I look forward to watching Grant Thomson shuffle around the field on two artificial hips. I know that whenever he touches the ball, I’ll be reminded not only of the sublime skill he displayed right up to national league level, but also of his courage in the air and in the tackle when he was given a defensive role.
I’ll enjoy seeing his 15-year-old son Cory in action on one of the wings, possibly sharing the flank duties with Jared Faber, son of cancer-test advocate Roger.
Jared Faber has the sort of pace that worries defenders, and Roger — who I understand may start at centreback — must be glad they’re teammates.
Roger was in the same Gisborne City national league team as Grant, and held his own against the country’s best strikers.
Dave Watson, Jason Scott, Phill Gill and Geoff Griffin were in the same Lytton High School team in the early 1990s and are still causing opponents trouble.
Watson and Scott have played most of their senior football in the same teams, usually in midfield, and their styles are complementary. Watson has Grant Thomson’s composure on the ball, and Scott has a terrier’s aptitude for getting stuck in and retrieving the ball when it’s lost.
Gill, a hardworking midfielder for years, now uses his cool head and silky skills up front. Griffin, a tearaway striker in his youth, is now a sweeper.
Thistle Vintage coach Dave Raggett was a slightly tubby, bushy-haired midfielder in the newly relegated Gisborne City Central League team of 1992. What a revelation it was to see him develop into a lean, hard, box-to-box midfielder and then a canny defender in a decades-long Eastern League career with City and Thistle. He’ll start the game on the bench tomorrow but will likely come on at the back.
Neil Hansen has a name for a hammer strike on the football field and the golf course. Still in relatively good nick, he could turn up in any position, such is his versatility.
Shaun Leeper is the team’s spearhead in attack. Leeper remains a speedster in this company and his shooting packs a kick like a mule.
Jared Owen has been a defensive mainstay in all the teams he’s played for, and in the Vintage line-up he keeps one flank in order from rightback. Leftback Sam Dalcom patrols the other side.
Vintage are trying to future-proof themselves by adding youth to the mix.
Twenty-somethings Charlie Kapene, goalkeeper for most of his six years with the team, centreback Dave Sluter, who adds welcome pace to the defence, and left-winger Logan Sutton, a regular who can’t play tomorrow, represent a nod to the passage of time. Add Cory Thomson and Jared Faber, and the future brightens considerably.
The match starts at 12.30pm. When these teams met on August 8, Vintage beat GPR Bohemians 11-1.
Starting at the same time, but at Wainui, will be the game between Coates Associates Wainui Demons and Smash Palace Shockers. If Bohemians were to draw with or beat Vintage tomorrow, Demons could overhaul Vintage by beating Shockers. On August 8, Demons beat Shockers 10-2.
Coach and central midfielder Yannis Kokkosis is in his 13th season with Demons and enjoys the luxury of having substitutes.
“This is probably the first season we haven’t had a single game where we’ve had less than 11 players,” he said.
“In the past, eight or nine would turn up and we’d have to beg and borrow players to make up a team.”
This year, they’d turn up and mix and match positions among whoever was there.
The spirit in the side was good, and the core of the team should be there again next season.
“Our centreback Mike Ferguson keeps us together in defence, and he’s well supported by our leftback, Mitch (Tom) McFarlane, an accountant — he’s our hardest-working player and our sponsor.”
Aaron Welch had been with the team 12 years and still did a sterling job in midfield, Kokkosis said.
Manaaki Terekia was the team’s Mr Fix-it: he had played in every position, including goalkeeper.
In midfield, first-year team member Steve Neshausen impressed with his fitness, while sometime surfer and snowboarder Matt Tong also shone in the engine-room, Kokkosis said.
Former Poverty Bay rugby rep Mike Morrissey was one of the “luckiest” players in the competition — the ball did what he wanted despite his best efforts.
And Chris Fox, whom Kokkosis recruited from the hockey ranks, was always busy near goal.
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