Gisborne Thistle today will not be the team you watched last year.
Half the starting line-up for Electrinet Thistle could be making their first-team debut when they play Heavy Equipment Services Gisborne United at Childers Road Reserve on Saturday. Kick-off is at 2.45pm.
In goal will be Drew Churchwell, a193cm (6ft 4in) one-time striker converted to a keeper because a goalkeeping coach thought he’d be handy between the sticks.
That man, Geoff Warne, is now the first-team goalkeeping coach for English Premier League side Fulham.
“He saw me catching a few balls, and said, ‘He looks like he’d be handy in goal’,” Churchwell said.
Churchwell, 23, plays cricket in summer and fields in the slips, sometimes filling in as wicketkeeper. That might have helped with the catching, but he’s more of a bowler, medium-fast, around 130km/h.
He and Thistle were put in touch with each other by Paul Harkness, a coach and talent spotter who finds opportunities for New Zealand players wanting to break into English football, and British players wanting to travel and build their experience overseas.
Churchwell was playing for Woking-based Sheerwater FC in the Premier Division South when Harkness got in touch six weeks ago.
“He messaged me saying Thistle needed a goalkeeper,” Churchwell said.
“I wanted to travel and thought it would be good to play football here. Our season was coming to an end. We weren’t challenging for honours or fighting relegation, so I finished four games early to arrive in time for the first game.”
Louis Sengelow, centre back. Photo / John Gillies
He has been in the English academy system with Fulham and AFC Wimbledon, and played non-league football for Dorking Wanderers in Surrey, and Hayes and Yeading in Middlesex.
On the way, he has played alongside Harvey Elliott (now Aston Villa, on loan from Liverpool) and Fabio Carvalho (Brentford) and against Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa) and Cole Palmer (Chelsea).
Louis Sengelow, 19, is a 185.4cm (6ft 1in) centre back from Crawley, midway between London and Brighton, and has trained with League Two side Crawley Town. He has lately been playing for a Step 5 team (five levels below the English Football League), but has played as high as Level 3.
Luke Jarvie, central midfielder. Photo / John Gillies
Luke Jarvie, 19, is from the northeastern Scottish city of Aberdeen and has been playing for Badshot Lea, a Surrey football team that plays in the same league as Sheerwater. He was in the Aldershot Town academy between the ages of 12 and 16, and generally plays as a central midfielder.
Diego Canales, attacking midfielder. Photo / John Gillies
“I’ve been here six weeks and have really enjoyed it,” he said. “I’d just finished school and was looking to play football abroad. If things work out, maybe I could extend my stay.”
Diego Canales, 30, is an attacking midfielder from Lima, Peru. When he was 19, he played professionally for Universitario, a club that has won Peru’s top tier, Liga 1, 29 times and has never been relegated since it was promoted to that level in 1928, four years after it was founded.
Jonas Klessny, winger. Photo / John Gillies
After his spell with Universitario, Canales played as a professional in the first and second tiers of Peruvian football until 2022.
Jonas Klessny, 26, is a winger from Germany and has played sixth-tier football in his home country. He will be in Gisborne for “a couple of months”.
Leo Maisey, striker. Photo / John Gillies
Other additions to the Thistle squad from outside the district include striker Leo Maisey, who made some first-team appearances for the Jags four years ago and has since played for Western Springs and Mt Albert Ponsonby in Auckland, and defender/midfielder Theo Clarke, who played at a good level in Wellington before moving to Gisborne in his job.
