Edition Thirteen SHORTER THAN JONNY G and TWICE AS RUBBISH
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YELLOW FEVER'S FINGER ON LOCAL FOOTBALL'S PULSE Edition Thirteen SHORTER THAN JONNY G AND TWICE AS RUBBISH www.yellowfever.co.nz 1 WORLD CUP 2014 GETS FURTHER AWAY George Barbarouses (and his sidekick Jonny G) - Georgie’s transfer from Wairarapa United made quite a splash (get it?). His News from the sneaky old OFC this week that plans to hold all return to the Greeks now, presumably for no money, is even more major tournament qualification in NZ have been binned. Instead, surprising. Barba is one of the best in the league, and with the we’re back to the old Oceania Nations Cup where we have to go title still in sight Lower Hutt’s willingness to let him go is curious. to Fiji and put up with horrible conditions and cheating referees in order to get through to a top four, who will play off again for Tom Biss - Biss was signed from Maycenvale after they won the right to playoff (stay with me) against the 5th best Asian promotion last season. A dynamic attacking midfielder, Biss was a team. Things just got a lot tougher for Ricki this time around. key part of the Lower Hutt U19 side that did so well last October. He’s gone back to Maycenvale on deadline day. Nobody quite REFS get hard tiME FroM GreeKS, sure why. nobody surPrised And then there’s the massive list of significant departures over the Sums it up really. Nothing more to say. last little while. Every club has churn, but this is more like a flood than a trickle. Whether it will pour cold water all over Hutt’s title PLayers SPILLing FroM Lower chances will come out in the wash this weekend against Wests. Hutt, where’S the Water SAFety? This week cannot go by without Park LIfe mentioning the BIG CUP ROUND TWO amazing player exodus that has taken place at Lower Hutt United and RAPA FLY CAPitaL this season. There are a few monumental transfers worth mentioning. FLag in Big CUP We here in Wellington have been a bit spoiled when it comes to Phil Patterson - spectacularly quit as club chairman and in the Big Cup over the last two seasons. The last two Cup winners the same day transferred to Upper Hutt. Patterson has been Mr have both been Wellington clubs, which means we’ve been able Lower Hutt since the departure into pub management of Graham to see some cracking Cup encounters involving clubs from other Watson. His staggering departure had tongues wagging all parts of the country, and perhaps even take a bit of civic pride in around town. seeing local clubs dominate the one true national club competition in New Zealand. Rod Mays - veteran of the 1997 U17 World Cup team (the same one as Ben Sigmund), Mays went to Lower Hutt from Upper Hutt Sadly, it does not appear that we will be seeing a threepeat. in his junior days just prior to the World Cup (wonder if he got The last two winners, Olympic and Miramar Rangers, were some free swimming lessons at the time?). Since then he has dumped out of the Cup early on, and the last remaining been the team’s regular left back. Now he’s gone back to the Wellington club in the competition is dear old Wellington Orange part of the Valley. United. Now, United have enjoyed a great Cup run – disposing of Olympic for the second year in a row, and thumping Capital Premier leaders Upper Hutt 5-2 is no mean feat. 2 www.facebook.com/parklifenz www.yellowfever.co.nz 3 But this weekend they come up against Central League’s Miramar have the chance to extend their unbeaten run and finish Wairarapa United. ‘Rapa ran riot over Red Sox in the last round off any lingering hopes that the Bubbles may have of defending of the Cup, and with their Central League hopes fading, will be their title. Now, Bubbles will be depleted after all the reds from looking to go on a good Cup run, with United square in their the Tawa game, but their clashes with Miramar never fail to sights. Can United survive their onslaught? Probably not. entertain, so this would be a great game to check out. Wests will try to keep within touching distance of Miramar THE TOP LEAGUES when they play the Lower Hutt side which may well be fielding MiraMar run away with Big League 14-year olds given the way things currently are at that club. But Parky loves Central League. Why? Well, the football’s pretty good, apparently some of those kids did pretty well couple of weeks ago but it’s the melodrama of soap-opera proportions that really gets against Miramar, so it could be a close