2016 Senior Prizegiving - Official Program by Ellerslie AFC

ast year I wrote how it had been my most challenging

season to date - well with the benefit of hindsight this season has smashed last season by 6 goals, a proper hiding. I don’t know where to start with what went wrong, but we were firefighting some major issues that effected members, such as being locked out of Ngahue, not having the lower fields at Michaels Ave reopened at the beginning of the season as expected, having to close the clubrooms twice this season was also a “bit” of a pain. Not to mention coping with the reduction in hours available on the top turf from council… However from people I have talked to these issues didn’t seem to really effect everyone's everyday experience, people got on and did what they could to share training space and generally speaking there was a great deal of Ellerslie AFC spirit between teams. A big part of that working must be attributed to the following groups of people: Nathan Russ for running the Game Development Team, which included Coralie and then Mathieu who worked on day to day tasks including away strips, net allocation etc etc (thankless tasks). Lynette Margison who worked with Nathan and I all year allocating games to fields and trying to make sure the turf was well used and shared among teams.

The team managers who are the clubs voice and sudo committee members to their teams - without your hard work and passion for the game we wouldn’t be sitting here. (it’s important to note here that as a manager the more you put in the more you get back!)

There were several highlights this season, on the field we

had several league winners and a cup winner, and I look forward to celebrating their success later on this evening, but also we had some big wins in overall club progress. Including but not limited to: A NEW BEER FRIDGE! And renovated clubrooms, about time! It’s a great new fresh look that we will be working with the Cricket Club to personalise over the coming months. An increase in women’s teams - 4 fully stable and functional women’s teams at the club is a great effort, and a awesome platform to build on for future success Eastern Suburbs NYL - seems funny to be labelling Suburbs in the new Stirling Sport Premiership as our success, but for us this gives us a direct local path to National Youth League and eventually National League opportunities for our players. Infact as I understand it we have had up to 20 Ellerslie AFC players trial with the Eastern Suburbs NYL, and fingers crossed we get a few into the team!

Our Intern Program - as mentioned before we had some awesome on the ground support this season from Coralie and then Mathieu - I feel like this approach has worked well for us and moving forward I would love to see an intern working with us each season. The lower fields - what started as a frustration ended up as probably the most exciting thing I have seen since I started this role 5 years ago - we had 1 Saturday when we had senior games on all 3 pitches (just the new grass premier field closed) - it gave Michaels Ave it’s football buzz back, I can’t wait to see more of that next season!

I personally have felt deflated at times this season but these wins have made all the long days and night worthwhile - but I couldn’t have done it without my team: Rob and Rose - the backbone of our admin team! Alannah - your help running the bar has been immense Ben Hill - always there for advice and a chat, massive help

My Senior Committee - I know we don’t meet often but when we do it’s all business and we get things done! So now that we have wrapped up the season let’s enjoy the fruit of our labour - enjoy tonight and party hard and drink responsibly. You all know I love a bit of enforcing rules so please have a look at a few housekeeping rules for tonight (below) and please please please don’t trash the clubrooms, it’s NEW! Cheers Tim Adams Chairman - Senior Divison Just so we can all enjoy the night as much as possible please take note of the following housekeeping rules:     

No smoking inside No drinks to be taken outside Club Trophies are to be left at the club - personal mini’s can be taken home Water is available for free at the bar Please turn your phones to silent while the awards are being carried out

If you have an issue please come see one of us: EAFC Committee Tim Adams Nathan Russ Mike Clark Paul Grogan Tim Hawes (absent) Or 4

Bar/Kitchen Manager Alannah Miekle

Front Cover Chairman’s Welcome Housekeeping Contents Page Tonight’s Program Trophy Definitions Shotaholics Women’s Fury Deceptively Slow Over 40’s Conference Diamonds Over 40’s Mustangs Women’s Nomads AFF Champs Men’s Reserves NRFL Academy Men’s First Team Women’s Reserves Women’s First Team Team Photo’s The End

Page 1 Page 2 to 4 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 & 7 Page 8 & 9 Page 10 & 11 Page 12 & 13 Page 14 & 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 & 19 Page 20 & 21 Page 22 to 25 Page 26 & 27 Page 28 & 29 Page 30 to 33 Page 34 & 35 Page 36 & 37 Page 38 & 39 Page 40

