Football: Married pair do talking on pitch

Marriage has its fair share of teasers for couples as they set out on an exciting adventure to find out who their partner really is.
You know, do you slice beans on an angle or straight; do you hang trousers on the clothesline by the legs or the waist; or do you the read the newspaper from back to front as sports nutters do or vice-versa?
Well, in the case of Hawke's Bay couple Rachel and Henry Harland the marriage laboratory has redefined the boundary of the rules of engagement and rivalry, taking them outside the confinements of their home to a saturated football field.
The Harlands, who are teachers, will be at the helm of their opposing schoolboy soccer teams tomorrow in Hastings.
For a shade more than an hour, they will look over their shoulders to see if they are anything but two peas in a pod.
Rachel's coaching the Lindisfarne College junior B team and Henry's at the helm of the Central Hawke's Bay College Junior A boys' outfit in the Bay schools' division two-league competition.
"It'll be nerve-wracking," Rachel says in the warmth of the Lindisfarne school foyer, before the teams kick off at 10.30am at the Lyndhurst ground behind the school complex.
The head of the arts faculty, Rachel says Englishman Henry taught her "everything" she knows about the beautiful game.
"He was extremely helpful and helped me coach my team [for a little more than a season]."
She may well lavish praise in the mould of pre-match ritual but Rachel's resume is impressive in its own right. She is the only female football coach in the boys' school to have won a title, the evidence for all to see on the wall of the school hallway after her intermediate team was undefeated in 2005.
A grinning Henry says: "I haven't managed that so it's one step up for me."
You see, the remarkable thing is she has never kicked a soccer ball competitively at any level but is pretty savvy in her seventh year of mentoring children.
It's not that one needs to play a sport to coach but it does help. In her case, that assistance came from TV, which is a reservoir of information.
Rachel played netball when she attended Woodford House as a teenager but these days slips on a bib for Maycenvale.
"It'll be interesting when we go head to head," says Henry, who has played soccer, rugby, rugby league and cricket on the way to graduating from Nottingham's Trent University with a sports science degree.
He had visited the Bay on numerous occasions as a youngster so when the couple consolidated their relationship while she was teaching in Nottingham in 2007 it was an easy decision for Henry to emigrate here.
Needless to say, when the couple coach this Saturday, their family and friends will occupy middle ground.
Henry's CHB juniors are runners-up in the division two ladder while Rachel's boys are perched on the third rung.
Both their sides have had to eat humble pie against Karamu High School but Rachel's Lindisfarne have registered two stalemates against Taradale High School and Havelock North High School.
Come play-offs, CHB and Lindisfarne should be in the mix barring any huge upsets.
The couple often discuss tactics at the dinner table and glean information off each other after playing other teams.
"It's fun being in the same division," Rachel says, as Henry adds he has watched her team perform on his bye days.
Rachel: "Yes, he has also been snooping."
Henry: "Yep, I've got some things up my sleeve."
Rachel's blueprint includes pivotal players such as Bay representative goalkeeper Scott McAuley, midfielder/striker Hugo Schaw, captain/centreback Logan Burnett and centreback Sean Kells.
Her coaching style is built on the doctrine of being "huge on defence" and employing speedy wingers and strikers in counter-attack.
Henry, in his second season with the school, is banking on Bay representative centreback/captain Harrison Taylor to spearhead the CHB campaign.
"He's vocal, strong in the air and will not take any nonsense from fast strikers," he says as Rachel resists the temptation to nibble the bait.
His other potent weapon is midfielder Kaleb Grant, who powered home a goal from the halfway mark against Hastings Boys' High School last week although Henry reveals striker Josiah Moore is CHB's top goal scorer.
CHB, it seems, have caught the Barcelona bug.
"They keep the ball on the ground, put it out wide to the wingers and are not afraid to pass it around although they don't mess around in the back if they have to knock it back."
So what constitutes a good coach?
Rachel reckons someone who's reliable in turning up at the park, knows his/her players and the game and can make decisions.
Henry believes it's someone who "goes beyond a football boot".
"Someone who can show kids new and exciting things and give them new opportunities," he says, adding it was especially relevant to CHB where he had helped girls and boys' teams. "I also get to see them at another level, not just in the classroom," Henry says, emphasising enjoyment and savouring wins are also vital.
For the record, Rachel and Henry will have a bet before the game kicks off but they weren't sure what it would be.
"It'll be rude not to," Henry says.