Football: Peter Arndell popular appointment

All White Aaron Scott will captain WaiBOP in the new ASB Premiership.

A key appointment has been made at WaiBOP Football which is set to be widely hailed among the football community.

Peter Arndell has been appointment as the new chief executive of the fledgling franchise following a short period as acting chief executive.

The former football competitions manager has been appointed to what the board of WaiBOP Football view as the key leadership role within the sport. "It was a long and exhaustive recruitment process with outstanding applications received from national and international candidates," said Patsi Davies, chair of WaiBOP Football.

"However, in the end, the appointment was an easy one to make. Peter had demonstrated outstanding qualities during his long tenure with the federation and brings a clearly defined vision and purpose to the role along with very strong football networks.

"The appointment of Peter will be greeted by many in the wider football community with applause as he is highly liked and respected by referees, clubs and administrators for all his contributions to date."

In what is going to be a very busy time for football in New Zealand, leading up to the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in 2015, Arndell is delighted that the game in the region is in such a good state and continually moving in a positive direction.

As he launches into the new role, Arndell encourages all involved to continue to support the forward movement of the game. "With the advent of initiatives such as WaiBOP United and the continued growth and success of football at all ages, there is plenty of reason for all football supporters to be optimistic as we go forward," he said.

"I am looking forward to working with the board, the football community and key stakeholders over the coming months to provide and update current initiatives and discuss areas where the game may be further developed."

Arndell says Bay of Plenty's involvement and commitment to WaiBOP is crucial.

"We have players based in the Bay of Plenty in our team and head coach Peter Smith as well. We are having a game at Links Ave and we are not limited now or in the future to having x amount of games in a certain area.

"We will take the games to where the clubs and spectators want it to be. We are hoping we will get a good response on February 1st at Links Ave.

"Tauranga City have always put on a good display for us when we have held other pre-season tournaments and end of season games there so we want people to understand that it is a whole federation football team.

"That is why we had no issue with moving the games from Hamilton to Cambridge and it opened up shorter travelling time for the people from Bay of Plenty and Rotorua to get to the games.