TEAM AWARDS Kiwis v the Rest (under 30’s) Kiwis v the Rest (over 30’s) - Willy de Witt Trophy Div 4 Shotaholics – Sportsman of the Year Div 4 Shotaholics – Player of the Year Div 3 KFCFC – Sportsman of the Year Div 3 KFCFC – Player of the Year Div 2 Deceptively Slow – Sportsman of the Year Div 2 Deceptively Slow – Player of the Year TEAM MEDALS – LEAGUE AFF Champs – Sportsman of the Year AFF Champs – Player of the Year TEAM MEDALS – CUP Over 40’s Mustangs – Sportsman of the Year Over 40’s Mustangs – Player of the Year Over 40’s Metro – Sportsman of the Year Over 40’s Metro – Player of the Year Over 40’s Metro – Jo Crichton Supporters Player of the Year TEAM MEDALS - LEAGUE Women’s Div 3 Fury – Sportswomen of the Year Women’s Div 3 Fury – Player of the Year Women’s Div 1 Nomads – Most Improved Women’s Div 1 Nomads – Sportswomen of the Year Women’s Div 1 Nomads – Player of the Year Women’s Reserves Swamp Dragons - Supporters Player of the Year Women’s Reserves Swamp Dragons – Sportswomen of the Year Women’s Reserves Swamp Dragons – Player of the Year Women’s AFF Conference – Sportswomen of the Year Women’s AFF Conference – Player of the Year Women’s AFF Conference – Players Player Women’s AFF Conference – Golden Boot Women’s AFF Conference – Most Improved Women’s AFF Conference – Supporters Player of the Year Reserve Team – Sportsman of the Year Reserve Team – Player of the Year Reserves Team – Players Player of the Year TEAM MEDALS - LEAGUE

Brian Compson Memorial Cup – First Team Golden Boot Joe Walton Memorial Cup – Supporters Player of the Year 1st Team – Most Improved Player of the Year 1st Team – Sportsman of the Year 1st Team – Players Player of the Year 1st Team – Player of the Year Colt Cup – Outstanding Young Player Jack Hatton Memorial Trophy

INTERMISSION – 15 mins

CLUB AWARDS

Club Golden Boot Club Volunteer Referee of the Year Brewster Shield – Best Overall Performance Supporter of the Year Sportsperson of the Year Ritchie Family Cup – Manager of the Year Clubperson of the Year

Here is something to help you understand some of the trophy’s handed out tonight, and how the winners are chosen. Player of the Year - your teams best player, by team vote or chosen by your coach Sportsman of the Year - the player who gave your team the most, on and off the field, typically also someone who plays hard but clean (the Ellerslie AFC way!) Supporters Player of the Year - some of the teams have this award, most of them have been donated by ex members and have the trophy's themselves have ties to great Ellerslie AFC family's—as you can see from the title these are awarded to the supporters favourite player! Most Improved - this is awarded to players who the coach thinks have made the biggest improvements during the year - it doesn’t mean the player wasn’t good to start with but more that their attitude and learning experience this season has been above the rest. Golden Boot - Easy this one, the player who top scored for your team

Players Player of the Year - some of the teams have a player of the year and a players player of the year—this is as the title suggests the version that the players pick, it’s not always the same as what the coach picks!

SPECIAL AWARDS: Colt Cup - donated to the club to help recognise ultimate up and coming exceptional talent, usually rewarded to someone in the First Team or Reserves under 21.

Jack Hatton Memorial - donated by Matt Hylla in memory of his brother who passed away, this award also recognises exceptional up and coming talent but also takes into consideration a strong off-field personality. Volunteer Referee of the Year - a nod to a growing part of the modern club, the referee - the winner of this award shows excellence in the field of refereeing. Club Golden Boot - the top scorer across the entire club in league games—based on goals recorded on your teamcards Team of the Year - this award is judged on league record alone - the team with the most games played and least losses (present at prizegiving) wins the “Team of the Year” Manager of the Year - The Manager who has made a massive positive impact on his team this season, someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty regularly Sportsperson of the Year - probably the most prestigious award for a player/member to win - the best of the best!

Clubperson of the Year - The ultimate award at the club this award recognises ultimate contribution across any avenue at the club, could be a player, coach or a volunteer 9

Back: Scott Harper, Michael Woollerton, Blake Beckford, Truc Nguyen, Michael Clark, Brendan Kerwick Front: Geoff Zink,Aaron Beckford, Quintin Russ, Nathan Russ, Ivan Atkins Absent: Ali Alhaddad, Nikhil D'Souza, Jesper Lagerbaeck, Tom McKenzie, Daniel Snider, Seamus Cervin

AFF Mens Division 4:

his year AFF Mens Division four had four Ellerslie

teams entering, and the quality of all teams was very good, with every game being a tight game which either team could win. There were only 8 points separating #1 and #5, and all teams were very competitive. Following up from winning Division 5 last year, Shotaholics had a strong start to the 2016 season, maintaining a starting win streak of 5 close games. This was followed by a few more close games which went the other way, so it was a great year for us facing a challenge every week, which is ideal to enjoy good results and to celebrate each hard-won goal and stunning save. Looking forward to more challenges in 2017!

