Western and Pacific Premierships

hotchips wrote:

 bigfudge wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:

 hotchips wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:
Prem Cup East
Napier City Rovers Res 14-0 Gisborne Thistle 

Sounds like Thistle travelled with a very very young inexperienced team. Not even close to their usual side. Scoreline isn’t a surprise 

Havelock North 6-0 Port Hill 
Havelock North absolutely clinical finishing, they probably had 8 clear cut chances and scored 6 of them. Considering how boggy the pitch was, they passed the ball around beautifully. 

There are rumours they fielded multiple cup tied players, will be interested to see if anything comes of that  


 

Samuel Wait, Tomas Suarez, Jack Pyott all cup-tied by playing for their ressies.

It's a stupid rule but it's still a rule.

It’s a stupid rule until you are in the reserve league and play against half a Prems starting team 🤷‍♂️

Although they lost that game, so it could be a double backfire.

This feels very harsh, especially when you see that Port Hill didn't have the chance to get cup-tied because they defaulted their only D1 cup game against Rovers in the first round.

Feels like they're being rewarded for defaulting. Also, 3 players dropping down can hardly be considered playing against "half a Prems starting team".

The part I think is stupid is that players are cup tied up, not familiar enough with their team to know if they are normally prems players. Dropping players into lower grades is shitty and them ending up punished for doing that is just desserts I guess.

bigfudge wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:

 hotchips wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:
Prem Cup East
Napier City Rovers Res 14-0 Gisborne Thistle 

Sounds like Thistle travelled with a very very young inexperienced team. Not even close to their usual side. Scoreline isn’t a surprise 

Havelock North 6-0 Port Hill 
Havelock North absolutely clinical finishing, they probably had 8 clear cut chances and scored 6 of them. Considering how boggy the pitch was, they passed the ball around beautifully. 

There are rumours they fielded multiple cup tied players, will be interested to see if anything comes of that  


 

Samuel Wait, Tomas Suarez, Jack Pyott all cup-tied by playing for their ressies.

It's a stupid rule but it's still a rule.

It’s a stupid rule until you are in the reserve league and play against half a Prems starting team 🤷‍♂️

Although they lost that game, so it could be a double backfire.

This feels very harsh, especially when you see that Port Hill didn't have the chance to get cup-tied because they defaulted their only D1 cup game against Rovers in the first round.

Feels like they're being rewarded for defaulting. Also, 3 players dropping down can hardly be considered playing against "half a Prems starting team".

bigfudge wrote:

 hotchips wrote:

 bigfudge wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:

 hotchips wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:
Prem Cup East
Napier City Rovers Res 14-0 Gisborne Thistle 

Sounds like Thistle travelled with a very very young inexperienced team. Not even close to their usual side. Scoreline isn’t a surprise 

Havelock North 6-0 Port Hill 
Havelock North absolutely clinical finishing, they probably had 8 clear cut chances and scored 6 of them. Considering how boggy the pitch was, they passed the ball around beautifully. 

There are rumours they fielded multiple cup tied players, will be interested to see if anything comes of that  


 

Samuel Wait, Tomas Suarez, Jack Pyott all cup-tied by playing for their ressies.

It's a stupid rule but it's still a rule.

It’s a stupid rule until you are in the reserve league and play against half a Prems starting team 🤷‍♂️

Although they lost that game, so it could be a double backfire.

This feels very harsh, especially when you see that Port Hill didn't have the chance to get cup-tied because they defaulted their only D1 cup game against Rovers in the first round.

Feels like they're being rewarded for defaulting. Also, 3 players dropping down can hardly be considered playing against "half a Prems starting team".

The part I think is stupid is that players are cup tied up, not familiar enough with their team to know if they are normally prems players. Dropping players into lower grades is shitty and them ending up punished for doing that is just desserts I guess.

How is dropping players to your reserve team shitty? Its local football, squads don't always have enough players so especially with any first team/reserve team dynamic, a few players will move between teams to help out with numbers. 

Can you explain what you mean by "not familiar enough with their team to know if they are normally prems players"? Also, I believe the first team had a bye that week so it could've just been a mix of their ressies needing some players and then a few first teamers wanting some minutes.

