Thistle coach backs plan

Gisborne thistle coach Garrett Blair

FOOTBALL

GISBORNE Thistle first team coach Garrett Blair supports Central Football’s proposal to encourage school-age players to link up with clubs.

“From our point of view, the proposal to remove the school teams from the senior men’s competition is positive,” he said.

“It’s going in the right direction in terms of trying to create pathways between youth and senior football in the region.”

What Central Football was proposing — that boys who played senior-grade football for school teams should instead join clubs — was not uncommon, Blair said.

Gisborne was one of only a few regions to have school teams in the men’s competition.

“The idea is we try to create a structure at regional level that is consistent with the rest of the country,” he said.

“With the proposal that Central Football is planning to implement, you can see a pathway to the Federation League, Central League and National League. We have to start getting these young players on board now if we want to start seeing more success at those levels.”

Blair was elected to the Central Football board this year. He is one of two Gisborne members on the nine-member board, the other being Kerry Donovan.

But Blair’s support for school players joining clubs predates his board membership.

He was an established member of the Gisborne Boys’ High School first 11 team when, in the seventh form (Year 13), he decided to join Gisborne City to try to make their travelling team.

“I was told if I played for a club I would lose all my privileges,” Blair said.

“I had been in the first 11 since third form.”

He joined Gisborne City while still at school and played for them in the Central and Pacific leagues.

“It opened a whole lot of doors in terms of where my football career could go. I played for the Waikato under-19 reps and played Northern League football.”

Blair returned to Gisborne, joined Thistle and, as injuries took a toll on his fitness to play, shifted his focus to coaching. This year he was an enthusiastic promoter of Thistle’s reserve team as a developer of emerging talent. A few old heads in key positions were an integral part of the plan.

He says that under the Central Football proposal to remove the school teams from senior competition, the student players would still be there but in another form.

“I think this step is not only positive but also necessary,” Blair said.

“A lot of work needs to happen over the next five to 10 years. It will be tough but we need to stick at it.”

In relation to concerns about second- and third-team players being lost to the game, he said: “As a club we are committed to everyone getting football. If we are flooded with young players, we have structures in place to bring them in. We can get coaches across the board. We have the right people, within the club, to drive this.”

Thistle had sent away a team to the Napier under-19 tournament for the past two seasons and that had sparked the young players’ interest in club football, Blair said.

“If we can create a youth team, or even two teams, around a core of older players we will get a lot of those kids who have been dropping out of the game because there’s been no pathway for them.”

Gisborne United stalwart Chris Adams has a different view.

“I’ve always been for schools being in the men’s league,” he said.

“When the kids go to a club, there’ll be three or four who go to a top team. They all go with their mates, so those who don’t go to the clubs (because their mates aren’t there) will be left behind.”

Adams said he had heard that the Boys’ High first 11 would all go to Thistle.

“How will that benefit all the clubs?

“This year the Boys’ High second and third teams didn’t play in the men’s competition. Where were those players this year? What did those players do?

“Yes, schoolboys playing for clubs works in other cities. They have triple the population we have. We’re Gisborne; we haven’t got the numbers here.”

Gisborne football needed a third division (only two divisions were run this year), he said.

“We have players in our third team who need us to help them.”

Other clubs had teams of a similar standard, and the school second and third teams — playing with their mates — made a third division possible.

Adams said he attended a meeting at which the Central Football proposal was discussed. No high school representatives were there. He got the impression that all the schools agreed with what was proposed. It was only when he talked with Boys’ High School deputy principal Peter Ray a month or so later that he learned that wasn’t the case.

Wainui Sports Club president Diego Pedrioli says Wainui are not against Central Football’s proposal and are considering what they can offer school players should the changes go ahead.

The matter was discussed at the club’s annual general meeting, and the feeling was that they should be prepared in case of an inflow of younger players.

Out-of-town football was something the club could not afford at present but a repeat of the six-a-side tournament the club ran this year — planned for March — could be an opportunity for them to introduce the club to young players.

“This year we fielded three teams, so we have more room for expansion than in the past,” Pedrioli said.

“We’re in a better position to offer first- and second-division football and training with coaching. That’s just a reflection of our club being stronger than it has been in recent years.”