Bring on those heroes to encourage success

"To engender interest and participation in any sport you need success and you need heroes."
You only need to research Rotorua senior soccer results from 1982 to 2009 for confirmation of the truth of that adage.
No success, no heroes - no interest.
With junior football thriving over those 27 years the senior clubs should have had a conveyor belt of youngsters coming through but that was not the case, with Ngongotaha, Suburbs and City all going into decline.
Ngongotaha were competitive in the newly established WaiBop Federation League, finishing third for three consecutive years, but it has been all downhill for the Villagers since. After narrowly avoiding the drop in 2007 they were relegated in 2008 and to add salt to the wound they finished last in division two.
City and Suburbs were the bottom two in the 2004 Bay 1 league, and after preliminary talks about amalgamation they entered a combined team under the name of Rotorua United in 2005. But the experiment was a failure with "United" finishing last.
City, who could field only one senior team, dropped to the Bay 2 league while Suburbs gave their dwindling band of loyal supporters some hope when they finished first equal in Bay 1 only to be denied the title on goal difference.
While the bone can be pointed at players and coaches for the lamentable results the blame can be fairly and squarely laid at the feet of club administrators, who showed a total lack of positive governance.
With the catchphrase "One city, one club, one vision" the merger of Suburbs and City was formalised in 2007. Supporters had high hopes United would restore the standing of Rotorua soccer.
Club officials said that was their aim but were cautious, saying success would take time and the priority was to put an effective administration structure in place.
On-field results for the first three years were only average, but this season did much to restore Rotorua mana.
For the first time United fielded a senior women's team.
Coached by Nicola Demaine, they had an outstanding year, winning the Bay league and the Pullar Cup. The girls' youth Blue team won the Western Bay Division 2 title and the White side performed with credit.
The late appointment of coach Neil Rush and the lack of pre season games was a negative for the Federation 1 men's side, but they recovered from two early losses and with an unbeaten run of 12 games surged to the top of the table, taking the Challenge Shield along the way.
Coach Rush assembled a squad with a good mix of experience and youth and they were playing with the confidence of title winners until they had an off day against Tauranga Boys'.
It was a loss that cost them not only the Challenge Shield but ultimately the title. Although there was disappointment at finishing second coach Rush, who has agreed to take the reins again next season, can approach the next campaign with confidence.
United fielded five boys' youth sides, which augurs well for the future of the club, and hopefully next season a good number of those youngsters will form the nucleus of the reserve side and challenge for first team places.
The administrators, led by chairman Deryck Shaw, and the coaches, led by director of football Ray Wells, have done a great job in restoring pride to Rotorua football.