Sebastian Itman, Gisborne Boys' High School teacher in charge of football, says Gisborne teams have been at a disadvantage in secondary school football tournaments because too few of the players have had experience in leagues that stretch them in terms of skill and competitive intensity.
“We are a small town,” he said.
“We can't compete against teams from the big cities because we don't get the competition. We need to get our boys playing against the best, regularly.”
In the Super 8 secondary schools competition, Gisborne Boys' High had finished fourth once, in 1999. Since then, Gisborne had finished fifth twice and, in most of the other years, seventh or eighth.
This year he would take a Year 10 football class within school hours, year-round. These students would form the core of his Junior A team and be the foundation of the first 11 in future.
He would urge those in contention for places in this year's first 11 to be part of the Thistle Reserves side taking part in the Pacific Premiership. Players in this group would likely have two school training sessions with him and two with Thistle, and two games at the weekend.
Thistle's first Pacific Premiership game is away, against Port Hill United, on April 2.
Thistle head coach Garrett Blair said he and Itman were running a football academy through Boys' High on Wednesday afternoons to foster the development of up-and-coming players.
Craig Stirton would coach the Reserves, and former first-team players Davie Ure and Reece Brew had indicated they would be available to give onfield guidance.
Thistle's first team start their Central Federation League campaign on April 9, away to Whanganui Athletic.
Blair said training sessions, while affected by Covid-enforced absences, had been well attended and preparations were going well.
Thistle had lost strikers Jimmy Somerton and Oli Davies, and rightback Brandon Josling to Hawke's Bay clubs, but had gained defensive midfielder Kieran Venema, midfielder Matt McVey and, from about mid-April, 19-year-old striker Ash Parslow, a Pulse Academy trainee who hailed from London.
Blair said McVey had been unable to play serious football last year because of work commitments with the police, but arrangements had been made this year enabling him to train and play for Thistle.
Parslow was of a similar build to Somerton and, from the footage Blair had seen, looked to have excellent control and a good shot.
Venema, player-coach of Gisborne United's Pacific Premiership-winning team last year, said he couldn't get the playing numbers required for United to contest the premiership this year.
“At the end of last season we had only 13 players, and it was a struggle getting a travelling squad together,” he said last night.
“We were lucky we had Stu Cranswick and Aaron Graham we could call on if we were short.
“I asked players around town if they were interested in joining us but apart from a few who said ‘maybe', the answer was ‘no'.”
On that basis, United decided to stick to local football this year.
“Garrett approached me about joining Thistle,” Venema said.
“I'm 29 now and the body is not holding up the way it did in my youth. It's now or never for me. If I go back to local league football, I'll never have another chance (of playing at a higher standard). And I like what Garrett is doing in terms of trying to push Gisborne football as far as we can.”
