Time to put region ahead of individual clubs
Back in May we wondered aloud whether men’s football had a future in Manawatu¯ beyond a sociable kickabout with your mates on a Saturday afternoon followed by a beer or three down at the clubrooms.
Now that it’s pretty much all over for the year, we’re still wondering.
Taking the Federation League as the top competition for Manawatu¯ footballers, then the writing was on the wall by the third round in April. For that was when Havelock North Wanderers and Napier Marist came to town. Wanderers saw off Palmerston North Marist 4-2 after the home side led twice during the game, and Napier accounted for North End, the city’s other leading side, 3-1.
It was the end of Palmerston North Marist’s golden unbeaten run in the league that ran through all of last year and into this season. Just to make it to third this year the local once-were-titleholders had to win their last league game of the season – quite a comedown from 12 months ago.
And we’re sure North End aren’t letting them forget that they, North End, beat Palmerston North Marist three times this year.
Let us also not forget that Palmerston North Marist’s bid to get back into the Central League at
the end of last year was brushed aside courtesy of two heavy defeats against North Wellington.
That should tell us something about the state of the local game, reinforced surely by what occurred in the Federation League this year.
For not much at all occurred – or at least not much that was good news for the enhancement of Manawatu¯ football.
But is that so surprising when the local talent is spread over five clubs? And there is talent, no doubt about that. It was on display, week in and week out, during the Federation League season.
The Golden Boot stats tell some of this story, headed this year by Nick Carrick (Palmerston North Marist), followed by Nathan Cooksley (North End). Also up there: Blair Lankshear (Massey University), Josh Smith (Palmerston North Marist) and Adam Cowan (Palmerston North Marist). Not bad for a city that could only place third in the top regional competition.
So, what have the Hawke’s Bays and Nelsons got that Manawatu¯ hasn’t? Or is it something in the water? Because one thing’s for sure: If you’re serious about football and want to test yourself against the best, you’ve got to leave town, even if it is to live in smaller places that don’t have education or defence institutions with their regular infusions of new blood, or a footballing nursery such as Palmerston North Boys’ High School.
What these other places do have though is a thing called ‘‘United’’ attached to the name of a club.
In Manawatu¯ , it seems we have tribes and there’s no way they’re going to unite with anyone else, come hell or high water.
There’s a glimmer of hope as word reaches us that Palmerston North Marist is bringing in a director of football from overseas who, among other things, is going to coach the first team next year and start an academy. But does that mean all the best players are suddenly going to flock to Marist?
Surely, what needs to be done is for the clubs to get together and foster a new set-up that sits atop the clubs as it brings together the best players into a team that genuinely represents the region.
It will be a team good enough to be serious about winning the Federation League and then graduate to the Central League – and beyond.
Because it seems clear that it’s not going to happen as things stand at present. As the man said: Do things the same way, expect the same results.
Just as there are players out there whose talent and ambition could take them much further than pottering about in the nether regions of Federation League football, so there are some who will go no further.
Right now, they are playing in the Federation League because the numbers have to be made up, but their limitations are soon exposed when an outfit such as Wanderers comes to town.
So, it is all very well to chant the mantra that football is a club-based game and there’s an end to it, but in refusing to think any further about it you’re doing the local game a crippling disservice.
For those with the talent and the ambition will surely leave town as they bid to go on to greater things.
There are models, past and present, for how a rep side or superclub, or whatever it’s calls, might be formed and sustained.
It’ll take plenty of effort and commitment – and money – but it can be done if enough people with a common vision leave their egos at the door and get together around a table to thrash out the issues.
It won’t mean the death of clubs, any more than Hawke’s Bay United, for example, has killed off the club game in their area.
With a population that will soon hit 90,000, Palmerston North is big and diverse enough to offer a pathway to the top for our best players and not see them being driven away so ‘‘the boys’’ can continue to have their Saturday kick around and not be bothered by anyone who wants more from their football.