You’d be forgiven for thinking I’ve run out of blogging steam, such has been the lack of recent posts by The Matamata Bus. Truth be told, the Bus has been parked up for a while after the driver decided to spend some time with his family. It’s been a busy footballing year. Who’d have thought that after the moves I made at the start of the season. Anyway, there’s nothing like a match with everything on the...
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The Matamata Bus was back on the beat today, after a few weeks of taking it more than a little bit easy. After another mad dash up to Auckland, following a morning of mini-kickers football (basically chasing round after 5 and 6 year old kids), I made it to Fred Taylor Park just as the Waitakere City versus Bay Olympic match kicked off. And just as the drizzle started. Drizzle that later in the match turned to big, cold, ugly, smelly,...
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It’s hard to know what to write about yesterday’s Ngaruawahia United versus Forrest Hill Milford NRFL Division 1 match. It was a frustrating watch, both for a neutral like myself and, I’m sure, the home fans. It’s fair to say the way the match played out pretty much wasn’t what I had hoped for. I arrived at Centennial Park wanting to see goals. And it started so promisingly for Ngaruawahia as well....
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I covered a few miles yesterday and didn’t always get to where I wanted to go when I wanted to get there. But it all worked out okay in the end. After finishing up with my mini-kickers group in the morning it was time to hop in the Matamata Bus and head to Auckland. Whangaparaoa, actually. After a quick stop to unload the family, clothes, bikes and dog I shot back down the motorway, knowing I was going to miss the kick-off at my...
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It’s taken me a little bit to get going with this week’s offering. There’s just not that much of note to talk about from the Waikato derby of the United’s at Gower Park. But I’ll give it a go, if for no other reason than I need some words to stick this week’s photos under. I really like the set up at Melville. Over the years they’ve turned Gower Park into a nice little boutique football ground...
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After several Saturday afternoon changes of plan I found myself at Rosedale Park for the NRFL Division 2 match between Albany United and Western Springs. Plan A was to travel out to South Auckland and cover another game of two halves: namely the first half of Mangere United versus Waiuku and the second half of Papatoetoe against North Shore United. Plan B was to do a similar thing on the Shore, with matches at East Coast Bays, Albany,...
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I have deliberately kept my distance from Tauranga City United, despite their home ground being probably the closest NRFL venue to where I live. It’s no secret that I was centrally involved at Matamata Swifts AFC up until early this year. It’s no secret the club was forced to pull out of the NRFL due to a rapid and shocking depletion of the club’s playing stocks. And it’s probably no real secret as to what one...
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There’s more than one way to be successful at this sport they call football. That’s why we love it. This match was a contrast of two defined styles. Birkenhead, new to the division and already top of the table, are a tidy footballing side. They have some good technical players who play the ball on the deck and with the sort of pace that stretches sides. During the first 20 minutes or so of this match they put Wanderers to...
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I think I should become a politician. After putting the game I’d attend this weekend up for the vote, and promising to go to the one that received the most, I totally ignored the will of the people and went somewhere else. I made a politically expedient call. Takapuna v Ngaruawahia was closer, it was chucking it down and this was an important match. I decided I knew better than the voters. Much like most politicians. I’d...
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Today was a typically mucky mid-autumn Hamilton day and a quirk in the draw meant I had the opportunity to watch the city’s two teams that play in red. It was certainly an afternoon of contrasts. On the one hand, I saw Stevie Williams’ Melville United dispense pretty comfortably of their visitors from Whangarei. Later in the afternoon I caught up with NRFL new boys, Claudelands Rovers, and saw them bow down to divison 2...
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