In our Elite Programme, we made the change to dis-establish the 9B, 9A, 10B and 10A Colts teams for the first time. We mixed them into three mixed junior year-level teams where identified players had to help the Year 9s step up to the level required with help and also allowed the Year 10s to lead the way. The better mix of competition, players being tested, and having some leadership values forced upon them, I believe was a great step forward for these young men. The true proof will be in the pudding in a few years' time when this bunch of young men blend into the 1st XI team.

So onto the 2022 season. We finished with 28 teams in the Waikato Secondary Schools Football Competition. This is an incredible number 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 24 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. A number of HBHS 5-a-side teams won medals at senior and junior level.

BFC, Grey, Shoeless Ones, Baboons, PBG-FC in the Senior grades, and Red, 10A and Silver in the Juniors all won their respective grades in their divisions.

Special mention must also be made of Junior Silver, who won Division 3 and the Colts Black team that took out the Junior Division 1 title. The Colts White team finished up as runners-up in the Junior A Knockout Cup.

Our Junior Colts team that we selected from the Colts teams, went off to the Hillsdene National Tournament and finished a creditable 5th after not making it through to the semi-finals on goal difference by one.

Our Senior Football programme is massive, with most boys either playing for one of the three elite teams, or often playing with friends.

Senior Black, Senior Maroon and Senior Grey all finished up as runners-up in their respective divisions. Well done also to Senior Blue who made the Senior B Knockout Cup final.

To highlight the depth in our senior ranks, our Senior Development side finished first in Division 2, and finished runners-up in the Senior A Knockout Cup final, against the team that finished second in that division, Senior Grey, which won the Senior A Knockout Competition.

We again managed to get two teams in the Waikato Senior Premier League, and the 2nd XI came third in the division. The 2nd XI made the final of the Referee’s Cup at the start of the season, only to lose to St Paul's Collegiate on penalties.

The 2nd XI also came third in the National Secondary Schools 2nd XI Tournament in New Plymouth.

The 1st XI won the WSSFA Premier League with a game to spare. However, we unfortunately lost the Knockout final to St Paul's Collegiate.

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

Colts Football Black Report:

Congratulations to the HBHS Colts Black Football team on winning the WSSFA Junior Boys Division 1 League title in what was a hard fought division against some very strong teams and a spread of talented and determined players.

Changes to the way the Colts teams were organised this season meant that Year 9s and Year 10s were combined into three teams, instead of two Year 9 teams and two Year 10 teams as in previous years.

This made for three quality HBHS teams in the division, and with an always tough St John's team, there were some very competitive matches, often decided by a single goal or in the dying minutes of the game.

Although we weren’t blessed with some of the fastest or the strongest players, what we lacked physically we made up for in our never-give-in attitude, our support of each other and our willingness to play football, which at times was an absolute joy to watch.

Thank you to the players, the parents, and the supporters for making this a very enjoyable season. I am sure that we have all learned something about the game and have ideas to think about in the future.

Football Senior Development Report:

For the first time, this team was made up of both Year 11 and Year 12 players. After the grading games, we were ranked first and placed in the Senior Boys’ Division Two. Despite coming up against other schools’ 1st XI teams, we remained unbeaten. Our hardest match was against HBHS Senior Grey who were our closest rivals. Despite them leading 1-0 at halftime, we dug deep and eventually won 3-2. This cemented our place as undefeated winners of the Waikato Secondary Schools Division 2 Competition. The Knockout Cup competition also ran throughout the season. Again, it came down to us versus Senior Grey. Unfortunately for us, the Year 13s were driven by revenge and played with intensity and focus. They deserved to win and we had to settle for second place.

The highlight of our season was going to the Trident Tournament (for second tier 1st XI teams), in Whanganui during Winter Tournament Week. It was the first year that the Senior Development Team had been granted entry so we were an ‘unknown’ opponent and were ranked in the 9-16 bracket going in. The first game was against John Paul and we fought hard for a 0-0 draw. On Tuesday we played the second ranked team, Onslow College. Again, it was tough but we came away with a 1-1 draw. In the afternoon we played St Paul's Hastings. This time, we were settled, had grown in confidence and won 3-1. Luke Randall-Jones scored a beautiful, long-range goal from 30m! We only had one game on Wednesday and it was against the lowest-ranked team in our pool - Wainuiomata. We took the opportunity to rest our stronger players but still won comfortably 5-0.

Quarterfinals time. The officials re-ranked the teams but still didn’t rate us and ranked us 8th, meaning we had to play the top ranked team first - Rutherford. They were huge! And had beards! And two looked older than Mr Salsano!! Nevertheless, we had nothing to lose so played our hearts out. Full time ended at 0-0, so it went to a penalty shootout. Sam Gordon held his nerve as keeper and managed to save a vital goal, while our strikers hit the back of the net one more time than Rutherford, so we won 4-3 on penalties.

There was a quick turnaround for the semi-final in the afternoon. We were up against Havelock North. Unfortunately, we struggled to lift again. We did score a goal - sadly it was into our own net while on defence, so the game ended on 1-0. We licked our wounds and aimed for third on Friday morning. The game was going our way against St Patrick's College and we looked to have secured a win after Liam Weston’s breakaway goal to put us 3-1 up. Unfortunately, we celebrated too early and St Patrick’s scored 2 goals in the final 3 minutes to snatch a 3-3 draw and we were off to penalties once more. Sam Gordon was strong again, but we faltered twice on our turn, and the game finished 4-3 on penalties.

We were initially disappointed, but after reflecting on the week, we were proud of our efforts. We have learnt a lot about tournament play and playing against stronger, larger oppositions. Next year’s team will definitely be ranked higher!

