Ngongotahaa FC

The Winters Cup, a trophy played for in memory of Lavinia Winters, partner of former Ngongotaha AFC keeper (and current Te Puke Young ‘uns) Scrubber and a close friend of Shaun and Jo Kapua (as well as the rest of the club), has finally ended up in Ngongotaha’s trophy cabinet.

Te Puke arrived in style in their Corporate Box coach and were clearly intending to make a good day of it. Stembridge Road welcomed them with a cool southerly wind and temperature of about 8c.

With Scott Martin and Tristan Shannon joining the squad the Villager’s clearly were out to finally take to cup; some youth also made the 15 man squad with young Alex hardy strating and Nathan Tina on the bench.

First blood went to Ngongotaha with Uish tapping in a parried shot from Scott Martin; Ngongotaha dominated for much of the rest of the half, but with about 10 to go one of the two Te Puke strikers, found some space, pivoted and slotted a stunning shot into the top right corner. But clearly Ngongotaha were not in the mood for caving in; about two minutes later a Scott Martin corner was swung in from the left side and cleared everyone, only to be deflected home by a Te Puke player.

The second half had Te Puke opening brightly putting considerable pressure on the Ngongotaha backline, who were fortunate to have Chris saving everything chucked at him. The introduction of Dave Thomson and George Thompson was a touch of genius (allegedly) from coach Alan King – Dave’s first touch sent Uish through to a one on one with Scrubber the Te Puke the keeper, with the Nepalese striker finishing well.

A game that was played in excellent spirits and enjoyed by both sides.

The trophy will be again at stake in the next match between the Baywide sides.

The club has received information from a company offering Cadbury’s chocolate for sale for fundraising. It has been suggested that these boxes of around 20 bars be offered to our junior members as a means of assisting families meet the cost of 2009 subs which are increasing by around $20 per player.

Each box will cost about $24 and each child can make $16 profit towards their subs. Please see the poll on the home page to register your interest.

At this evenings Bay of Plenty League meeting in Tauranga decisions were made regarding the structure of next years leagues. Federation one will have 12 teams, with a new Federation Two division with ten teams. Ngongotaha confirmed their interest in playing in this division, as did AFC Fury, Te Puke and Tauranga Boys College from Bay one.

It is likely that Huntly, Hamilton North, Cambridge and Matamata A will also join this division. Two other teams will be added to make ten. For the 2009 season it is likely that there will be no relegation from Fed 1 to Fed 2, but in 2010 there is a possibility of three teams dropping from Fed 1 to make it 10 teams. There is also the possibility of a Federation Cup being introduced.

The Bay One and Bay Two divisions are likely to remain as 10 team divisions. The Tasman Cup will remain as a knockout for both divisions, but the Tasman Bowl may be restricted to Bay two teams. The rolling subs system used in Bay Two will be retained, but with clearer guidelines.