It's more that whilst the rules have been massively stuffed up and are poorly written, they outline that whilst you are sweet as to drop players down in the league, you are not supposed to do it in the cup. I struggle to see any benefit from not allowing players to move up but that's how the rules have been written and they were communicated to all clubs last week.

"not familiar enough with their team to know if they are normally prems players" I was not familiar with Havelock North's players until looking at the team cards now.
There's another poorly written rule that would potentially have seen them booted from the champ cup is below. That to me means if you are graded to Prems you don't get to play champ cup - looking at the cards one of them is the Prems captain

image.png 26.45 KB

hotchips wrote:

 bigfudge wrote:

 hotchips wrote:

 bigfudge wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:

 hotchips wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:
Prem Cup East
Napier City Rovers Res 14-0 Gisborne Thistle 

Sounds like Thistle travelled with a very very young inexperienced team. Not even close to their usual side. Scoreline isn’t a surprise 

Havelock North 6-0 Port Hill 
Havelock North absolutely clinical finishing, they probably had 8 clear cut chances and scored 6 of them. Considering how boggy the pitch was, they passed the ball around beautifully. 

There are rumours they fielded multiple cup tied players, will be interested to see if anything comes of that  


 

Samuel Wait, Tomas Suarez, Jack Pyott all cup-tied by playing for their ressies.

It's a stupid rule but it's still a rule.

It’s a stupid rule until you are in the reserve league and play against half a Prems starting team 🤷‍♂️

Although they lost that game, so it could be a double backfire.

This feels very harsh, especially when you see that Port Hill didn't have the chance to get cup-tied because they defaulted their only D1 cup game against Rovers in the first round.

Feels like they're being rewarded for defaulting. Also, 3 players dropping down can hardly be considered playing against "half a Prems starting team".

The part I think is stupid is that players are cup tied up, not familiar enough with their team to know if they are normally prems players. Dropping players into lower grades is shitty and them ending up punished for doing that is just desserts I guess.

How is dropping players to your reserve team shitty? Its local football, squads don't always have enough players so especially with any first team/reserve team dynamic, a few players will move between teams to help out with numbers. 

Can you explain what you mean by "not familiar enough with their team to know if they are normally prems players"? Also, I believe the first team had a bye that week so it could've just been a mix of their ressies needing some players and then a few first teamers wanting some minutes.

It's more that whilst the rules have been massively stuffed up and are poorly written, they outline that whilst you are sweet as to drop players down in the league, you are not supposed to do it in the cup. I struggle to see any benefit from not allowing players to move up but that's how the rules have been written and they were communicated to all clubs last week.

"not familiar enough with their team to know if they are normally prems players" I was not familiar with Havelock North's players until looking at the team cards now.
There's another poorly written rule that would potentially have seen them booted from the champ cup is below. That to me means if you are graded to Prems you don't get to play champ cup - looking at the cards one of them is the Prems captain

image.png 26.45 KB

mraotxt2 wrote:
I thought the cup tied thing has been a rule for a very long time? I’ll

It is a little confusing, but that rule written in the post above, is in the Premiership rules. 

In the ‘local knockout cup’ rules, it clearly states that once played for one team. You are cup tied. 





 

hotchips wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:
I thought the cup tied thing has been a rule for a very long time? I’ll

It is a little confusing, but that rule written in the post above, is in the Premiership rules. 

In the ‘local knockout cup’ rules, it clearly states that once played for one team. You are cup tied. 





 

Cup tied going down has always been a thing.

There was lots of drama last year around players dropping into the Masters cup in Manawatu, and they've put a rule in that is poorly worded and prevents players from moving up grades.

mraotxt2 wrote:

 hotchips wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:
I thought the cup tied thing has been a rule for a very long time? I’ll

It is a little confusing, but that rule written in the post above, is in the Premiership rules. 

In the ‘local knockout cup’ rules, it clearly states that once played for one team. You are cup tied. 





 

Cup tied going down has always been a thing.

There was lots of drama last year around players dropping into the Masters cup in Manawatu, and they've put a rule in that is poorly worded and prevents players from moving up grades.