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016 was a whole different year for our Womens Div 3

side. After having a fairly stable team for the last few years, with a number of club stalwarts– we started 2016 with a new coach, a new team and, due to finishing bottom of the top in Div 2/3 last year, up in Div 2. However we had a great bunch of new girls, and a new coach Dan, and were keen to get stuck in. Starting the season we lacked a specialised keeper. Amanda Little stepped up for the position in our first game, and did a great job. She even liked it so much she made the position her own, and played there for the rest of the season. Little is not the tallest of keepers, but she is a little firecracker and did a great job in there in a challenging season. Thanks to Little from all of us – you did an awesome job! We started the season well, with a couple of narrow losses. However, with being new together as a team, a couple of early serious injuries to our 2 centre backs, and a limited team roster, we started to do it pretty tough. Despite the challenges, it really must be said that the girls kept their heads up and kept on going even with some pretty rough results. We also had a number of people who had to play in unfamiliar positions due to this lack of numbers, especially in the back line, so thanks to those girls who stepped in and still gave it their all ….

After the first round we made a request to drop back down to division 3 and this was granted. It wasn’t all easy from there, but we really gained momentum down a division and had a draw against Papatoetoe, and then our first win of the season vs Otahuhu. Unfortunately our coach Dan and his girlfriend Nat headed off overseas for their OE, so were not there to see it, but I think that we did them proud.

The later it got in the season, the better we go to know each other, and the more we started playing as a cohesive team. A big thanks must go to Jason Oliver for taking over our trainings and really getting us to think about what we wanted to achieve. Another big thanks to Kevin who stepped in to take over running our games on Sundays which allowed our players to concentrate on playing. And of course we also have a bit thanks to Dan and Nat for all they did before they jetted off on their adventure. Our best game of the season was in the playoffs against Lynn Avon. They were a tough side, but we implemented the passing we had been practicing, and we really went after the 50/50 ball, and it resulted in a one nil win. The winning goal was a cracker scored by Anna, but there was a great team build up, which was really an accumulation of what we had been working towards all season. 2016 was really a rebuilding season for our team, however we have a really good bunch of girls who have a great lot of potential. So bring on the 2017 season!

he 2016 season marked a new chapter in Deceptively

Slow's history, with long time player/coach Lane Whittaker and club legend Matt Wall heading overseas. Silverbacks Paul Currie and Scott Jones picked up the reins and a busy transfer window yielded some impressive signings bolstering a quality 2015 squad, fresh from finishing 2nd in our first season in Div 2.

After a rusty performance on opening day, we went on to beat the eventual runners-up 4-1 and eventual Playoff Series winners 8-0 to lay down a marker for the rest of the season. Our winning streak came to a muggy end at Seddon Fields in round 7 but the season was soon back-ontrack. The Northern Knockout draw proved unfavourable, pitching us against Waiheke's CL side, unbeaten on their own patch for 3 years. A huge effort with a bare 11 saw us leading 3-2 but eventually running out of steam and on the wrong side of a 5-3 scoreline at the final whistle. With the distraction of the cup out the way, we played out the league to finish deserved winners, having topped the table since round 2.

In the numbers ... - 14 League games (W10 D1 L3) - 61 goals scored, - 20 goals conceded (midfield?) - 2 Play-off Series games (W0 L2) - 2 Northern Knockout Cup games (W1 L1) - 3 possibly 4 broken bones, - 3 of the shoddiest penalties. Ever, - 1 O.G. (goal of the season contender) Top scorers: David Richmond (35), Sven Exeter (13), Scott Jones (6) Squad: Ahren Koreman-Smit, David Richmond, Eric Pollard, Frank Smith, Josh Gair, Mark Standley, Paul Buckle, Paul Currie, Ram Mavani, Rob Hayden, Sam Dallimore, Scott Jones, Sven Exeter, Sean Cunneen, Stuart Nimmo, Stuart Taylor, Top Khamwanthong. Thanks (in no particular order): Makalele, Ahren's dog, WAGs, Dragon bowl (gone but not forgotten), Tim and team for making all this possible and, Shotaholics & Boylan for turning training from 4v3 to a decent run out on a few wet Wednesday nights.

Well done lads and arigato gozaimasu for a most memorable and muggy season. Roll on next season!

he Over 40's Conference finished this season in 1st

place. We started well this season with the team winning the first five games with ease. We then met a new team in Takapuna consisting of about 15 Brazilan players with good ball skills with us drawing with them twice during the year with us looking forward to playing them again next season. We lost to Western Springs who finished 5th. This year injuries upset a few of our games with Rodney getting injured again this year and missing the last three games. This allowed Darryl to sneak thru and take over the Golden Boot.

