Sinclair joins Team Wellington
Jack-henry Sinclair will have to wait for his shot at professional football.
After his plan A fell through at the last minute, Sinclair has returned to New Zealand to see out the national league season with defending champions Team Wellington.
Having ended his apprenticeship with the Wellington Phoenix earlier this year, once his weekly stipend was taken away, the 19-year-old right-back headed to South Africa, along with Hawke’s Bay United striker Sam Mason-smith, for a trial with second-tier team Stellenbosch FC.
Manawatu¯ expat Sinclair and Mason-smith left a good impression in Cape Town and were informed that the club was interested in them both, only for Stellenbosch to come back a few days later with news that they could only sign one of them, as they had just one import spot available on the roster.
A striker was deemed higher priority than a defender, so Sinclair was the one to miss out.
Sinclair, who has represented New Zealand at under-17 and under-20 levels, still harbours a dream of playing professional football one day, and he said playing for Team Wellington is the next best thing. So he was not too disheartened about returning to the national league for at least another season, especially as he will remain in the capital, under the nose of the Phoenix coaches.
‘‘I’m sticking around in Wellington and it is in the back of my mind that there could be an opportunity with the Wellington Phoenix down the line, but for now I’m fully focused on Team Wellington and doing my job there,’’ he said.
With a dream to play for the Phoenix, Sinclair said it was a difficult decision to walk away from the organisation after two years with their reserve team. But training nearly every day of the week for free was not feasible, as there was little time left in the week to work.
‘‘All my mates are there. I have been there for the past two years and the training environment is really good. It was definitely hard but at the moment I think I made the right decision in pursuing this opportunity with Team Wellington.’’
By signing with the defending champions, Sinclair has reunited with former New Zealand under-17 coach Jose Figueria. Although he had approaches from other teams in the league, Sinclair said continuing his development under Figueria, who was last week named New Zealand Football coach of the year, and remaining in Wellington were two factors that ultimately swung his decision.
‘‘I thought, well I had worked with Jose before, and I thought that it would be a great opportunity to play for him.
‘‘I had opportunities to go elsewhere but I thought keeping myself under the eye of the Phoenix would be the best option. I’m young and hopefully an opportunity will come up later down the track.’’