Napier U19 Tournament

Three Kings also won the Easter ACFC Under-17 national club tournament (beat Central 4-1 in final).

Was chatting to a number of coaches over the weekend about the standard of the main draw being lower this year. There were 20 odd U17s missing for example. Anyone else think the same?

yeah i think there were still some good teams but the pools seemed to have one or two good teams and the rest were average (or young).

i'm sure 20 of the best U17 players in the country would have added some quality.

not many from the Napier team played in the 17's tournie - Three Kings had a pretty mature team.

2013 WINNERS  

Championship Winners Three Kings United 

Championship Runners-up Cashmere Technical 

Satellite Group Winners Western Springs 

Satellite Group Runners-up Upper Hutt City 

Player of the Tournament Jack Caunter Waitakere City

Golden Boot   Blair Bates Hamilton Wanderers

Fair Play Award Wainuiomata 

Napier City Rovers Player of the Tournament Jonty Underhill 

2013 TOURNAMENT TEAM  

Nathaniel Hailemariam Lower Hutt City 

Ali Nasri Western Suburbs 

Campbell Attwood Hamilton Wanderers 

Joe Gaughan Stop Out 

Joseph Nottage Eastern Suburbs 

Jack Caunter Waitakere City 

Callum Waters Ellerslie 

George Ladoga Three Kings United 

Reilly O'Meagher Glenfield Rovers 

Jack Allen Fencibles 

Harrison Bolton-Roberts Birkenhead United 

Joshua Precious Hibiscus Coast 

Jonty Underhill Napier City Rovers 

Aaron Spain Cashmere Technical 

Daniel Bowkett Miramar Rangers 

Alex Waimora Three Kings United 

Blair Bates Hamilton Wanderers 

Matt Lieshout Ellerslie 

Wainui fair play award!! The world has changed

Anyone know who the two relegated teams are?

Loads of pens during the tournie for some reason

I believe Paptoetoe and Albany but haven't checked final standings.

Lots of draws?

Lots of fouls then?

did anyone else down there think the level of refereeing was better or worse than previous seasons.

Reason i ask is this year AFF particuarly took over the assignment of their referee's and instead of it being a big piss trip for them AFF used it to assess all the referee's - however i think this in turn meant less ref's came down and so the ref's were in my opinion overworked which lead to some poor preformances from them.

Would be insterested in peoples thoughts re this.

A lot. And hand balls

I thought the standard of the referees was higher than I have seen in previous years. I saw some possibly questionable decisions in other games but wasn't paying enough attention to know what their overall performance was like.

Personal view is the standard of the assistants wasn't high enough. Whether it was higher or lower than previous seasons it is hard to tell. Simple things like whether the whole ball has crossed the side or goal lines seemed to be frequently incorrect as did offside rulings. Gut feeling was the flagging of fouls in and around the box was better than previous experiences.

That said I definitely appreciate the 3 point control, questionable decisions or not.

Thought the officials were excellent. 

Think the standard has dropped off bit specially in an u17 World Cup year.....

And also a lot of the better players taking up US college  offer's..

Three kings probably had the best squad .. And depth wins more time' s than not...

Cashmere T.K.U. Birkenhead. Lower Hutt always strong...

For a first time visitor I thought the standard of football was great in areas. Not many teams dominated but road their luck and inconcistant officiating got them through or cost them dearly.  But a huge credit to the organisers and volunteers who make such an event  happen and cater for teams and supporters.  Over heard - some feel Napier does not give them the recognition that the event is a big financial benefit to the region. 

Watch just about every game on pitch 3 and 4

Nix Academy are having a few games against U19 club sides, a high scoring win over IBU earlier in the week (think it was 7-5).

Anyone know if they're planning on playing in Napier?

Some of the older nix academy players are registered with miramar; a more likely scenario? If playing as the academy, they would have to qualify through the satellite tournament. Also not sure what rules states about non club teams entering. Nix academy is not a registered football club.

Sweet. I know the Junior All Whites used to play at Napier, thought perhaps they may have thought of something similar.

I think you are getting ahead of yourselves here

Was just asking mate..

Well nix reserves are playing ASB, so I guess anything is possible. The nix academy is a pretty young group (14-16) but all academies need games. Surprised they haven't played ole academy.

Is the draw out soon?  seems like it's a little later than usual this year?

Heard  Ellerslie are the hot fav's

ha - you heard it before I did.. 

Miramar must have a good chance! Not only cause of the players they currently have but the guests they'll get...

Yep mirramar will be strong ( dunno who there guests are ). But be strong anyway.. so will ECB lots of NZ 20 players..

2014 draw  SEE NEXT ITEM

GROUP A                                         GROUP B                                   GROUP C                                               GROUP D

EAST COAST BAYS                         CASHMERE                                EASTERN SUBURBS                             BAY OLYMPIC

HAMILTON WANDERERS                FENCIBLES                                GLENFIELD ROVERS                             BIRKENHEAD

THREE KINGS                                  HIBISCUS  C                               LOWER HUTT                                         ELLERSLIE

UPPER HUTT                                    PETONE                                     NAPIER CITY ROVERS                          MIRAMAR

WAITAKERE                                     WEST SPRINGS                         ORATIA                                                    STOPOUT

WGTN UTD                                      WESTERN SUBURBS                WELL OLYMPIC                                       TAWA

2014 draw NOW YOU'VE GOT IT

GROUP A                                  GROUP B                               GROUP C                                        GROUP D

EAST COAST BAYS                  CASHMERE                           EASTERN SUBURBS                      BAY OLYMPIC

HAMILTON WANDERERS         FENCIBLES                           GLENFIELD ROVERS                     BIRKENHEAD

THREE KINGS                           HIBISCUS  C                          LOWER HUTT                                 ELLERSLIE

UPPER HUTT                             PETONE                                NAPIER CITY ROVERS                   MIRAMAR

WAITAKERE                              WEST SPRINGS                    ORATIA                                             STOPOUT

WGTN UTD                               WESTERN SUBURBS            WELL OLYMPIC                               TAWA

A- Bays, Wanderers

B- Cashmere, Springs

C- Suburbs, Lwr Hutt

D- Birko, Ellerslie

Lower Hutt Birkins final I'd wager....

Olympic will have two players sent for dissent I'd also wager....

With a large number of players from the wider U20's training group, (Baker, Carr, Copp, De Jong, Sugden, Wynn), and probably others joining ECB's as guest players given the coaching connection - I think East Coast Bays would be one of the most favoured sides to go all the way.