Pāpāmoa FC celebrate winning the WaiBop Premiership.
A 2-1 win over second-placed Ngaruawahia United on Saturday saw Pāpāmoa FC clinch the WaiBop Premiership title with one game to spare.
It is their second title win in a row, however, they have one more accomplishment to tick off for this season.
Saturday's victory was Pāpāmoa's 15th in 15games this year and, with one round left, they are desperate to complete the perfect season with a win against fourth-placed Ōtūmoetai.
Pāpāmoa team member Vinnie Callister, a new recruit from Tauranga City this year, said a solid team culture off the field meant the players had each other's backs on it.
"We got the win [on Saturday], it was very close. It was hard-earned and the boys worked hard.
"We've got a lot of wise, experienced heads in the team and I think it's led to one of the healthiest team cultures that I've ever been a part of.
"I think most of the boys agree we just have something going outside of football, with the lads, that seems to bring us together on the pitch and fight for each other a bit more."
He said the team had suffered injuries to key players throughout the season but other players had stepped up in a "real squad effort".
"[Winning the title] was unbelievable but we have one game to go 16 out of 16. It is pretty incredible - a lot of us don't know what to do with ourselves because we've never been here before. Obviously, everyone wants to win that game but it will be a test of our ability to deal with complacency after already winning the title.
"We might never be in a position like this again in our lives, to have a perfect season. Once you've won it once you have that target on your back, everyone wants to beat you.
"We've had four or five games this season where we've won 2-1. There have been 10 minutes to go."
Pāpāmoa FC's success has not been an overnight project, the club has been steadily building its junior numbers during recent seasons and the women's side finished second on points difference in the WaiBop W-League.
The WaiBop Premiership win qualifies Pāpāmoa FC to compete in the Northern Region Football League Division 2, against some of the best sides from Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Auckland.
Pāpāmoa FC coach Antony Meiklejohn (left), captain Colm Kenny and president Maaka Nelson. Photo / Supplied
Callister said much of the credit had to go to coach Antony Meiklejohn and captain Colm Kenny.
"We have lots of leaders in the team, lots of wise heads. Anto wants us to play a style with lots of short passing, controlling the game but we also have a tendency to play quite direct to our captain and striker Colm Kenny.
"He's the top scorer in our team, he's 40 years old this year and he's still going. Quite often we try to get the ball to him or wide to the wingers and we've had a lot of success doing that.
"It's important to be able to play those different styles and adapt to the situation.
"[The Northern Region League] will definitely be a step up next season. We qualified last year but the board decided not to go for it because they didn't think we met some of the criteria - one of those was having a youth/under-22 team. Next year it looks like we've retained all our players and we'll get some more youth in there.
