New Zealand’s Seniors World Cup final appearance was goal achieved

Members of the New Zealand Masters team, including Gisborne player Dave Ure (back row, sixth from left) at a kids' coaching day held in between games at the Seniors World Cup football tournament in Bangkok.

New Zealand Masters football player Davie Ure can say he has played in a World Cup final.

He was in the team that lost 1-0 to England in the final of the Seniors World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand this month. It was New Zealand’s best showing in 14 appearances at the tournament.

The tournament has been held annually – bar two Covid years – since the first one in 2006. It was set up to help bring back the tourists after the 2004 Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami, and its popularity has ensured its continued presence on the Masters sporting calendar.

New Zealand teams have been taking part since 2008. Last year was Ure’s first time at the tournament, and this year he was joined in the squad by another Gisborne football product, Jimmy Cudd, son of Irene and the late Len Cudd.

“Jimmy’s living just outside Perth,” Ure said. “He played in the middle of the park but he’d hurt his back in a work accident – he’s a lineman – so that limited his game time. He played almost half an hour in the final, though.”

Cudd played for Gisborne City in the national and central leagues before moving to North Shore. He lit up the Hawke’s Bay football scene when he joined Napier City Rovers, where he orchestrated the midfield and won national league and Chatham Cup winners’ medals.

As for Ure, he played for Gisborne City in 1995 and ‘96, then Lower Hutt, Olympic, Island Bay, Gisborne City again and, from 2008, Gisborne Thistle.

The New Zealand side they played for in Thailand was not an official national team, but players had to meet certain standards.

Ure explained it this way: “If you wanted to be in the team, you had to pay your own way, you had to have been a decent player and you had to still be playing at a decent level. And you had to be able to get the time off work.”

Dave Ure in action against Australia in the semifinals of the Seniors World Cup. New Zealand won 5-4 on penalties.

The tournament lasted a week, with the first game on the Monday and the final on the Saturday.

Teams were divided into two pools of four. Pool games were played on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday was set aside for teams to coach groups of local youth players and Friday was for semifinals.

Matches were 80 minutes, with a water break after 20 minutes, halftime at 40 minutes and another water break at 60 minutes. Games were played at 5pm and 7pm but the temperatures were still in the mid-30s, with high humidity.

Ure was used as a utility player – on the right wing, left wing and at rightback.

“Three or four players played full games but everyone else rotated,” he said.

“I think I played only 15 or 20 minutes in the final; the rest of the games I played at least 40 minutes.”

At any one time on the pitch, teams had to have at least three players 50 years or older, four players 45 years or over, and the rest could be 40 and over.

“Of the 21 players in our squad, only one was under 45,” Ure said.

That made Ure, 46 in November, one of the youngsters in the team.

Their first game was against Iran, a “really strong” side, three of whom had played in the 2014 World Cup. Iran led 1-0 at halftime, added another 20 minutes into the second spell and ended up winning 4-1.

“That put the pressure on for the rest of the pool games,” Ure said.

New Zealand beat Laos 2-0, courtesy of two penalties from Tim Butterfield, a former Miramar Rangers player originally from Sheffield, who played against Sean Fallon (Rory Fallon’s elder brother, who was on Liverpool’s books) in the Youth FA Cup.

A 1-0 victory over Taiwan, thanks to an early goal from former Western Suburbs player Steve McMahon and then a good defensive display, meant they finished second in the group.

Dave Ure (left) with former Gisborne City and Napier City Rovers player Jimmy Cudd. The pair were teammates in the New Zealand Masters football team at the Seniors World Cup.

In the other group, Australia had drawn with England and had a better goal difference, so group runners-up New Zealand played group winners Australia in one semifinal, and Iran played England in the other.

“We went 1-0 down to Australia pretty early, but we equalised through former Petone player Paul Whitmarsh, and it was 1-1 at fulltime. It went straight to penalties, and we won the shootout 5-4. I’d been subbed off a minute before fulltime, so didn’t take a penalty.”

England beat Iran in the other semifinal.

“England were a very good team, with players who had played Premier League football,” Ure said.

“We went toe to toe with them for most of the match. We lost our goalkeeper, Richard Gillespie, when he got a head knock in a clash from a corner. He had blurred vision so he had to come off.

“We didn’t have a reserve keeper, as such, but we had someone who had played in goal.

“They scored with a header off a corner with about 15 minutes to go, and I came on just after that. England managed the game really well and made it difficult for us to get the ball down and play, and we ran out of time.

“But making the final was a great achievement in itself.”

The other teams in the tournament (in England’s group) were Thailand and Vietnam.

The New Zealand team also included former Napier City Rovers striker Chris McIvor and former Petone and Napier striker Andy Pickering.

Ure said the question of his taking part in the tournament next year would depend on family and work commitments.