Thanks to Johan and Ian for been there this year when we ran out of players and for running the line as well. We carry on having a kick round and drinks on Thursday nights. Enjoy your fishing and summer sports. Stewart Ritchie

Coach: David Witteveen Manager: Stewart Ritchie Played 18 Won 14 Draw 3 Lost 1 Goals 82 Against 21

Team : Paul Grogan, Michael Horgan, Ross Leaver, Mark Phillips, Gary Walton, David Witteveen, Stuart Cameron, Stan Clark, Rodney Cooper, Peter Downer, James Hart, Simon Lapthorne, Callum McKain, Scott Meikle, Johan Oosterhof, Darryl Ward, Tim Hutchens, Terry Torrens, Ian Wilson.

n just their second season as a team the Ellerslie Diamonds

managed to win the Auckland Men's Division 4 Title. With a core of 6-7 players returning from the season before, as well as some new recruits and even some preseason training the Diamonds were confident they could do better than their mediocre 5th place in their inaugural season. However, they started terribly with only 5 points from their first 5 games (1W, 2D, 2L). Perhaps preseason isn't the right way to start a season??

But the Diamonds showed great resolve, belief and determination and turned it around. It's hard to say what was the catalyst for their 12 game league winning streak. Player coach Nick Morrison claims it was his new formation, defender of the year Hamish McNicol thinks it was his positional switch to CB, and keeper Edwin Bee believes it was his commitment to playing in goal. To be honest it was a collection of all three and more. This season was incredibly enjoyable on and off the field, with a successful Ladies Day, many great nights out celebrating wins including a very late night after winning the league, and a very memorable (and not so memorable) end of season tour. They were many great games and stand out performances, but the most notably were the penalty shoot out loss to the Division 1 team Onehunga Sports M1, proving we can perform against a much higher graded opposition, and the league clinching victory away to Western Springs Stingers who had brought in club players from higher leagues for the crunch match and a very vocal home crowd. Despite winning the league, the team culture has been the real highlight of the season with many laughs on and off the field, some great training sessions, new friendships made and a genuine joy of playing great football with great men. We can't wait for next season! Player of the season went to Kieran Purcell. Golden boot to Abiola Beckley (16). Sportsman of the year to Hamish McNicol.

nother enjoyable season with a mid table finish.

With our average age considerably above that of some of the teams we faced we should be satisfied with our position on the table. With better fitness and selection consistency we could have been knocking nearer the top. We still have a knack of playing well against the top sides and pulled off a couple of very good results and then at times struggles against sides we should dominate more. One hard luck occasion was against the league leaders at the time; with only one sub and not our strongest line up we were leading 2-1 with 10 minutes to play and then of course comes a dodgy hand ball decision. They convert the penalty and like the Aussies playing the ABs we slumped and they popped in another goal in the last 2 minutes and we lost. No matter what the result though the guys are great and the afters still taste as good and the banter rings out. Not a good season for injuries, probably reflecting the fact that most of us our well into our mid-life now! Luckily we have a big squad of circa 20 enabling us to continue to field a good side each week. It helps to have a couple of players in the early 40’s that we can insert into the mid field to boost the engine room. There were many moments of humour throughout the season via ‘air shots’, goal misses, friendly fire, and great passes to the opposition mixed in with occasional very good football.

Unfortunately this season sees the departure of two of our seasoned players Allister and Lyubisha. Allister is off to Barcelona for a couple of years and Lyubi is off to live in Melbourne. It would be wrong not to make mention of Lyubi’s contribution to the team. From the day he joined Lyubi quickly became a stalwart, winning many player of the year awards being a long time best player and holding together the team over the years as our strong man in the mid field.

Lately he is doing the same role in central defence. Lyubi is a real character, has scored many an important goal (one off his head in the last game to win the league comes to mind) and is a downright good guy. We wish you all the best and hopefully will see you back from Melbourne next year for the odd appearance! Congratulations to our Player and Sportsman of the year and a big thank you to our loyal few supporters. We will be back next season.

Ian & Bruce

eam Nomads – AFF/NFF Championship Div 1

Coach Team Manager Team Members Petra Wedlake (C) Eva Perrone Maree Blair (VC) Hannah Dixie Annalise Witteveen Laura Ahern Tamsyn Parry Hollie Leona

Nga Kairua Eva Perrone Kiri Aikman Catherine Martindale (VC) Nicole O’Loughlin Erin Mattingly Emily MaGuire (C) Ashley Olivia Jill James Lauren Recny (Casual)

Team Report It has been a great Season for the Nomads – with all the players having an exceptional Season playing excellent football with great camaraderie in the Team. We have been so unlucky in some instances with results going against us with the slightest of margins. At times luck wasn’t on our side. This cost us crucial results as we only lost or drawn the match by the odd goal. Opposition coaches were commenting that we were the best Team they have played against in terms of the football played – this is testament to the hard work put in by the players on their technical skills, fitness and the drive to do well – Well done Ladies!