It could certainly have been clarified better. 

Part of the issue this year is probably that the prems cup is played separately at the end of the season.
If it was played concurrently it may not have been an issue 

bigfudge wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:

 hotchips wrote:

 mraotxt2 wrote:
I thought the cup tied thing has been a rule for a very long time? I’ll

It is a little confusing, but that rule written in the post above, is in the Premiership rules. 

In the ‘local knockout cup’ rules, it clearly states that once played for one team. You are cup tied. 





 

Cup tied going down has always been a thing.

There was lots of drama last year around players dropping into the Masters cup in Manawatu, and they've put a rule in that is poorly worded and prevents players from moving up grades.

It could certainly have been clarified better. 

Part of the issue this year is probably that the prems cup is played separately at the end of the season.
If it was played concurrently it may not have been an issue 

I believe the prems only found out about it later in the season, after these div 1 cup games had been played

BigRed49 wrote:
Shame to see PNU Reserves defaulting. I hear both teams were struggling for numbers given the absurd cup rules. 

As for the West v East playoff, the second leg will be a good watch. United with a full strength squad, and Athletic doing the travel. I hear Athletic are driving up and doing some overnight stays, whereas Gizzy flew down yesterday.

4-1 lead, but Athletic let that same lead go when they faced Wainuiomata in last years Central v Capital playoff...

mraotxt2 wrote:
Very surprised by the result, but well done to Whanganui. Clearly deserved result despite mentions of ref troubles. 

Gisborne is a hell of a tough place to play, not to mention the strange dimensions of their pitch. But 4-1 is a massive deficit to overturn. 

hotchips wrote:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/gisborne-herald/sport/gisborne-united-face-uphill-battle-following-4-1-loss-to-whanganui-athletic/BGBLOEMH4FDCBLQHZPQAVI54CQ/

Some interesting insights in there.

Also confirms playoff with Greytown for the winners.

hotchips wrote:
Now we wait to see how they mess up the Western/Eastern Prems. 
Even if just NCR go up who comes up to make the East an 8 team league? NCR 3rds? And if Gizzy overturn the deficit!

In the West if Athletic go up, do they Ressies who finished bottom of the Manawatu Champs come up? Or another Naki team in Peringa - who pulled out of the comp at the last minute in 2025?

bigfudge wrote:

 hotchips wrote:
Now we wait to see how they mess up the Western/Eastern Prems. 
Even if just NCR go up who comes up to make the East an 8 team league? NCR 3rds? And if Gizzy overturn the deficit!

In the West if Athletic go up, do they Ressies who finished bottom of the Manawatu Champs come up? Or another Naki team in Peringa - who pulled out of the comp at the last minute in 2025?

My guess is that Rovers 3rd team will come up, they've won the HB Div 1 a ridiculous amount of times but will likely just be a youth version. Napier Marist said in a comment on a FB post months ago they were working to try and get back in Prems but that may be another season or so away. If Gisborne United go up as well it's a bit stranger as their reserve team is dead last in the Gisborne league. Guess at that stage Napier Marist might be more inclined to return if theres only one Gisborne trip.

Who knows.

hotchips wrote:
Congratulations to Whanganui Athletic on their 2 1 win in gizzy and promotion. Fortunate to have a livestream to watch, gisborne must have hit the crossbar 4 or 5 times, but they couldnt finish their chances and Athletic scored two against the run of play.

Highlight for me was the two handed goaline clearance by a Gisborne player that everyone saw except somehow the ref!

bigfudge wrote:
Exciting year of Eastern and Western Prem football completed! Don't be surprised if Whanganui push on here and instantly become one of the better sides in CL2. 

In the West, will be interesting to see if Levin turn these years of challenges into a proper title fight. Will someone like NP Rangers push on and make a challenge for the playoffs?

In the East, United will be looking to go a step further next year next season but I've heard a rumor that Jimmy Sommerton is headed for Australia which will be a huge loss. Havelock won't be happy with a trophy-less season so expect them to be right up there again next season! Hopefully the league doesn't drop below 8 teams but I won't be too surprised to see Maycenvale take a year out to rebuild after a turbulent time.