making an impression: Oli Davies on the ball for Gisborne Thistle against Havelock North Wanderers in a Chatham Cup game at Childers Road Reserve last season. Havelock North won this game and the two Federation League games against Thistle, but Wanderers head coach Chris Greatholder liked what he saw of Davies. File picture by Paul Rickard
RELATIONSHIPS make the difference, in football as in life.
Promising Gisborne winger Oli Davies, 17, has taken up a football scholarship with Lindisfarne College in Hastings and will play for them in the Hawke's Bay school league and for Central League club Havelock North Wanderers at weekends.
But for a while last year it looked as if Davies would join Hawke's Bay football powerhouse Napier City Rovers.
Jonathan Gould – at that time a coach with the City Rovers Talent Pathway Programme – met with Davies over coffee in Gisborne last year and floated the idea of his moving to Hawke's Bay, going to Lindisfarne (where Gould worked) and playing for City Rovers.
Jimmy Somerton, who played alongside Davies in the Gisborne Thistle forward line in the Central Federation League last season, signed for City Rovers late last year. Davies might have been expected to follow suit, but other factors were in play.
Gould is no longer at City Rovers or Lindisfarne, having taken up a position overseas, but the college came through with a scholarship for a place at Lindisfarne with full board.
Havelock North were also keen to sign Davies. They played Gisborne Thistle three times last season – once in the Chatham Cup and twice in the Federation League – and their head coach, Chris Greatholder, liked what he saw of Davies.
Wanderers gained promotion to the Central League with a largely home-grown squad last season, and Greatholder places great store in the club's responsibility to develop the young players in its care. He is convinced Davies – with his talent and willingness to work and learn – will thrive in this environment.
Apart from the development-focused approach adopted by Wanderers, the Havelock North option held the appeal of a football relationship already well established.
Bruce Barclay – son of the late Dick Barclay, long-time committee member and treasurer of Gisborne City during the club's national league heyday – is a former player-coach of Havelock North and now assistant to Greatholder. His Gisborne links are maintained through his mother Dianne.
Through his son Luca, Bruce Barclay got to know Davies and his father Roger.
“Oli and my son Luca have played for the (Central) federation teams over the years, and I got to know Oli and his dad Roger,” Bruce Barclay said.
“Last year I arranged for Luca to play as a guest player for Birkenhead United at the national under-17 tournament held in Auckland every year in March.”
Barclay said Birkenhead were perennial title contenders at both the u17 tournament in Auckland and the u19 tournament in Napier.
“The coach up there, Paul Hobson, asked me if I knew of any strikers, and I thought of Oli. I rang Roger to see if Oli would be available. With Luca and Oli as guest players, Birkenhead won the tournament and Oli scored in the final.
“It was a pretty special week. Oli and Luca were guest players from Gisborne and Hawke's Bay for the team that won the national tournament, so Oli and Roger and Luca and I bonded pretty strongly, and we've kept in touch.
“I'm from Gisborne and I know the people there. Gisborne has lots of talent but little in the way of opportunities.
“When Oli got the chance to go to Lindisfarne, I thought it would be a great opportunity for him to play Central League football. I recommended him to Chris (Greatholder), who is a really good promoter of youth football, and he is keen to see him play at a higher level.”
Barclay said any coach watching Davies would be immediately impressed by his nose for goal and turn of pace. He expected Greatholder and Wanderers to build on these attributes.
One familiar figure for Davies at Wanderers is former Gisborne Thistle player Tomek Frooms, who joined the Hawke's Bay club in the middle of last season.
Barclay said Frooms would be there again this season.
Greatholder sees “bags of potential” in Oli Davies.
“Oli accelerates really quickly and in the modern game that's important for anyone who plays in the final third,” Greatholder said.
“His attitude is spot-on and conducive to his getting better at what he does. I like him as a person . . . he is coachable and a bit of a blank canvas. As a coach, I'm excited to be working with him.
“We would never promise a player regular first-team football, but he has a good chance here. He will get opportunities.”
Greatholder says Napier City Rovers will be keen to rebound from last year's seventh placing in the Central League to challenge for the top-three spot that would earn them a place in the season-ending National League competition.
“Napier have big resources,” he said.
“They'll bring in lots of players for one season with a view to winning things.”
In contrast, Havelock North Wanderers expect a battle to hold their own in this company. Many of the teams have a full-time coach; Greatholder has a full-time job outside football. Other teams train four nights a week; Wanderers train twice a week with a gym session thrown in.
“Our aim is to use and develop players from Havelock North and Hastings, but it's the nature of Hawke's Bay – and Gisborne to some extent – that we lose a lot to work or tertiary study outside the district.
“We can't keep players here because they have bigger journeys ahead. But while they are under our watch we look after them.”
A big concession to their elevated status as a Central League club is a first-team shift – for this season anyway – from Guthrie Park to the Hawke's Bay Regional Sports Park, with spectator capacity of 4000.
“I'd love to stay in the top tier because of the value of having something that young players can aspire to,” Greatholder said.
“We're going up against some of the best coaches and players in the country. It'll be really tough and we'll probably get a touch-up or two, but I back myself as a coach to be well organised. We've got a good group who are very tight. We'll be difficult to beat.”
Oli Davies has played football since he was six years old, first for St Mary's in the primary school grades, then for a team in the intermediate grade super league and – from Year 10 to Y12 – for Gisborne Boys' High School. Last year he played for the school only at tournaments, as he was a regular in Gisborne Thistle's first team.
Oli said that when he was a Year 10 student just coming into the Boys' High first-team squad, coach Sebastian Itman was a big influence.
“He was very supportive, and motivated me,” Oli said.
While he intends to take his football as far as he can, he takes academic life seriously and wants to go to university, although he's not sure what sort of career would be at the end of it.
In the meantime, Oli is enjoying the professionalism of the Havelock North set-up, the fitness work and the small-sided games.
Parents Frauke Nieschmidt and Roger Davies are helping with the costs of Oli's life away from home, while supporting the sporting endeavours of Oli's younger brother Alex, a Gisborne Thistle midfielder who has also attracted attention from Hawke's Bay. And Thistle have ambitions for promotion from the Federation League.
At some stage, Oli and Alex could be Central League teammates . . . or opponents.