North Force 3 Eastern Suburbs 0: In the end, the Auckland 16 Metro championship was decided without a shot being fired when Eastern Suburbs defaulted to North Force late last week, a result which gave the North Force franchise their first Metro championship title and, for the 16s, whilst holding a game in hand.
On behalf of the champions, supporter Sharon Teh said notice of the default when it came through represented good news and bad: "Good news being they win the league trophy, bad news being they wished they could've done it by actually playing the game. We are all quite disappointed and were looking forward to the 'decider'!"
She noted North Force can celebrate next week when they play their final game of the season - round 18/18 in the AFF's 16th Metro league - away to North Shore this Sunday. North Shore finished the weekend sitting in 6th spot out of the nine teams in the competition.
But for all concerned, the default in no way diminishes the achievement of the Whangarei-based squad in a competition featuring some of the best youth talent in the country, while the tyranny of distance (facing all North Force teams) also has to be factored into the successful equation. Far North players who played for the team this year included Drew Young and Liam Nash from Kerikeri, View Rungpao from Kaitaia and Dylan Rogers from Taipa. As well, the side was coached by English-born Dan Johnston who plays for the Kerikeri men's prem div side.
