Liquid IT Petone vs Lower Hutt City Central League 2021 | 3pm, Friday April 2 | Memorial Park Proudly supporting Petone FC liquidit.nz Chairman’s Corner elcome to the 2021 football season – great to be starting on time this Wyear :-) The club has assembled a great Liquid IT Men’s First Team Squad which will be tested in the Central League again this season and, with the carrot of National League football at the end of the year, the lads will be extra pumped to perform well. We welcome back old Petone players and new players alike to our squad, as well as celebrate the reappointment of coach Besim Balicevac and appointment of his new assistant Jeremy Field. Our Powerex Women’s W-League Team will be pushing hard this year to improve their position from last season with new coach Elliot Taylor. We have assembled a strong team with a couple of new players and most of last year’s players staying with us. Our Women’s Reserve Team is also strengthened this year to compete in the Capital Premier League with new coach Alex Austin. This is a solid squad of varying age, with older players able to support the younger ones in this tough competition. We also have a great Women’s U18 Development Squad – all players in our women’s senior programme being coached at a high standard and all competing for spots at the highest level possible. Elliot and Alex are working together with both teams to generate a true squad feeling. Our Men’s Reserve Team is looking strong this year too, with new coach Faiz Syed. Again, with a nice balance of younger and older players. This is another step up for this team after promotion to the Capital 1 League and we are really looking forward to seeing them perform well at this level. With some great support from Chris Hosnell and Kunal Chand, we have a solid group of payers in our Third Team playing in Cap 3 and our Fourth Team (the Untouchables) in Wellington 2. This group of players form part of our men’s senior football programme and will be treated as such this year with the opportunity to advance into higher teams on merit. We have a true squad culture again this season. The Powerex Tournament for the Hilton-Petone Cup was well run by Barry Pickering yet again and the finals are being held on Monday April 4. We have received some very positive feedback from participants about the tournament’s integrity and the effort that Barry puts in to manage it, particularly with all of the last-minute changes each week. Well done and thank you Barry and your team of volunteers that made this tournament work so well. We continue to be a part of the Capital Football Junior Development Programme with the support of our sponsor Mitre 10 MEGA. The Mitre 10 MEGA Petone Settlers Talent Centre has a new director this year, Ryan Edwards. Ryan is providing great leadership and looking to take the programme to the next level, as well as deliver great value to the participants and their parents. We have three Talent Development Programme (TDP) teams in grades U13, U15 and U17 and I’ll keep you updated on their progress through the season. Our Junior Club is huge again this year with so many volunteers making it enjoyable and fun for players and their families. The dedication to keeping children in our football community, engaged and improving their skills, is awesome to see. Our club is very proud of the opportunities we give to our young players to enable them to do as well as they can and advance into our senior football programmes. A big thank you to all of our dedicated volunteers and committee members that make this club function. Also, thanks to our existing sponsors who have stood by us again, and welcome to our six new sponsors as well. We are so lucky to have a strong community support base to enable us to be successful on so many levels. We’re all looking forward to another enjoyable and successful season, both on and off the field. Matt Bliss Chairman [email protected] Blue Star Wellington 33 Jackson Street Petone PO Box 38 190 Wellington New Zealand 5045 Tel: +64 4 569 3519 Fax: +64 4 568 6356 www.bluestar.co.nz Club Events Calendar 2021 Junior Photos – May 3 Club Day with Juniors – May 15 Senior Quiz – May 15 Junior Big Goal Day – May 29-30 Darts Night – June 12 Old Timers’ Day – July 3 Horsie Night – July 17 Club Quiz – August 14 Junior Prize Giving – TBC Senior Prize Giving – TBC Golf Day – February 11, 2022 Coach’s Comment – Men’s First Team he new season has arrived – out with the old and in with the new – a new, Trevamped competition that is. In very similar fashion to the Super Club Competition played in the 1990s, the top four from Central League will advance to the national round which will comprise ten teams, from which a national champion will be determined in December. Preseason seems to have come and gone in a flash. In order to catch up and get back up to standard, the players have been putting in the hard work with an extra training session implemented. It is with great pleasure we announce that Jeremy Field will join our coaching staff this season. Jezza is well known to our Petone family and will be a huge asset for us this season. Sam Pickering and Hami Paranihi-Nuku will take on the roles of captain and vice-captain for the 2021 season. It is great to have these two homegrown players, with great experience, tackle such responsibility. As with every season there are some fresh new faces. Jake Harris returns to us this season from Hamilton Wanderers and Kieran McMinn arrives from East Coast Bays, Josh Zatorski from Lower Hutt, Lucas Richardson from North Shore, Brendan McMullen from Waikanae and Stanton Renwicks from Stop Out. The players are super excited about the season and look forward to playing at home and seeing you all cheering us on! Besim Balicevac Liquid IT Men’s First Team coach Petone FC Programme Info editor/designer – Iain MacIntyre (MacIntyre Public Relations Ltd) <[email protected]>, 021 99 10 16 printer – Blue Star, c/o Mark Allen <[email protected]> photographaphy – largely courtesy of Jeff Bell <[email protected]> and Angela Eglington <[email protected]> thanks also to club stallwarts Ray Bell, Barry Pickering and Matt Bliss as well as our other numerous contributors Shirt Sponsorship s part of our club’s supporters’ package, sponsors have the Aopportunity to advertise on the back of player shirts in both the Petone FC Liquid IT Men’s First Team and Powerex Women’s First Team. These much-appreciated financial supporters are also named a matchday sponsor for one game per year, in which their business and the players proudly wearing their shirts will be profiled in the following pages of this programme. Hospitality will be provided to the sponsor at that game and, additionally, framed pictures will feature in the club stairwell throughout the season. Any businesses who may be interested in this opportunity – or any club members who may have potential contacts – please advise club chairman Matt Bliss <[email protected]>. This weekend’s featured sponsor is Miro Homes & Subdividing whose brand appears on the shirts of Kieran McMinn and Devyn Crawford. Please read on to learn more about this valued business partner as well as both of those players via new profile questions. Miro Homes & Subdividing Miro Homes & Subdividing is an independent, specialist new home building and subdividing company based in Wellington. We build affordable, quality homes that we’d be proud to live in ourselves and help property owners subdivide to release land capital. We are your one-stop-shop, taking care of everything – subdividing, resource and building consents – ready to build your home and hand you the keys at the end. It’s a Good Time to Talk to Miro Get into a Newly-built Home the Easy Way We offer expert advice, free-with-build house plans, experienced builders and in-house quantity surveyors to bring your dream home to reality. We don’t production-build, so are fully focused on a personalised service to simplify the entire building process, allowing our customers to enjoy their building journey, all for a pre-agreed price with quality and functionality a given. Our homes are built with attention to detail by our qualified builders and tradesmen, using market-leading products and systems, with different inclusions to meet a range of budgets. Check out our Plans Our free-with-build plans are architecturally designed to create modern, affordable homes to perform in Wellington’s wide range of environments and take full advantage of the space and sun of smaller sections. We have recently released the new Miro Easy Living range of plans with stylish designs for single-level homes and townhouses offering excellent living options to give you great functionality indoors and outdoors, without compromising on quality. House and Land Packages There are currently a number of subdivisions in the Wellington region, so if you are looking for a suitable site, we work closely with real estate agents and may have sections available to meet your requirements. Chris Martin Operations Manager 027 382 4226 [email protected] https://mirohomeswellington.co.nz/ Kieran McMinn If you had to choose a sport other than football, what would it be and why? Basketball.