Football: Retired Holt flicks page to new chapter

ANOTHER CHAPTER: Phil Holt, 68, officially retired yesterday as the Central Football Eastern operations manager (HB/Gisborne). PHOTO/Warren Buckland

PHIL HOLT steps out on to the mat at the pristine greens of Bowls Napier to release the sphere with what appears to be an educated arm but the bowl has a brain of its own as it veers off on to the next lane in what is called a "wrong bias".

It was his third that Saturday and, in some ways, quite symbolic of how Holt never set out to court controversy a decade ago in his job but he wasn't naive enough to believe he was going to gingerly sidestep it like water-filled potholes on a track.

"Obviously you don't always satisfy all the people all the time but I'd like to think that over the 10 years I've served everybody to the best of my ability and had a fair stance on issues that affected the clubs, in particular players," says Holt who retired as Central Football Eastern operations manager (Hawke's Bay/Gisborne) yesterday. The 68-year-old of Napier pauses momentarily when asked what he'll remember most about his tenure in a turbulent era of a code where everyone has an opinion and aren't shy to slip on an eye patch.

"Oh that's a hard one. I think it's the way people react," says Holt, requesting the Dictaphone be put on pause to enable him to muster his words carefully.

"I've made some mistakes and there's nothing surer than that but I'd like to think the people I've made mistakes with are well over it, shook hands and, maybe in some cases, we've had a beer or coffee and hope we can put all that behind us and get on with our lives."

His predecessor, Chris Knight, had only lasted five months, stating he could not put up with all the bickering.

Holt wasn't under any illusions that his presence was going to make any difference but suspects he developed broad shoulders over the years to take those reactions on board.

"I tried to get an outcome that was right rather than a compromise although there were times when you had to make compromises because you wouldn't have been able to carry on with the game because there was always somebody who possibly wanted to dig their heels in."

Overall, though, Holt is happy with the way he resolved issues with the help of other people through committees and judiciaries going through the proper processes to acquire a right result.

In some respects, Holt even learned a bit more about himself.

"I've been told on a number of occasions what people's perceptions of me are out in the field, so to speak. I think I've certainly learned to be more diplomatic.

"I hope that's true, and that's my perception, because you need to be because sometimes you have a knee-jerk reaction so that doesn't help the situation."

Holt isn't going as far as categorising his work as innovative but believes he has tried to refresh the make up of competitions so as to ensure teams got the right number of games in a season.

"Again, as we all know, it's all about opinions and what suits one doesn't suit others.

"I'd like to think I've sort of left more of a legacy and we've now got Darren Mason doing part of my job and that I've helped him along a little bit and shown him the ropes.

"Nothing stands out where I can say it happened because I did it."

However, he reflects in the early days of the first secondary schools' tourney, especially with the help of Napier Boys' High School, deeming it a success.

It was turbulent times when the schools sought and got autonomy because of grievances over subscription fees and related charges.

"The councils were prepared to let them wreck their fields. Maybe I shouldn't say that but that has happened."

Holt hastens to add he also enjoyed working with the Hastings Districts and Napier City councils in terms of building a rapport to ensure ground bookings went smoothly.

The hardest part of his job was trying to reach people who mattered in clubs.

"You say, 'Hey, this is how I'm thinking of running it [competition] so can I have some comments, please?'

"You know, you don't get much back so you have to work on 'Well, this is the way I'm thinking of doing it so you haven't taken an interest in making a comment so we're going ahead and doing that'," he says.

Time always was of the essence. With deadlines, games simply had to go ahead while dialogue continued throughout the season in the hope of making tweaks, if necessary.

Because his portfolio embraces Gisborne, he feels he's done some good things in the region but he would have liked to have done more.

"Really I was still treading water so, unfortunately, there are an ageing population of football players out there.

"Because of the way they are structured you don't have a junior football set up that you have here because it's all primary school-based in Gisborne so that's been very hard to break down.

"So you could say that's one thing I'd be disappointed in but I really feel in Hawke's Bay I have done jobs I've set out to do, although they probably could have been done maybe a little better, but there's nothing I regret."

With Mason at the helm, Holt feels the junior plan in place should yield, in five years, several players who will go on to play, through the Federation Training Centre, for the Thirsty Whale Hawke's Bay United franchise team in the Stirling Sports Premiership over summer.

"We're in a position now where a number of players will come through it into the [franchise] youth teams so we like to believe they'll progress to the senior squad so that we can say Hawke's Bay United stands for Hawke's Bay."

Reflecting on the tepid support for the Brett Angell-coached Bay franchise team of predominantly overseas and players outside the province in the summer national league, Holt says supporters can be parochial.

"It seems to be more about how we're not going to win. You know, supporters turn up, I believe, looking at Hawke's Bay United to lose, not win."

The pleasing thing, he says, in the past two years was Angell showing what coaching is all about after taking the franchise to the playoffs with two separate squads.

"But it's really about getting more and more local players playing."

The onus, Holt says, is on the players from the region to put their hands up.

Looking ahead at 2018, he says it'll be interesting to see how things will pan out in the premiership with NZ Football's edict that every club must have corresponding youth and women's teams.

"That's going to cause a lot of work for those involved."

With Bay United and Central Football drawing closer in the way they operate in recent years, a crossover of people working together will help the cause.

The parochialism in football is inherently the nature of the beast.

"The politics will always be there. I hope it'll get less," he says.

People need to get away from the belief that because Bay United play at Bluewater Stadium it has something to do with Napier City Rovers.

"That definitely isn't the case any more."

Holt thanks everyone who has supported him over the years, something he has had endorsement of after receiving emails of acknowledgement of his input.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been playing football since I could kick a ball on the playground in England so I've had 10 years of doing what I love since I was 4 years old and it's been a privilege."

Among the congratulatory messages is one from former Bay United coach Jonathan Gould, in England, wishing Holt an enjoyable retirement and thanking him for his "unbridled commitment" to Central Football.

"My long lasting memory of my friend, Phil, will always be him standing on a pitch side dressed in his Central Football tracksuit and gum boots.

"The hours over and above the call of duty and care that Phil has given to the game as an employee, volunteer and supporter should be harnessed and passed on to the next generation of people who love the game as much as he does.

"No doubt we will all see him on a touchline somewhere in the sun and rain in the future but his frown will now be a little less furrowed knowing he hasn't got to deal with any of the on-field shenanigans reported on the Monday morning," says Gould.

A British Telecom technician from Fulham, England, Holt arrived in the Bay in 1975 as a 27-year-old on his big OE when he met former wife Rhonda and got married.

He started work as a technician at the former New Zealand Post Office's Napier exchange.

He was made redundant in 1994 so he joined a communications company, Ericsson, installing modular phone sites around the city until his football job.

The couple have two children, Katherine, 35, a senior lecturer at Massey University, and Robert, 32, a patents office employee in Wellington.

Holt also enjoys refereeing but with the onset of ailments, such as gout and arthritis, he's had his limitations.

"Every time I do it it takes me like four days to come right but I still do it now," he says, responding to calls from junior officials who have high school commitments as well.

"I'm starting a new chapter in my life so I have no regrets in the time I've had in my place," he says, revealing he intends to play more bowls and bridge and serve on football committees if required.

HOLT PROFILE

■ 1976-78: 22 appearances as goalkeeper for NCR Central League team.
■ 1985: Started coaching Bay rep junior teams.
■ 1990: Director of coaching for HB Junior Football Association.
■ 1993: Co-director of coaching Napier City Rovers with Keith Buckley.
■ 2003-05: HBFA chairman and served in various committees.
■ 2006-2016: Central Football Eastern operations manager (HB/Gisborne).