Out Team goal was to do well as we were a new team apart from 5 players from last season the rest were new to the club or to the Team. The players also worked very hard on their fitness and it helped our performances as well. This was a new Competition Grade of both Northern Football and AFF Div1 Teams so it was a very tough Competition

Out of the 10 teams, there were only 3 Teams that we haven’t beaten home and away – Takapuna, Pukekohe and Central and out of all the Teams we have either dominated both halves or one of the halves but still either lost or drew in the last 5 minutes. Only Central dominated us in both halves in our return match at the “AVE” This augers well for the Team next Season as they look to continue their inroads to building new Strategies and momentum under their new Coach Acknowledgments: Sean aka "Josh" – Team Nomads Fitness Guru!! Josh - Assistant Referee extraordinaire &Goal-Keeper Coach Matt – Awesome Physio - seem to just perform miracles on the girls where Jason, Nicola, Myself and Daniel prefer to just work them till they break! Chris - Co-Coach and Technical Advisor to an aging decrepit old geezer! 2017 – Coach!! Thank you so much Gentlemen! Your contribution to the Team is very much appreciated

Eva, Petra, Maree, Erin and Kiri – Thank you for your input in ensuring that everything is running smoothly with the Team, after match spread etc etc. Awesome effort and much appreciated To the Players – Each of you have given so much to an enormous season and your dedication, passion and commitment to the Team and football were extemporarily outstanding – Thank you for an awesome Season. Nga Kairua

016 has been a great year for the Ellerslie Champion-

ship side in which we have developed as group and enjoyed playing every minute of footy in the long campaign. From the outset of the season the goal was to win the league and the Northern knockout cup. We have a group of talented, determined, and competitive individuals within the team which has created a driven and winning attitude. From the start of the season the team has continued to develop and this has shown in our results. In pre-season the team scrapped through a couple of games and had a loss to a Western Springs side who have become our rivals this year. As a coach I entered the season not knowing how we would fear; as we had dropped down a league from the division two reserves and due to other administrative changes would be facing some quality teams from down the line who had succumb to the similar fate. However, after the first game which was a 4 – 0 win against Papatoetoe I knew we had a group who would fight and challenge for the title. This was highlighted further by overturning a 6 – 0 loss against Western Springs in pre-season to a 3 – 1 win in our 6th game. Our first of three losses in the season came the following week to a central team who we underestimated. This proved a turning point in the season and the team kicked on and pushed hard to regain winning ways. From this point on the team did not lose a game until playing Springs in the second round with only one draw on the way against a then top of the table Waiuku team. 22

The league was very tight with Western Springs, Central Utd, and Waiuku all competing and keeping up with the pace our team set. In many post game discussions with

opposition we were highlighted as the team to beat and hence this made every game challenging. Unfortunately two draws at the end of the season against Central and Waiuku let Western Springs overtake us on the penultimate game of the season to top the table for the first time that year, this left the title in their hands and they pounced on this opportunity to claim the title the following weekend. It was very disappointing for the team to concede the title this way but we had to lift our heads and focus on the Northern Knockout cup. In the cup, we had many tight games scrapping through against lower league opposition. We were never handed an easy draw with the easiest match up being a division three Eastern Suburbs side - who had in the previous round knocked out the Central Utd side from our division. The team showed real character in the competition to get through to the semi-final against a Waiheke Utd away where they had not failed to score in three and a half years. The team knew this would be a tough game and headed over without a manager as I left for a vacation in Queenstown. The team managed to keep Waiheke scoreless, this was a real strength of the side this year as we only conceded 13 goals in the league and six goals in the cup. This is over a span of 20 league games and six cup games. We won the game on penalties to advance to a final against arch-rivals Western Springs. This was the game of the season and ultimately would determine who had the better record between the teams for the year. The team were in control of the game in the first half, however, this did not reflect the score line at the break as we headed into the sheds 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1 down; Western Springs were clinical with their chances. The team came out firing in the second half quickly getting the game back to a one goal difference. We kept the pressure on and Western Springs were lucky to have the 90 minutes finish 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 3. Heading in-