game. us going (yes, Parky loves soap-operas too). Take last week for example – Bubbles get thumped 4-1 by Tawa with two of their players red carded, controversial goals scored, and complaints about the poor officiating flying around, culminating in Bubbles’ coach going to the city’s leading newspaper crying about the injustice of it all. Yet what seems to have gone unnoticed amidst all the broken plates and spilled souvlaki is that the Bubbles shipped in 8 goals to Tawa this season, and got zero points from those two games. WE’RE JUST A Now, Parky’s no expert, but it seems if you want to defend your SMALL CREATIVE AGENCY Central League title, this is probably not the way to do it. BUT WE CAN DO A LOT OF In the meantime, Miramar continued their unbeaten march towards the title with a 5-0 thumping of cellar dweller Palmy REALLY COOL THINGS North Marist. Wests and Wairarapa are the only ones realistically within striking distance of Rangers, while Marist’s fate seems sealed already. Because of the big Cup, only two games will be GRAPHIC DESIGN played this weekend. TV COMMERCIALS DIGITAL MEDIA THOSE SORTS OF THINGS e: [email protected] w: www.neonmammals.com 4 www.facebook.com/parklifenz www.yellowfever.co.nz 5 SATURDAY 2 ASB CHATHAM CUP: Wellington United vs Wairarapa United Newtown 2pm CENTRAL LEAGUE: PN Marist vs Maycenvale POSTPONED Western Suburbs vs Lower Hutt City Endeavour 1, 2.30pm Petone vs Wairarapa Utd POSTPONED SUNDAY 3 CENTRAL LEAGUE: Olympic vs Miramar Rangers Newtown 2pm Napier City Rovers vs Tawa POSTPONED Tight as A ducK’S buMhoLE in CAPitaL PreMier With junior-fund-thefting Wellington United entertaining Wairarapa in the big cup, this week sees just four Football Central Premier games. The Wellington United (3rd, 22pts) v Miramar (2nd, 23 pts) game would have been the game of the round, however, the weekend see fairly non-spectacular match ups.Perhaps the pick of the bunch has Island Bay (4th, 22pts) travelling to Stop Out (5th, 20pts). The Sharks have been title contenders for most of the season, but have slipped in recent weeks including a 0-0 draw with “Unbeaten-in-seven-but-can’t-but-a-win” Karori last week. Conversely, Stop Out started the season poorly, but have begun to make a late charge. Both teams have built their season on tight defences which have seen them concede 13 and 12 goals respectively in their first 11 games. A loss for either team could spell the end of their title chances. Parky predicts: 1-1 stalemate. Continued on page 10 6 www.facebook.com/parklifenz www.yellowfever.co.nz 7 HAPPY BIRTHDAY James “Tua Leada” Potter 25 (140kgs) Wiremu “Moose” Patrick 31 (90% gray hair) Phil “The Hobbit” Gorman 52 Hobbit Years Happy birthday to the following Park Life fans who have had birthdays recently. Apologies to James Bananatyne (40) and Karlos Whalen (30), who also have birthdays. Our spy wasn’t friends with you on Facebook so we couldn’t get any decent pics of you in time to print them! To the rest of you, enjoy your moment in the sun. Photos BY JAN HALL-JONES 8 www.facebook.com/parklifenz www.yellowfever.co.nz 9 In the other Hutt game, Upper Hutt (1st, 25pts) host Olympic (6th, 15pts). Upper Hutt shot to the top of the league with a comprehensive 4-2 beat down of Wellington United last week, and will look to extend their lead over them and Miramar WHO IS PARK LiFE? and Wellington United. Like Marty McFly, Olympic are going backwards and handed Wainui their first win last week. Their Park Life is published by Yellow Fever and generously cause will not be helped by discipline issues among their first sponsored by team which will test the depth of their playing stock. Four Kings. Parky predicts: Upper Hutt win 4-1. We are proudly printed by DPOD Wellington. In what could be the most horrendous game seen between two first teams this season, Marist (8th, 9pts) host Wainui (9th, 7pts) Yellow Fever’s resident angry man Smithy is Park Life’s at the swamp that is Kilbirnie Park. While Wests sit below them editor in chief. Contributions are very welcome, whether in 10th, their inevitable team stacking is guaranteed to see Marist they are photographs, articles or whatever. and Wainui finish in the bottom two. Both will be hoping an ineligible team in Capital 1 finishes in the top 2 to ensure a playoff Contact Park Life at [email protected] chance rather than automatic relegation. Wainui will be buoyed by their first win last week, while Marist are wanting to bounced back from their 1-0 loss to Stop Out.