Hamilton football club returns to national league ranks after 24 years

Melville's Charlotte Eagle (left), Manaia Elliott and Ella McMillan have been selected for the Young Football Ferns team representing New Zealand at the FIFA U17 World Cup in India. Photo / Supplied

These are great days for Hamilton football club Melville United.

Melville has made a return to national league ranks for the first time in 24 years and on Sunday, October 9 will host their first home game, versus central league champions Wellington Olympic, at Gower Park (2pm) against a backdrop of the club's younger members having made international selection.

Melville's first team striker and top goalscorer, Oliver Colloty, has just returned from the Oceania U-19 Football Tournament in Tahiti, where he was one of the stars as New Zealand triumphed and qualified for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia next year.

Colloty scored nine goals in the tournament, including two in a 3-0 final win over Fiji, to continue his sensational year.

Goalscoring supremo Oliver Colloty in action for Melville United. Photo / Supplied

Meanwhile, Melville Academy females Charlotte Eagle (goalkeeper), right back Manaia Elliott and centre back Ella McMillan are part of the New Zealand (U-17) Young Football Ferns team which is contesting the FIFA U17 World Cup in India from October 11.

While McMillan is listed in the touring squad as a Wellington Phoenix Academy player, she came through the Melville Academy talent pathway and was last week back at Gower Park with her teammates, enjoying the international call-up.

"It means the world," McMillan said. "This has been my dream for a long time and I'm pretty sure it's the same for all the other girls. It is just so cool to be able to wear the fern."

McMillan said it helped that the Melville trio were heading off together.

"It's so great, we are all extremely close. It's just really cool to have this deep Melville bond."

Elliott agreed. "We have been preparing for this for almost two years now and every stage along the way has been very exciting," she said. "To be finally heading off just shows all our work has come together.

Melville chairman Wayne Bates said the international honours and first-team qualification for the national league were symptomatic of a vibrant community club.

"It is all go at the club at the moment,' he said. "Upgrade work has also begun at Gower Park to make it a training venue for the FIFA Women's World Cup next year, on top of which we are planning further facility development that we hope to announce within the next six months.

"And on the weekend of November 5-6, we have a big weekend of celebrations planned for the club's 50th anniversary."

Because of renovation work being done at Gower Park, the home match against Wellington Olympic is being played on pitch 6 at the Sandleigh Rd end of the park.