to extra time the team took the lead with Western Springs equalising within the first period of extra time. A tense last 15 minutes did not result in any goals scored so for the second week in a row the team headed to a penalty shootout. Stephen West in goal stood up to the test and saved two penalties for the game to finish 5 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 4 to Ellerslie. This is the first time in the history of the Northern Knockout Cup that Ellerslie has won the trophy and really highlighted the attitude and desire of the team to win. This then meant the team had one more game to play in the Tom Mcnab Trophy vs South Auckland Rangers (winners of the Counties Manukau Cup). The team went in with the aim of winning the second trophy of the season but could not replicate the heroics of the previous week and were beaten by a one dimensional South Auckland Rangers. Although disappointed heads were high after the achievements of the season and the team look forward to bettering this in 2017. All of the players can be proud of their accomplishments this year and I look forward to working with them again next year. The team league record was as follows: 20 games played, 15 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses, 51 goals scored and 13 goals conceded. The Northern Knockout Cup record as follows: 6 games played, 6 wins, 14 goals scored, 6 goals conceded.

Another season’s over and what a wonderful one it’s been! When offered the position to coach the reserve team ten months ago, I would never have thought how engrossed I would become through the sheer enjoyment on and off the paddock. Off the paddock we’ve had memorable moments that will forever be stored in a bank at the back of my mind. Endless amount of laughs that ease the pain of the wet winter training. On the flip side, performances on the field have been fantastic (P22 - W16/D4/L2) and I would like to congratulate everyone involved for winning NRFL DIV 1 Reserve League. Our application and attitude in training has been top notch and this has reflected on games with our performance. However, nothing is a given and life doesn’t offer freebies. We’ve also had a few anxious moments and hurdles to overcome. The most notable was Easter weekend, double header against Hibiscus Coast and MAP, which after winning our first four games proved to be an eventful weekend. A loss of 4-0 to Coast and 1-0 down at half time against MAP demonstrated how difficult this season could be. The following forty five minutes spoke volume of the character within the team and as the best teams in the world do; playing until the final whistle. Three goals in the last ten minutes saw us prevail with a 3-1 victory. This set the tone throughout the season and even remarked us as the “Comeback Kings”. Breakdown of 43 players used

U19s

Academy

3rds

O19s

Total

Home Grown

Not Home Grown

Played 1st Team

Season Statistics Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Clean Sheets

Although we have done fantastically well this season, it’s important to remember that we’ll need to be every bit as good next year. By taking on board the valuable lessons we have learnt and the standards that we have set, one of the great things about football is that there’s always room for improvement. Rarely do teams regress, it’s about the rate team’s progress. We can all work on improving ourselves, the team, squad and the club and when everyone does that, the results can be amazing – and if there’s one thing I know about each and every one of you, it’s that there isn’t anyone who wouldn’t give his all for the squad. “Thank you” to the club for providing such a great opportunity across all levels. Working so hard behind the scenes to create the perfect environment for football, with the facilities, level of competition, footballing opportunities and most important; a warming club with open arms for anyone to join. I also want to say “thanks” to Tim Adams on behalf of the squad for the stupendous amount of effort and time he puts in. Would like to “thank” Chris, Marshy and Pauley. Working as a coaching group has been fantastic and I have learnt a lot over the past season. To the squad “thank you” for turning up for training, come rain or shine and for making every second in your presence an absolute joy. There’s an old saying that “it matters not if you win or lose, but how you play the game” – and it’s an honour and a privilege to be associated with a group of people who play the game so well. I couldn’t possibly end without saying “thank you” to my wife, Cassie, for being supportive. Not only for me in my ambitions in football but also the cheering on the team in some awful conditions.

016 was the first year of our new NRFL Academy, and

it was a pretty talented group headlined by Sam Twigg (and Keegan Smith*) who used the academy to it’s full potential to make his First Team debut in the final NRFL game of the season against Metro (and almost scored with his first touch)! The aim of this academy was to create a link for the boys who were playing school, but wanted to stay in the development pathway we offer through our NRFL teams. We of course have graduated many players through this same pathway informally in previous years, with current First Team players Dylan Horgan, Jordan Oosterhof, Alex Witteveen and Seb Poelman playing NRFL while still being at school. Our hope by formalising this “step” in a players development we will be able to make players aware of our success working in with schools while still offering opportunities in club football.

Below is our 2016 class - congrats and we look forward to following your development next season! *Keegan made his debut shortly before signing for the Wellington Phoenix academy Sam Twigg Sean Dartnall Caleb Petherbridge Josh Lai Jono Ansley

Denny Twigg Aaron Dahmen Ryan Margison Luke Clissold

Keegan Smith Ashley van Staden Allan McBride Rowan Corbett

Keep an eye on these young lads - future first team players in the making!

We couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have done what we did this year without the help of our NRFL Sponsors - and in particular our main sponsor John from Elite Lawn and Gardens. A great man, who puts up with Jordan Oosterhof every day - so if you have some Lawn or Garden work flick him an email ELITE LAWN AND GARDEN SERVICES Email: elitejj@ihug.co.nz Also we had several player sponsors who were kind enough to sponsor our players - thanks!

