Tuesday 15th May… a date the Raroa boys football teams had been looking forward to and working hard for since early in term one. This was the annual Wellington Regional Intermediate Schools Sports Association (WRISSA) Football Tournament which sees teams from as far away as Masterton to Kapiti come together for a day of football.

This year was slightly different to other years in how the games were run… 9 a-side games instead of 11, played on smaller fields meant that the 16 teams registered could have slightly longer games with a lot more action.

After learning of the girl’s successful campaign the day before, winning the tournament and bringing the cup back to Raroa, there was a little bit of pressure going into the day. The weather (in my eyes) was perfect for football. Unusual for Wellington, there was no wind and the occasional light shower that kept the boys cool without getting too wet throughout the day. Everything was set and ready to go.

Raroa were lucky enough this year to enter a First and Second XI into the tournament.

The Second XI coached by Mr Jimmy Steele met some tough competition to start with, facing strong teams from EBIS (Evan Bay Intermediate), Brandon Intermediate and Masterton in the pool play. They then squared up with the Raroa FIrst XI in the quarter final, then finishing with another game against EBIS and finally Newlands Intermediate. The boys put in a huge effort, finishing in 8th place from a total of 16 teams.

Standout players on the day were Arana Cronin-Stone and David Peach who dominated play down the wing, and Luke Flowerdew who completely dominated the midfield. One player who could never fail to get a mention and a huge amount of Kudos is Josh Brown who was an absolute animal in goal. Josh proved to be the teams absolute rock throughout the entire day and without him the team would surely have seen a very different result and score lines!!! 

The First XI were due to kick off their first game at 9:00am against Avalon Intermediate. Unfortunately they got stuck in traffic getting to the park which meant they boys had to wait a little longer to play. Luckily they arrived in time to play the second half so all was not lost. The first team played some really fantastic football in every game. It was exhilarating to watch so much of what they have been practicing being applied in game situations. They played as a cohesive unit, backing each other up, communicating well, passing and taking some great shots on goal.

This all meant they remained unbeaten throughout pool play as well as the knockout stages. The boys met Tawa Intermediate in the final who, as always had a very strong team. And what a final it was!!! 1-1 at full time took them through to a 5 minute period of golden goal which ended with no change in the scoreline. After an extremely tense penalty shoot out, Jake Herbert slotted the winner giving the Raroa boys the cup and title of WRISSA Football Champions for a second year running. Needless to say, the boys were ecstatic!!!

As a coach, I am so very proud of the boys, not just in the way they played to win the tournament, but also in the way they conducted themselves throughout the day. They were polite, well behaved, respectul of the referees, cool headed when faced with some hardship from opposing sides, and humble in their success. This was especially evident after winning the final when the boys from Tawa were understandably upset. The Raroa boys were supportive of them, thanking them for such a good final, and ensuring them that they should feel proud of the way they played.

A special mention needs to go out to Mr Jordan Graham who on behalf of the school, completely organised, and set up the entire two days (Girls and Boys), including being there each day to ensure everything ran smoothly, arranging referees from Onslow college, and communicating with each school prior to and throughout the tournament. Without his meticulous planning and organisation this wouldn’t have been such a successful two days of football.

I am very excited to keep coaching these boys and watching them improve and gel even more as a team. Onwards and upwards!!!

First XI Team

Benji McMillan, Lachie McGregor (vice captain),Ollie Joe, Jake Herbert, Connor Haywood (captain), Jeremy Young, Thomas Zhou, Ben Dunning, Aidan Henshaw, Hadley Bank, Alfie Crookston, Luke Shields and Taka Craigie.

Second XI

Sam Collinson, Louis Priestly-Spicer, Connor Allison, Daniel Soh, Luke Flowerdew, Aaron Dalton, Sam Malden, Arana Cronin-Stone, Macintyre Stevens, David Peach, Theo Childs, JJ Wembridge, Josh Brown and Adam Rogers.