Shield impetus for next season
The Piako Shield has returned to Morrinsville with hopes it’ll reignite interest in football, at a senior level, in the town heading towards the 2017 season.
Morrinsville Soccer AFC and Te Aroha met at Boyd Park, in Te Aroha on Saturday for the longtime annual Piako Shield fixture.
Morrinsville’s president Jeremy Pope said the club held the shield last year but couldn’t field a team to defend it, so by default, it was handed to Te Aroha in 2015.
‘‘We weren’t able to field a senior men’s or women’s team this year [in local competition] either because we were just a few players short. But we managed to get a team together for the Piako Shield match against Te Aroha.’’
He was happy to report Morrinsville won the match, 4-0.
‘‘Te Aroha came out and played very well in the first 15 to 20 minutes and put a lot of pressure on us, something we knew would happen.
‘‘They had some very good combinations whereas we’d just put our team together for the match.
‘‘We were fortunate to score a few goals in the second half and came out strong.’’
Pope said the club hoped having the Piako Shield back in its arms would inspire players to become involved with senior football next year.
‘‘The reality for a lot of small towns is that the young guys coming through head to university and tend to play there.
‘‘So we’ve had a lot of players head off to Waikato University and they play for Unicol, while others are in Hamilton and play for Hamilton-based teams.’’
Morrinsville did not have a senior side but managed to field a team in a Sunday league this year.
‘‘It’s more of a social league. We have people who play for other clubs on a Saturday, then come back to play for us on a Sunday.’’
Pope had worked as an assistant coach with the Matamata premiership side this year, given there was no Morrinsville team.
He said he would use the experience of coaching at a higher level for his Morrinsville club next year.
‘‘We’ve also got some very tal- ented players coming through Morrinsville College and the idea is to encourage them to play for Morrinsville, to build a stronger tie between the club and the college.
‘‘We’ve got a strong junior club up to 13th grade and we’re looking to create an under 15s side to play in a Sunday competition against other clubs. Hopefully that will lead on to an under 17s competition, which leads on to senior football.’’