Soccer: Two football clubs take a united front

Rotorua United and Ngongotaha AFC have announced a partnership to enter four grades in Waikato Bay of Plenty Football competitions under the banner of Geyser Football.

These grades will be Boys 13 and under, 15 and under and 17 and under as well as Girls 14 and under.

"In the past, [Ngongotaha AFC] may have got six players and [Rotorua United] seven and it's been hard to get a full team together," said Rotorua United president Deryck Shaw.

"You never knew if you were going to get a team. Why not collaborate and put in teams under Geyser Football, independent of both clubs. It means they can go along that pathway and this provides peak competition."

He said by combining at these age levels, players have the potential to play at a higher level within Rotorua clubs.

"There's a lot of pressure for players to [play] out of town."

The two clubs have been discussing the united front for some time.

"It's not all been one club, it's both clubs and their committees," Mr Shaw said.

"We know we need to do a lot more collaboration for the development of the game. The worst case is for neither club to have a team.

"People want us to get teams into these competitions and we have got to be bigger than the interests of individual clubs."

Ngongotaha committee member Christine O'Donoghue and Rotorua United director of football Ray Wells are now calling for expressions of interest for coaches for the teams.

Expressions of interest close on March 31.

Anyone interested in coaching a Geyser Football team should email their coaching experience and qualifications and specify which teams they wished to be involved with to Christine O'Donoghue on chrisandeamon@gmail.com or Ray Wells thewellsclan@gmail.com.

Following the appointment of team coaches, players will be invited to trials.