Dave Gallaher was born in Ireland in 1873, he migrated to New Zealand when he was 5 years old, fought in the Boer War, and died on the World War I battlefield of Passchendaele, Belgium, aged 43. In between times, he played 26 times for the Auckland rugby team and […]
North Shore United 3, Matamata Swifts AFC 2 Allen Hill Stadium, Auckland, June 10 2012 Over the past few months, I have been complimented many times by players, coaches and fans for my “unbiased and sensible” write-ups of local New Zealand football. I continue to be touched by this and […]
I was going to write a preview of Euro 2012 this past week, but it very quickly began to feel like a pointless exercise. Every other blogger and his dog has done one and I consequently have very little to add. Most of them are yawningly similar to each other. […]
There is a real paucity of public monuments in New Zealand and the world that commemorate strong female public figures. This is illustrated by looking back through my Sacrves on Statues series. I have gone out of my way to try and get some sort of gender balance but my […]
Bay Olympic 4, East Coast Bays 3 Olympic Park, Auckland, June 4 2012 It’s only round two of the Chatham Cup but already the draw is throwing up some interesting ties. Part of the allure of cup competitions is that the two best teams can meet at any time from […]
Wellington Olympic 1, Lower Hutt City 0 Wakefield Park, Wellington, June 2 2012 As I travelled to my first ever game of Wellington club football, Greg Anderson’s famous quote “focus on the journey, not the destination” was at the forefront of my mind. Getting from A to B in our […]
Now, I know a lot has happened in the world of football today. We have learned that Zdeněk Zeman is all but confirmed as the new Roma coach. Arrests have been made in Italian match fixing investigations and it looks like some clubs will be thrown out of Europe – Lazio chief […]
Fencibles United 8, Papamoa FC 0 Riverhills Park, Auckland, May 27 2012 It has been a couple of months since I was in the Bay of Plenty for Papamoa’s opening game of their 2012 season against Claudelands Rovers. At that time they were a new side with a lot of very […]
Hibiscus Coast AFC 3, Warkworth AFC 0 Stanmore Bay Park, Hibiscus Coast, May 26 2012 As I drove up to the Whangaparoa Peninsula for today’s local derby between Hibiscus Coast and Warkworth, I was pondering what’s in a name. All the great derbies of the world have great handles. In […]
“Streaming is proving difficult. And will I take this sign from the gods and spend the next two hours doing something healthy? No.” – @chiesaditotti “A scudetto at Roma is worth ten at Milan or Juventus.” This is the iron law of Roma that Romanisti had hoped would begin to […]