Jason Mann - Primero Profiles Ltd Christian Niyonsaba - Eden Masonry Homes Martin Pike - Mandata Business Systems Adam Scott - Ray White Kingsland Ryan Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sullivan - Advanti Racing

Adam Barkley - Underpass Bar Alex Witteveen - RSF Ltd Sohail Basha - Good Kitchens Seb Poelman - Advance Fredrick Ljungberg - Good Kitchens

Tim Richardson - Eden Masonry Homes Jordan Oosterhof - Elite Lawn and Garden Services Stefan Milosevic - P.E. Turner Builders James Foad - Crossfit East Auckland Raihan Azim - Seems Auto Services

1st Team

Reserves

Head Coach

Chris Wallace

Ben Fletcher

Asst Coaches

Grant Marshall

Ben Pauley

GK Coach Physio

Kris Pinnock and Jason Mann Connor and Bonny

Manager

Tim Adams

Videographer

John Twigg

Thank you to the extended coaching, physio and management group for your desire and passion to make Ellerslie the great club it is on and off the field. I think we had a challenging year but finished strongly and now with another years experience for players and coaches alike the platform is set for us to kick on next year. To Ben and “the Reserve lads”, well done in winning the Reserves Division 1 League, a great effort. Thanks to the two Ben’s for your invaluable input to the senior teams this year, awesome job.

Thanks to Grant Marshall for all your work with the teams particularly in warm ups and cool downs but also being a great sounding board for myself and mentor to the lads. To Kris Pinnock thank you for your input to the senior squad and your presence at trainings when work and other coaching duties would let you. I also appreciate you taking responsibility for tagging the games. Thanks also to Jason Mann who stepped in and organised trainings for the Gks part way through the year, well done.

To John Twigg a huge thanks for spending a lot of your game days viewing the games from behind the camera, much appreciated and the footage gained has helped both us coaches and the players with understanding the game better.

On “The Season” This year the 1st and reserves players were assembled as one squad. Also attached to the squad as NRFL Academy players were a number of schoolboys who attended training and played when they were available (not playing school 1st eleven). This was done to try and create a visible pathway into seniors for these younger Junior Club players. This year’s competition was disrupted by AFF’s decision to allow 3 Kings back into the Premier Competition and so leaving 1st Division with just 11 teams – 20 games. The 1st Team started the year quietly confident that we could kick on from last year’s 4th place and really mount a challenge for the title. We had come off a very good pre-season with a draw against Tauranga and a win against Western Springs. The first game against Oratia started with a hiss and a roar and we were up 2 nil after 20 mins but after having a man sent off in the 30th minute we capitulated and lost 4-3 in the dying minutes. Our second game took us to Manurewa at Memorial Park, a good away game to get out of the way before winter when that field turns to mush. After going down 1-0 in the first 5 mins and losing Jason our GK with a serious shoulder injury (which kept him out for the next 5 league games) things were not looking rosy, but an outstanding effort from the team saw us prevail 7-2, yes back on track.

The following week we lost captain fantastic Freddie to a ruptured ACL so 2 key players out. The rest of the first round was a challenge and we finished with just 3 wins and 9 points from the 10 games and in second to last place. Thankfully after some soul searching from both players and coaches including some input from the clubs “old heads” we found our mojo and turned things around in the second half to finish in 6th place with 27 points. So the second

round was 5 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses – 16 points- 27 in total. Waitakere won the league with 3 games to go and finished with 53 points. Manurewa were second on 39 points. My proudest moment was holding Waitakere to a draw at Michaels Ave. They are a quality team with some very good experienced players who demolished 3 Kings 6-1 a couple of weeks later in the Chatham Cup. Although it took us a good 15 minutes to match the speed of Waitakere’s play and we were lucky not to conceded in this time we then pressured them off their game and late in the game had probably the best chance to win the game with a point blank header sent over the bar. Second proudest moment is coming from 3-2 down at halftime against Manurewa to win 5-3 Manurewa’s movement had out foxed us in the first half going 2-nil down early on but credit to the lads they never gave up and I think this is the biggest accolade I can put on the group. The boys never gave up in any game or the season and retained a belief in themselves and the program that we would succeed. It was fantastic to finish the season with a well earned win away at Metro on a wet and windy Friday night and I hope the lads hold onto that feeling of winning when we start next season. A Special Note. My congratulations goes to a number of players in the current squad who have played 50 or more games for the 1 st team and especially to Mike and Ryan for their 100+ games. These are 32

