“Swiss Miss” Mathis Making Quite An Impact
Story by Jeremy Ruane

She considers she achieved her most memorable moment in football to date during the Future Stars tournament in February, but the impact New Zealand U-17 international Lauren Mathis has made on the land she now calls home is far greater than merely “nutsing an American”!!

This, after all, is a young lady who has travelled all the way from the land of Roger Federer, Martina Hingis, timepieces and cheese with holes in it to find herself on the cusp of a place in the Young Ferns squad which will contest the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Finals in October and November this year.

“I was born in Richterswil, Switzerland”, says the soon-to-be seventeen-year-old (May 30). “I emigrated to New Zealand about thirteen years ago because Jan, my Mum, thought it would be good to raise us here”.

The Mathis family initially settled down deep in the heart of Southland, in Riversdale, a wee town in the shadows of the Hokonui Hills, roughly half-way between Lumsden and Gore. They then moved to the home of brown trout fishing, and it was in Gore where New Zealand football’s very own ‘Swiss Miss’ first kicked a ball in anger.

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Published: 05 May 2008

Tough Draws For Ferns And OlyWhites At Olympics
Story by Jeremy Ruane

The draws for the Men’s and Women’s Olympic Football Tournaments took place in Beijing on Sunday evening, and at their conclusion, the two New Zealand which will compete at the Games of the 29th Olympiad were left with challenging tasks to contemplate.

The Football Ferns take on Norway, Japan and reigning Olympic champions the USA in their group, with two of their matches taking place in Qinhuangdao.

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Published: 21 April 2008

Waitakere Claim Maiden NZFC Crown
Story by Jeremy Ruane

.Waitakere United capped off an impressive season in the Southern Trust NZ Football Championship by defeating Team Wellington 2-0 at Douglas Field on April 20, in the competition’s Grand Final.

In a match which never rose to any great heights, the home team enjoyed the only chance of the first twenty-five minutes when Benjamin Totori, upon being picked out by Christopher Bale, scythed in off the left and let fly from twenty yards. Phil Imray turned his sixth minute effort round the post.

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Published: 21 April 2008

Quickfire Double Sees Springs Roll Rovers
Story by Jeremy Ruane / Photos by Graham Hughes

Two goals in as many minutes half-way through the first half fired Western Springs to a 2-0 victory over Glenfield Rovers in their rescheduled Lotto Northern Premier Women’s League encounter on North Harbour Stadium’s outer oval on May 7.

Both teams began the match with some enterprising attacking passages of play, but these were matched by solid defensive work, with Rovers’ Therese Saito and Springs’ Abby Erceg the respective stand-outs in this aspect of the game throughout the evening.

Gradually, however, “The Hoops” began to get the better of the midfield battle, first flexing their muscles in the fifteenth minute. Jaime Hackett turned two players inside her own half near half-way and, via Grace Vincent and Rebecca O’Neill, switched play to Leanne Tiffen. She sent Hannah Wall scampering through, but her pull-back was headed to safety by Michele Hogg.

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Published: 08 May 2008

Kossa Hold Aces After Downing O-League Champs
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Waitakere United have left themselves with a mountain to climb in the second leg of the OFC Champions League Grand Final in a fortnight’s time, after slumping to a 3-1 first leg loss at the hands of Kossa FC in Honiara on Saturday.

In front of a crowd at least 18,000-strong at the Lawson Tama Stadium, the Solomon Islands champions stunned their Kiwi counterparts, and could well have won by more as they left the reigning O-League champions’ quest to record back-to-back titles hanging by a thread.

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Published: 28 April 2008

No Northern Women's League Action This Weekend
Story by Jeremy Ruane

A four-day Football Ferns' training camp, which is taking place this week, means there will be no Northern Premier Women's League action on the first weekend in May.

The match which had been rearranged for Sunday, a clash between the unbeaten Western Springs and Lynn-Avon United teams, has been postponed, allowing John Herdman (Senior & U-20s) and Paul Temple (U-17s) to maximise the opportunities available to them, given all three national representative teams will be gracing the world stage in FIFA Finals tournaments later in the year.

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Published: 30 April 2008

Tauranga And Central Lead Tightly Contested League
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Tauranga City United and Lotto Northern Premier League title-holders Central United share the lead following Saturday’s fifth round of action in the northern region’s flagship competition, after both teams scored 4-0 wins over struggling opponents.

The Bay of Plenty combination made no race of it against bottom-placed Hamilton Wanderers at Links Avenue, once Ian Stringfellow’s fulminating volley had opened the scoring just seven minutes into the match.

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Published: 05 May 2008

Beaten, Disappointed, But Far From Disgraced
Story by Jeremy Ruane

On September 5, twenty-one young women and their management team took off for China, to represent New Zealand at this country’s first senior World Cup Finals in sixteen years.

They headed north with their eyes wide open. Without exception, this was wildest dreams come true stuff, something very special which only a select few, in any country, get to experience - the chance to compete alongside the world’s footballing elite, with the game’s ultimate prize just six wins away ...

For the youngest team at the tournament, representing a country which contested the inaugural Women’s World Cup Finals in 1991 and had, in its Oceania confederation, played second fiddle to Australia ever since, recording those six victories weren’t even a consideration.

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Published: 03 October 2007