Special thanks to Mr Salsano, our coach for the season. He was always super organised, enthusiastic and wanted us to play our best. We also thank Alice Cornforth who was our manager, physio, and team Mum while we were away. 

By Liam Weston

Football 2nd XI Report:

The 2nd XI Football Team had an overall successful season which contained both ecstatic wins along with disappointing losses. After numerous early morning trials, the 2nd XI Football team began pre-season with the Referees Cup Tournament. After falling short in the final last year, we were determined to win the cup. An extremely tiring day of football followed, during which we went undefeated in our pool and made our way to a final against a talented St Paul’s Collegiate team. It was a tight match and we took the lead through a goal by Thomas Burt. Unfortunately, after a last minute equaliser by St Paul’s, we were unable to bring the Referees Cup home after losing on penalties.

Our competitiveness in the Referees Cup gave us confidence going into the Waikato Secondary Schools Premier League season. The league season was mostly positive as we gained 14 points to secure third place. We had a good 1-0 opening win against St John's College along with wins over Rototuna and Hillcrest. In our game against Cambridge High School we went 1-0 down early but were luckily able to gain a result after a goal from Aiden Hemming and a hat trick from Riley Fulton. As we headed toward the end of the season, we played multiple hard-fought games. We dug deep and managed to grind out 1-1 draws against both St Paul’s and Hillcrest High School, but were defeated by the HBHS 1st XI.

These difficult fixtures prepared us well for the National Secondary Schools 2nd XI Tournament. On the 29th of August we travelled down to New Plymouth with great anticipation for the week to come. The tournament started brilliantly with two dominant 7-0 wins. We used this momentum to win our next pool game and top the pool. This propelled us into a quarter final against Palmerston North Boys' High School. This was one of our best performances of the season and we created an array of chances. Palmerston North defended valiantly, however, we were able to break the deadlock through an excellent volley by Gus Foy. We were able to secure the result and headed into a semi-final against Tauranga Boys' College. We knew it was going to be an extremely tough game as they had defeated us earlier in the season during the Tauranga Boys' exchange. We took the lead through a goal by Torhan Kurnaz, but unfortunately were not able to hold on to the lead, losing 3-1. This was extremely disappointing for the team. However, we bounced back to beat Feilding High School 3-0 in the third and fourth play off. This meant we brought home bronze for the tournament.

Finally, I would like to offer a massive thanks to our coach Mr Foy, along with team manager Gavin Dixon, for the time and effort they put into the team. They were a massive factor in our success throughout the season and it would not have been possible without them. Another thank you to the parents of the team who supported us throughout the season, especially during our tournament in New Plymouth. 

By Thomas Burt

Football 1st XI Report:

This has been an enjoyable season for all involved in the 1st XI. It proves my belief that you must enjoy what you do.

From Term 1 Week 2, through to Term 3 Week 8, the season lasts a long time for a 1st XI player. A lot of boys have the dream to play for this team so it is a great honour to represent the school for football at the highest level.

Record for the season for 2022:

Played 34, Won 22, Drew 5, Lost 8, Goals for 68, Goals against 27 (17 clean sheets).

The season kicked off properly on the first weekend of Term 2 with the Referees Cup where we aimed to reclaim the title. We did not get out of the group due to goal difference in a frustrating last game versus Rototuna. Congratulations to the 2nd XI who did make the final for the second successive tournament.

The Auckland Grammar exchange was an indication that this team could be contenders. Winning 2-1 in a game where we beat one of the better traditional teams was a highlight.

We used this as a good base in which to build upon, and went unbeaten in local league games. We had lost the National qualifier versus Tauranga Boys' College, and the exchange against New Plymouth Boys' High School, which meant we had extra motivation coming into Super 8 in the last week of Term 2.

We travelled to Tauranga for Super 8. A tough pool in which we won 1-0 versus Napier, drew 0-0 with Rotorua and then drew 1-1 with Tauranga saw us through the group to play Palmerston North Boys' High School in our semi-final. A rare win on penalities, as it turned out this year, saw us face a highly favoured Tauranga Boys' College team who bet us 5-0 as the energy of the team fell away. An injury to right winger Keenan Howard in the first 8 seconds of the tournament did not help us.

We then had an unblemished Term 3 in which we won every game ahead of us, meant we were approaching National Tournament Week in Napier in good form.

In the same week, the 2nd XI went off to New Plymouth hoping to repeat recent success there over the last few years, where they eventually finished third. The Junior Colts Tournament team that we selected from our Colts teams went to Tauranga to play in the Hillsdene Tournament too with high hopes, and finished fifth after losing a crunch game with Westlake, and not making it through the group on goal difference too.

To a quick wrap of Nationals... Topping our group after wins against Waimea College and St Peter's College, Auckland, and with a draw against Otago Boys' High School, meant we played Mount Albert Grammar School in the round of 16. Unfortunately, a 3-1 defeat meant we were out of the hunt for the number one spot. Whilst this was not where we wanted to be, we showed what we could do and out-footballed top Auckland schools Westlake Boys' High School and Sacred Heart College, but lost on penalties both times after 0-0 draws. We finished with a win of 2-0 against Macleans College from Auckland to finish 15th in the country.

I have a personal philosophy of trying to give all players chances to develop, play and learn whilst always trying to do things the right way with integrity, honesty and courage, and I feel proud of the group I have helped grow.

Whilst things didn’t happen on the pitch as regularly as we wanted, for those players wanting to be in this team in future years, the commitment to the team, the buy in to how the team is trying to play and to critique your roles and actions on the field are key things to improve upon.

Before I finish, I would like to thank my tournament manager Darion Jamieson for his help and support throughout the Super 8 and National Tournaments, and for all of the work done behind the scenes supporting me at the tournaments.

By Latham Magele, Captain of Football and Mr Scott