club. Somehow I’d like to think that I have played a small
That was some trip. I’ve been on many a huge bus part in that and it has given me so much pleasure over the
trip especially those to Whangarei over the years but years. I used to tell everyone that I had two sons but dozens
Dunedin was a whole new bag of tricks. Shame some of us of children.
were so excited the first night that we weren’t very much So the journey back to Northern League has begun
company on the second night, a Rose, Trace, Liz? and our new look team took the first step last year in winning
We’ve had many great players as well over the years the Federation Two league. Next year we will continue to
but they are too numerous to mention for fear of leaving work our way back to the top tier and I for one can’t wait.
people out, but we did bring in a couple of excellent players Our Club looks beautiful and those that love it are
from overseas from time to time too, most of whom went on prepared for the hard graft ahead and would really welcome
to make quite an impact on the game not just at our club but any help you can give. Obviously that’s time, if you are time
around the country. poor, then money, if you are money poor, then we’ll take
A number of them we welcomed into our home for a your friendship.
few months so that they could adapt to their new country
gradually! We inherited some locals as well in Nikolai and We make a living by what we get, but we make a
Stu, then Stoney, Spud, Fede, Steve Morrison, John Irving, life by what we give. (Winston Churchill)
Isaac Tetteh, to name but a few, came from afar.
We had some great characters too! McD’ for one. I
remember him saying to me once, “How do you recognise Maxine Duffull (nee Williams)
someone who becomes a `character’ of the game?” I replied, Club President
`they’re the cheeky wee buggars now!” For the most part 1997-2000, 2004-2013
that’s true.
Through our solid relationship with Council and some
dedicated helpers, our grounds and facilities continued

9