Old Boys club expands into football
A new football team has been set up in Timaru with the aim of creating a pathway for young players.
The group of about 25 footballers, all Timaru Boys’ High School old boys aged in their late 20s to early 30s, will field at least one team in South Canterbury football’s 2021 competitions.
They are being led by a couple of old boys in a move that will link with the Timaru’s Old Boys Sports Club as it adds football to its roster of rugby, touch, squash, netball and cricket teams.
Ben Hawkey said conversations started when a number of old boys got together after former teacher and football coach Fred Windsor died in April.
‘‘It brought a lot of us back together, then discussions started about a football team, about Old Boys Rugby, how they had rugby, but no football.
Hawkey, 30, said a lot of people give up sport when they leave school.
‘‘We wanted to create a pathway for old boys to stay connected and keep playing, discussions started during Covid-19.
‘‘We had discussions with New Zealand Football, and Old Boys were happy for us to come under their umbrella.
‘‘They welcomed us on board.’’ Hawkey said the objective was to get more people back into football.
‘‘We will most likely have two teams. The plan is to have two teams with one team in the first division.
Another old boy involved in setting it up, Eddie Iraia, 30, said many of the players had reached representative level during their high school years.
‘‘We wanted to make this a club for old boys to continue playing football, as a pathway after school or if they come back from university, and we do welcome any footballer who is keen to be involved.
‘‘There is quite a cost in getting it off the ground, so we are looking for sponsors,’’ Iraia said.
Old Boys Sports Club president Ben Rawcliffe said it was good news for the club and ‘‘we are pretty excited about it.’’.
‘‘I think there is probably a group of football players who are here and felt like they didn’t have a natural club to go to.
‘‘...these guys are wellorganised, and we see it as an opportunity to be sustainable going forward,’’ Rawcliffe said.
Veteran footballer Nick Reid will coach and believes ‘‘it is
‘‘It is probably one of the most positive things to happen to football in South Canterbury in the past 20 years.’’ Nick Reid
probably one of the most positive things to happen to football in
South Canterbury in the past 20 years’’.
‘‘These guys have done a whole heap of groundwork and it’s going to be interesting.’’
Reid said players were often at their peak aged 28 to 33.
‘‘First and foremost it is fantastic for them to be putting this together, it’s creating history.
‘‘Keeping it up and running is going to also be a real challenge as someone will have to do the thankless work in the background.
‘‘That is the strength of any club.’’