Game day at Bluewater Stadium is more important than just the result for hardcore Napier City Rovers fan Mark Jordan.
It’s also a day when the 54-year-old always remembers his late mother and fellow devoted Rovers fan, who died almost 10 years ago.
Watching one of New Zealand’s most successful football clubs in action became a ritual for the pair after Sheila took Jordan to his first Napier City Rovers game in 1974; the second year of the club’s existence.
Sheila died in 2014 after battling cancer.
But Jordan still shares the day with his beloved mum’s memory in his own way, including carrying some of her ashes in a necklace he wears and sitting in the Bluewater Stadium seat his mum loved the most.
“That’s vital to me,” Jordan told the Herald.
“She loved watching football, brought me here when I was 4 and it just became ... me and mum’s thing.”
The club had earlier given Jordan permission to sprinkle some of her ashes near the entrance to their clubrooms; a building packed with memorabilia from its rich history.
“That means a lot to me,” Jordan said.
He had considered sprinkling ashes on the Park Island hill overlooking Bluewater Stadium, but that idea was scrapped because of his mobility issues.
Sheila’s name is also on display just inside the entrance to the clubrooms thanks to a birthday present Jordan’s wife, Tania, gave him three years ago: the purchase of a tile featuring her name.
It is a gift Jordan says warmed his heart and brought tears to his eyes.
“With my mum’s name up there, she will always be here,” he said.
Game day was always a special day for Jordan and his mum.
She always sat in the same seat since Bluewater Stadium opened in 1985, overlooking the exit from the players’ tunnel onto the playing arena.
The pair would arrive at least an hour before kickoff so Sheila could nab her favourite spot; including during her cancer battle.
“She would love to peer over when the players lined up. She had her favourite players and she especially fancied James Hoyle,” Jordan said.
“She loved him, [thought] he was so handsome and would have a big smile on her face [when she saw him]. Even when she was going through her cancer treatment, she would look over and have a big smile and say, ‘Oh, Jimbo’s playing.
“Even when she was really poorly, she was still coming to games.”
Just as Napier City Rovers games were a source of positivity for Sheila during her illness, they have also given Jordan joy during his own lengthy battle with cancer.
“They mean everything and I’ll be here until the day I die,” he said.
“I’ve sat in the same seat . . . through my health issues, through my surgeries.”
Sheila’s regular seat at Bluewater Stadium is now occupied by Jordan on game day; that will include today when Napier City Rovers take on North Wellington in third-round Chatham Cup action.
Just like he did as a child, he will arrive more than an hour early – this time with Tania – to ensure he nabs the special seat.
“It’s like I’m carrying on that tradition that was special to me and mum,” he said.
It was Sheila who kept Jordan up to date with the fortunes of his favourite sporting team during the several years he lived in the UK.
Well before the days of news and sports sites on the internet – let alone texting - Jordan had to make expensive landline phone calls back home to find out if Napier City Rovers had been victorious at the weekend.
The wait was “horrid”, he laughed.
Sheila would send him an envelope every month packed with the previous four weeks’ newspaper stories on Napier City Rovers.
“She’d save everything up for me,” Jordan said.
“Once a month I’d get her letter and the package would be piled up with all articles about the Rovers.”
When he returned from the UK, his desire to attend home games was such that the chef would flag his unavailability for Sunday afternoon shifts with prospective employers.
“I would say I’m not taking a job unless I can have Sundays off to come and see my team.”
Passionate sports fans around the world wear their hearts on their sleeves. But for Jordan, it is more than just a saying.
His left arm proudly bears a large logo of his sporting love; a motif featuring a dolphin jumping out of the surf with a football at its tail, and a Norfolk pine in the background.
It’s among a series of tattoos emblazoned on his arms on what is important in his life, including the name of his wife, his animals, lyrics from his favourite songs and the Napier City Rovers and Arsenal football clubs.
“I decided many years ago that I would have the story of my life on my arms,” Jordan said.
“When I’m 10 ft under, I want to have everything with me ... everything I’ve done through my life and everything I’ve loved.”
Jordan’s 50-year love affair with Napier City Rovers has seen him witness untold on-field heroics in the club’s rich history.
That includes following them during their five Chatham Cup wins – just two of record seven titles one by a single club in the cup’s 101-year history – and their National League triumphs in 1989, 1993, 1998 and 2000.
His list of favourite players features some of the club’s greatest names; Harry Clarke, Paul Halford (the club’s first All Whites international) and Gary Parker.
Parker’s sporting story is an incredible one; he returned to his native Scotland after a glittering six-season stint at Napier City Rovers, going on to play rugby for Scotland A against the 1993 All Blacks, playing gridiron in the European NFL and then coaching the Scotland Woman’s rugby team.
“He was an unbelievable player,” Jordan said.
Favourite players in the squad of 2024 include a quartet of veterans from Napier City Rovers’ 2019 Chatham Cup-winning team.
And when they run onto Bluewater Stadium for today’s crunch Chatham Cup knockout tie against North Wellington.
“I love Jonny McNamara, Fergus Neil, James Hoyle and Liam Schofield,” he said.
“They are the stalwarts who have been here for years, They love the club and I love those guys. They are awesome, awesome lads.”
Watch the Inside the Rovers video series:
Episode One: Back to Work
Episode Two: The Darkest Days
Episode Three: Skin Deep
Episode Four: Good as Gould
Episode Five: The Hard Yards
Episode Six: Leaving a Legacy
Episode Seven: Fun and Games
Episode Eight: Game Day
Episode Nine: The Great Dane
Episode 10: Back-to-Back
Episode 11: Long Road Back
Episode 12: Total Commitment
Episode 13: The Bravest Boy
Episode 14: Love of the Game
Episode 15: A Rapid Rise
Episode 16: Mixed Emotions
Episode 17: Cup Fever
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.
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