From The Star:
In recent years, teams from boys’ schools and some private schools have played alongside clubs in Mainland Football competitions, while co-ed schools have played in School Sport Canterbury’s midweek competition, but that is about to change.
By Karen Casey, the Star
A premier schools’ competition, bringing the best teams in the region together and played on Wednesday afternoons in the usual slot reserved for school sport, will start in 2015.
Mainland Football federation development manager Alan Walker said the new competition would be a “huge, positive” step for the city.
He said specific details on a format, including how schools will qualify for the competition if needed, are still to be finalised.
Walker said he was acutely aware of the risks of players choosing to play two games a week – for their school and a club.
“THe singular biggest concern for me is that the players are going to end up fatigued and burned out. All we’re asking for is a little bit of sense and sensibility to look after the player first and necessarily (their) self-serving football or school needs.”
Richard James, head of sport at the midweek competition’s defending champions, Lincoln High School, said they were looking forward to playing in a tournament involving all of the region’s schools.
“Our kids want to play against the best schools available . . . the traditional boys’ schools, which we hadn’t been able to do in the past.
“Unless we’ve organised our own fixtures, we’ve never really played them.”
He was sure the new tournament would “add a little bit of something” to schoolboy football in Canterbury.
Christ’s College’s head of sport Rob Clarke said his school supported the move.
“For us, it’s quite a different competition, obviously, moving from a Saturday to a Wednesday. It’s quite a shift in how we organise our teams and our squads, but we’re certainly looking forward to an allschool competition.”
James said the new format would provide schools the chance to test themselves out against each other, something Lincoln would embrace.
Walker said results over the years had shown it was not always the teams that played on Saturdays that have done the best on the national stage.
Five schools from Canterbury represented the region at the Lotto Premier tournament in Napier in September; two teams that played on Saturdays – Christ’s and Shirley Boys’ High School – and three that played on Wednesdays – Lincoln, Rangiora High School, and Cashmere High School. Cashmere finished highest, in 11th place.