Michael Ritchie Ryan O’Sullivan Martin Pike Michael Glenny

124 116 62 58

Alex Witteveen Tim Richardson Fredrick Ljungberg Jordan Oosterhof

57 55 52 51

So looking forward to next year and beyond. The club has a great Junior section which is producing a large number of talented players. We are at present trialling players for the annual Labour weekend U19 Tournament in Napier and there are 20 16, 17 and 18 year olds who have great skills, pace and good understanding of the game. It is essential that our 1st team is playing at the highest level so we can retain these players. Clearly this means getting promoted first but also having the depth of talent and experience to be competitive at the highest level and so stay in the league. My final thank you is to Tim Adams. Tim does a huge job for the club in his role as Chairman and also a fantastic job as Manager of the 1st and Reserve NRFL teams. Tim is a great organiser and his work behind the scenes means we as coaches can focus on coaching and not being sidetracked by administration, so thank you once again. All the best for a relaxing summer. To all senior players gets some R&R first but, if serious about playing at the highest level again next year, use this off season to work on those weak areas of your game and your strength and fitness so we can hit the ground running late January/early February 2017 with a clear aim of gaining promotion to the Premier League in 2018. Regards Chris Wallace

he Swamp Dragons were a new addition to the club, a

fourth womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team! A mix of existing and new club members. The aim for the team was to create a cohesion that allowed us to be competitive and an environment that would encourage player retention for 2017.

The statistics speak for themselves. The second half of the season saw the team gel together and become the only team to take points of the eventual league winners. The Swamp Dragons finished second overall in the league. The team also had a good cup run, falling 2-0 to a very capable conference team in the quarter-finals. These successes are a good example of what can happens when a group believes in its shared goals. The only difficulty now is trying to improve on these impressive results next year! A big thanks to all who made the season go smoothly off the field and to players for their efforts on it. Special thanks to Jason Mann and Jason Oliver for coaching the team in the absence of the Swamp Dragon Leader.

Coach: Nicola Demaine Captain: Ayla Surtees

Top Goal Scorers: Karen Butterworth (20), Katrina Newton (19), Leah Tagaloa (12) ROUND 1

PLAYED 8

WON 5

DREW 2

LOST 1

GF 29

GA 10

GD 19

PTS 17

A message from Captain Insaneo: Thank you to my amazing Swamp Dragons. Such an awesome season filled with so much fun and fight. We achieved everything we wanted and more. Big thanks to our slightly crazy but awesome coach, Nic. We couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have done it without her.

hat a superb season we’ve had this year. Over the

league and cup we’ve scored a grand total of 82 goals which is more than double last season’s total tally. We finished 5th in what was probably the most competitive Conference Division I’ve seen since I first started here at Ellerslie. To top it off we were runners up in the Auckland Knockout Cup. Some of our most memorable results include a 2-1 victory over Papakura and a 4-4 draw with Fencibles (with us coming from 4-1 behind), both of whom were promotion contenders. Also not one, but two decisive 5-1 victories over long-time rivals Hibiscus Coast.

Season highlights for me were plentiful, the following is just a small selection: Random spontaneous human pyramid; Fassy McBender and the Potter References; Amanda’s mum being on call for any last minute lollies etc; Lana’s corners, Deb’s headers; Gemma seeking affirmation for her beautiful cross; Trish supporting us; every time Lou got embarrassed “Muuuuuum”; cakes at trainings; Sophie crushing Birkenhead’s hopes and dreams; People showing up to the wrong parks for training despite me reminding people twice and putting up a map; all the online articles and the beautiful photo-shoots; the pre-training circle and the pure adrenaline fuelled panic it created when we got a good score; just so many awesome people all working together and making new friends.

Year

Placing

Win

Draws

Losses

Pts

AFF KO Cup

2013

7th

-8

Semi-Finals

2014

7th

-23

Quarter-Finals

2015

4th

Round 1

2016

5th

Runners Up

Looking to the future

It’s difficult to sum up in words exactly how successful women’s football is becoming here at Ellerslie. In terms of club numbers this is by far the most players we’ve ever had. Even having enough to establish a 4th women’s team, which makes us one of the largest women’s clubs in Auckland. Having so many teams gives us a luxury for new and developing players to play at every level from competitive to social. Combined with such a strong youth pathway in place it will be the perfect platform to introduce our youth players to senior football, so I hope we can continue building this. The dynamics that each team has within itself, and also between teams has just been fantastic, players, supporters, and coaching staff alike. I sincerely hope that you can continue working and building together to reach your potential. Having the first and reserve teams able to train and go to games together was a great asset and I think that is definitely the way forward! Thank you to everyone who has supported me over my time here at Ellerslie, it’s been challenging at times but very memorable and fully worth it. Hopefully I can still find time to come down and support! Jason Oliver