Northern League Honours Recognise Season’s Stars
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Strong showings from individuals in less well-performed teams were recognised when the 2009 Lotto Northern Regional Football League awards were presented on the weekend.

Onehunga Sports’ top goalscorer, Omi Takuyuki, took out the Northern Premier League’s Player of the Year award, his eight-goal haul and all-round performances earning him the coveted honour, and playing a major part in securing “The Green Machine”’s Premier League status for another season.

Even more impressive were the efforts of Kamo High School student Katie Rood. The youngster turned her hand to football this season after a few years wielding a hockey stick, and was frequently the star turn for North Force in their debut campaign in the Northern Premier Women’s League.

While the league newcomers propped up the table, their leading markswoman finished comfortably inside the league’s top ten goalscorers, and earned herself the twin accolades of the Premier Women’s League’s Player and Young Player of the Year awards.

The latter honour is one of three in the women’s game which are awarded by the media independently of those recognised at the Northern League awards, another such honour being the Northern Premier Women’s League’s Most Improved Player.

The inaugural recipient of this trophy is Lynn-Avon United goalkeeper Ashleigh Cox, who has stepped up her game in a big way in 2009 and was one of the mainstays behind her team’s double triumph in the Northern Premier Women’s League and the National Women’s Knockout Cup competitions.

The third media honour, The Jeremy Ruane Trophy, an excellence award which recognises meritorious achievement by a team or individual in northern region women’s soccer, was jointly presented to two of Cox’s Lynn-Avon team-mates, Amber Hearn and Ria Percival, whose mid-season sojourn to Ottawa Fury made a notable impression on both sides of the equator.

Their efforts in gaining selection in the W-League All-League Team of the Season, as well as being final nominees in the W-League’s Defender of the Year (Percival) and MVP (Hearn) categories, were hard to ignore, despite the similarly outstanding efforts of Rosie White - the inaugural OFC Women’s Player of the Year scored hat-tricks in both the U-17 and U-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals in the period under review, and W-League champion Kirsty Yallop, who won the title with Pali Blues.

The Lotto NRFL awards are determined by votes from the opposing coaches which are cast after each match in the three Northern League divisions. Their nominations saw Mark Vincent claim the Referee of the Year award, while the First Division coaches selected Cambridge’s Jason Chewins as recipient of that competition’s Player of the Year award.

Two of the three Golden Boot winners in the Northern League are based in Hamilton. Steven Holloway’s fourteen goals played a big part in firing Melville United to the Northern Premier League title, while Jackie Pretswell retained her crown as the NPWL’s top markswoman with her fifteen-goal haul for Claudelands Rovers.

The Northern League First Division’s Golden Boot was shared by Ellerslie’s Nathan Palmer and Onehunga-Mangere United duo Dean Delaney and Kyosuke Kitano, each of whom scored eighteen goals in a league which saw Cambridge default its final two matches of the season, their squad having disbanded for the summer.

The 3-0 scorelines which were awarded to Three Kings United as a result of these defaults mean the unbeaten champions and Chatham Cup runners-up took out the First Division title by ten points from Ngaruawahia United, an effort which ensured coach Paul Marshall of the Lotto NRFL Coach of the Year honour.

2009 Honours List:
Northern Premier League:
Champions: Melville United
Minor Premiers: Lynn-Avon United
Player of the Year: Omi Takuyuki (Onehunga Sports)
Golden Boot: Steven Holloway (Melville United, 14)

Northern League First Division:
Champions: Three Kings United
Player of the Year: Jason Chewins (Cambridge)
Golden Boot: Dean Delaney (Onehunga-Mangere United, 18)
Kyosuke Kitano (Onehunga-Mangere United, 18)
Nathan Palmer (Ellerslie, 18)

Northern Premier Women’s League:
Champions: Lynn-Avon United
Minor Premiers: Lynn-Avon United
Player of the Year: Katie Rood (North Force)
Young Player: Katie Rood (North Force)
Most Improved: Ashleigh Cox (Lynn-Avon United)
Golden Boot: Jackie Pretswell (Claudelands Rovers, 15)

Coach of the Year: Paul Marshall (Three Kings United)
Referee of the Year: Mark Vincent
The JR Trophy: Amber Hearn & Ria Percival (both Lynn-Avon United).