Soccer: Caversham secure second shot at national league

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Beaten in a legal wrangle as they chased a place in this year's national soccer league, Dunedin club Caversham have another chance to make the big time.

As runaway winners of the federation seven league, Caversham will play the winner of federation six to find the southern representative for the play-offs.

Their likely rivals are Christchurch club Halswell, or Christchurch United.

Also chasing places in next year's national league will be the winner of a play-off between the federation four and five champions - likely to be Havelock North and former national league club Wellington United.

The successful teams will join the northern premier league winners (representing federations one, two and three) and the last-placed national league side - Auckland's Metro - in a four-team battle for a spot in the national league.

New Zealand Soccer will be keeping a close watch on this weekend's Chatham Cup quarter-finals.

North Shore United, a prospective northern league winner, are at home to Christchurch City.

If Shore win, they will be in the September 2 cup semifinals - being held on the same weekend set down for the national league promotion series.

"It is a potential problem," said New Zealand Soccer chief executive Bill MacGowan.

"If North Shore do get through, we will have to postpone the playoffs until later in September."

That would sit uncomfortably with the other teams who will have played little or no football after mid-August.

"We could look at playing these games - which we plan to play at Waitakere City's Fred Taylor Park - over the same weekend of the national league grand final [September 8 or 9] if no Auckland team is involved," MacGowan said.

"We are drawing up contingency plans to take the grand final to Wellington's Newtown Park - from North Harbour Stadium - if no Auckland team is involved."

"We have yet to finalise exact dates for the league and cup finals, as we are discussing live television coverage with two networks."

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Angela Vujnovich returns to national women's football for the first time in seven years when she joins Amanda Crawford in spearheading the Auckland attack at next week's tournament.

Crawford has scored 28 goals this season.

Vujnovich, who last played at this level in 1994, has 26 which includes seven hat-tricks which helped take her tally for Lynn Avon past 150.

The seven-team tournament starts on Sunday at Keith Hay Park and ends with the final round-robin games at Bill McKinlay Park on Saturday week.

The Auckland team, representing federation two, includes four new players at this level, Rebecca Parkinson, Melanie Gooch, Dana Humby and Lill Somerfield.

All federations apart from federation seven - Otago-Southland were a late withdrawal - will play, as will a national under-18 side who will use the championship as the first step of their build-up to the 2002 Oceania qualifying tournament for the next women's under-18 world championships.