Club v country stoush avoided
A second club v country football stoush has been avoided after a compromise was reached to allow Western Suburbs’ under-17 internationals to play in the Chatham Cup final.
Wests will play Birkenhead United in the decider on September 9, the same day as New Zealand’s opening match of the OFC U-16 Championship against Vanuatu in the Solomon Islands.
Wests and the Ole Football Academy, which operates Wests’ first-team, offered an arrangement to New Zealand Football whereby Wests’ three 16-year-old national team squad members – Matthew Garbett, Marco Stamenic and Sean Bright – would be available to play for Wests in the final in Auckland.
They would then fly to Christchurch that night, before flying to Honiara via Brisbane on September 10 to arrive two days before New Zealand’s second game, against the hosts.
Garbett started and scored in Wests’ 3-2 win over Cashmere Technical in Saturday’s Chatham Cup semifinal, while Bright came off the bench and Stamenic was an unused substitute.
All three were notified of their selection in New Zealand under17 coach Jose Figueira’s original 18-man squad two weeks ago.
That 18-man selection was two fewer than the OFC’s maximum squad size, due to NZF’s financial considerations.
An initial squad of 17 will now be named today, which will be boosted to 20 when the three Wests players arrive.
The squad has a pre-tournament camp in Auckland starting on September 3, meaning the players will miss a week of training with the squad. Ole would organise funding for the flights, accommodation and meals for the two additional players not covered by the NZF budget.
Ole chairman Dave Wilson was happy a positive resolution had been reached.
‘‘I think the academy and New Zealand Football have worked well to make sure the boys have the opportunity to play in the prestigious Chatham Cup final, which as 16-year-olds is quite unusual, and represent their country.’’
It was a happier resolution than the saga which played out earlier this month when the New Zealand under-20s were hit by a series of player withdrawals before their successful OFC U-19 Championship campaign.