In the 2023 season, we finished with 24 teams in the Waikato Secondary Schools Football Competition. Although that number is lower than in the past, this is still an incredible amount of teams and it’s something we’re all very proud of. Our depth of talent across the school contributes mostly to our achievements at the elite level at HBHS, so well done to all players for playing your part in our overall success.

We fielded a huge 15 teams in the Waikato Secondary Schools 5-a-side Football competition at Jansen Park at the end of the season. Well done to all who participated in this festival of football.

Our lone divisional winners were HBHS Behrent's Boys in the Junior Premier 1 division.

We had 36 boys involved in the Referee’s Academy this year – doing fortnightly referee training with the help from Nadia Browning at WaiBOP.

As you’ll see later on, our 12 junior teams and 12 senior teams dominated the region, not just in terms of participation, but performance too.

Mention must be made of the Junior Yellow and Junior Brown teams, along with Colts Black, who were runners-up in their respective junior divisions, with Colts White winning the Junior Premier Division. The three Junior Colts teams created great competition that we saw the direct benefits of this year.

In the senior divisions; Senior Red won Division 6, our Senior Development team came runners up to winners Senior Grey in Division 1 and our 1st XI won the WSSFA Premier League for the second time in a row.

In the Knockout competitions; our Colts Black team also lost the KO final to Colts White in a repeat of their League positions.

Senior Silver defied their league position and made the final of the Senior A KO final, losing to winners the Senior Development team who were out to prove a point!

Our 1st XI flipped the result of last year's final, this time winning the KO Final versus St Paul's Collegiate.

So overall, we won four championships in the Waikato Competition and five runners-up trophies.

And, of the ten boys teams in KO Cup finals, five were from HBHS.

We’ve been hugely successful again in 2023 and of course we thank the boys for representing the school with such pride. We have had 6 players receive their Honours Caps for the 1st XI this year, in Oliver Campbell, Thomas Cave, Connor Cloete, Charlie Holloway, Isaac Bates, and Niall Fletcher. This has been a show of their own drive and perseverance to get to this point to play 50+ games for the 1st XI Football team so congratulations to you all.

We have also had six players play in club first team games this year, and numerous more be invited to train with their own respective first teams. These were Niall Fletcher with Ngaruawahia, Jake Fannin with Claudelands Rovers, Oliver Campbell with Hamilton Wanderers, and Isaac Bates, Torhan Kurnaz and Thomas Cave with Melville United.

A big thanks to Ali Ukra and the Waikato Orthodontic Centre for your Platinum level sponsorship of the programme this year. We look forward to your continued support. Also a thank you to Contract Cabling for Bronze sponsoring the programme too.

Lastly, I would like to separately thank all the volunteer parents for their help and guidance in supporting their sons' respective teams this year. Without their commitment and dedication to helping a group of young men, they would not have their chance to play football. The refereeing, transporting, advice and support throughout the year is something that can never be replaced. I hope the boys appreciate your help as much as I have.

By Mr Aaron Scott

Director of Football

HBHS 1st XI

Like every start to the 1st XI season, this year began with early morning fitness and technical sessions. The early start to the season and consistent hard work were definitely determining factors for our success later on in the season. Our first pre-season test was the Referee's Cup in which we saw some challenges with two frustrating draws against Cambridge High School and St John's College. This resulted in us not getting out of the group and was a realisation that our standards had to be extremely high for us to achieve success this season. Our first major test came in Week 3 of Term 2 in which we faced Tauranga Boys' College away from home. This challenge was too much for us at this point in the season and we were overwhelmed in the first 25 minutes, going down 4-0. However, throughout the entirety of the game we showed glimpses of the team we could be and managed to finish the game 4-1.

Over the rest of Term 2 we continued to develop as a team and had a number of good performances. This resulted in us finishing off the term with no losses, except for the underwhelming trip over the Kaimais. Our only two draws came against St Paul’s Collegiate and Auckland Grammar which were both cagey encounters. This run of performances gave us momentum going into the Super 8 Tournament which was supposed to be in Week 10 of Term 2. However, due to bad weather in Gisborne, the tournament was postponed by four weeks which was somewhat beneficial for the team as this meant we had extra time to prepare and grow as a team.

Over the Term 2 break we had a number of early morning fitness sessions in which we were able to bond as a team. This was definitely an important reason behind our ability to dig deep at the end of tough games. We headed down to Gisborne in Week 2 of Term 3 and had our first chance at a major piece of silverware. The first day of the tournament included two convincing 3-0 wins against Gisborne and Rotorua. This put us on 6 points and meant we were through to the Top 4. We then faced Palmerston North on the second day and drew 1-1 after conceding a late equaliser. These results put us top of the group and matched us against New Plymouth in the semi-final. New Plymouth were a tough team to face as they were extremely passionate and well drilled. However, after going 1-0 down, the boys were able to dig deep and pull off a 2-1 comeback. This put us through to the final against Tauranga Boys' College. In terrible conditions we fought hard and created numerous chances. At full time the score was locked at 0-0. However, late in extra time the deadlock was broken by Tauranga with a great long range strike. Unfortunately we were not able to come back and lost 1-0. This tournament gave us motivation to perform at a high standard and even though we didn’t come away with the Super 8 shield we realised that if we performed our best we had the ability to challenge any of the top teams in New Zealand.

After Super 8 we had five weeks before the most important part of the season, the New Zealand Secondary Schools Tournament down in Christchurch. Over this five week period we had two 4-0 wins against St Peter's, a 7-0 win over St John’s and another 1-1 draw with St Paul’s. These results secured us the Waikato Secondary Schools League trophy and put us in the Knockout Cup final versus St Paul’s, which would take place after Nationals. On to Nationals, where our goal was to get out of our group. The first day saw a 2-0 win over Whangarei Boys' and a narrow 2-1 defeat to St Kentigern's who would go on to finish third overall in the tournament. This meant we had to get a result on Tuesday morning. This came with a comfortable 2-0 win over Timaru Boys' High School. Second in the group put us into the round of 16 where we faced St Patrick’s Silverstream who are the current champions of Wellington. We produced arguably our best performance of the season and generated a comprehensive 2-0 win. However, the dream of achieving great success did not come into fruition as we were defeated 2-0 by Mount Albert Grammar in the quarterfinals. After this disappointment we were no longer in contention for the trophy. This was not the situation we wanted to be in but we still had a job to do. The resolve and determination from the team was evident in our next game against our rivals St Paul’s Collegiate. We bounced back and won 2-0 to set up a final game against our other rivals Tauranga Boys' College. This was for fifth in the country and the boys rose to the occasion producing a 1-0 victory over the team which we had struggled against earlier on in the season.

Our final game of the season was the Knockout Cup final and we claimed another trophy with a 3-0 win over St Paul’s and also secured the Challenge Shield which we had held for the majority of the season. This game was a showcase of the team we had become. The success we saw throughout the season is evidence of the idea that success is not given to you, success is earned. The 1st XI Football team has had a tremendous season due to our determination and willingness to learn and grow as a team. A large part of this success has to be attributed to all the effort put in by Mr Scott and Mr Foy. Massive thanks has to be given to these coaches and the team has the utmost respect and appreciation for you both. You have developed a culture which I’m sure will live on for years to come and I’m sure this would lead to much success for the team. 

By Thomas Burt