Sorry everyone I'm home sick so needing to pass the time. Thought I'd do a little recap similar to what Hot Chips has done on here but for Napier Marist.
Marist football has had to deal with a few issues that have plagued them over the last few seasons. The football club was established in 1987, being formed by a group of students from St Johns High School in Hastings. With Napier locals growing tired of travelling to Hastings for games, Bill Dick formed Napier Marist Football Club. The club won the HB Knockout Cup in it's first season.
After many years spent in the local leagues and Premier division of Hawkes Bay football, the club had a golden generation come through, a large portion of which was down to Jamie Dunning and a large contingent of Napier Boys HS players that played for the side. A partnership also formed with Celtic FC from Glasgow, who sent coaches over from Scotland and set up a partnership academy. This ended up in promotion to Federation League for the 2019 season, where the club finished 2nd, behind local rivals Havelock North. After that season, Dunning moved on to join Team Wellington's coaching staff in the National League, and Miramar Rangers, taking a few players with him. A large portion of that team moved to uni (as most students and footballers do at that age) and the following year the club finished 8th out of 9 teams.
The club had boasted a Fed team, a Prems team, and multiple sides in local divisions but their player base was beginning to shrink. 7th and 5th place finishes followed as the club made the decision to withdraw from the 2023 Federation league season.
The 2023 season they won HB Prems league with Brett Angell as coach but this was then followed by last, and second-to-last finishes in 2024 and 2025. In 2026, the club relegated to HB division 2, with the only other side in HB div 3. The emergence of Taradale AFC as a CL2 regular has eroded their player base further, and the junior side has begun to decline as well, as families view Dale and Rovers as better options in the region. The current 'top' team is now made up of a few of the Marist die-hards who have been with the team throughout, and mainly social players.
One of the other unfortunate aspects of the team is that they have never had a designated home pitch. In their previous Prems years, and now in 2026, they play at Shrimpton Field (across from Tremain field and the Marist clubrooms), using Bond Field (over 220m away from changing rooms and toilets) across the road for the Fed League years. They have had to look on as Rovers boast one of the best grounds in NZ in Bluewater Stadium and their rugby affiliate club, Napier Old Boys Marist, enjoy the setup at Tremain Field, which boasts the clubrooms, changing rooms, a grandstand, and two hedged/fenced off pitches. While plans existed previously to expand Treamin Field to four fields (with two turfs, one for rugby, one for football), the emergence of Hawkes Bay Rugby Union and Napier Pirates building there has put an end to that dream.
One of the bright lights of the club currently, is the reemergence of their women's side. The club previously boosted teams in the local leagues but these faded away due to declining interest and teams like Dale and Port Hill enjoying far better playing squads and setups. The new team is now finding their feet in HB Div 2 and will hopefully grow. The club has advertised for Director of Football roles so hopefully better days are ahead but without an identifiable home for their top teams, they'll continue to languish with Prems as their ceiling.