WELLINGTON WIN STREET FOOTBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Posted by New Zealand - 16/11/2009
Wellington's Street Football team took the honours in Saturday's Street Football National Championships. The inaugural tournament saw teams representing Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and the Capital compete as part of Wellington City Council's Festival of Football - a curtain-raiser for the All Whites World Cup Qualifier.
The teams were formally welcomed to the city and SportZone's purpose-built Queen's Wharf pitch by Mayor Kerry Prendergast and Te Atiawa kaumata Sam Jackson.
The most dramatic match of the day was between Christchurch and Dunedin - a 3-3 draw that ended in a sudden-death penalty shoot-out victory to Christchurch.
Team Wellington, who had been training hard all year for the event made their presence felt early on, winning all their matches in the round-robin format before unpicking the Auckland defence in a emphatic 10-0 final win.
Event organisers Street Football Aotearoa aim to take a New Zealand team to the 8th annual Homeless World Cup next year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; so this tournament doubled as a launch of their Road To Rio campaign; raising public awareness of the Street Football programmes around the country and beginning a fundraising campaign that they hope will provide the significant support required to get a national team to Rio.
The Brazilian flavour was enhanced by the presence of Brazilian Ambassador Renate Stille and performance groups Funky Junk and Grupo de Capoeira Resistencia as well as Wellington Phoenixs stars Daniel and Diego.
Former All-Black Norm Hewitt, a firm supporter of Street Football Aotearoa and its work with homeless and marginalised people, was on hand to offer behind the scenes words of wisdom to players who were competing in a public arena for the first time.
The tournament's Fair Play award was presented to Dunedin who captured the spirit of the event (and the imagination of the thousands who watched throughout the course of the day) by playing with determination and goodwill even when their team was behind. Player of the tournament was Fraser from Wellington who scored 14 goals on the day.
Attached photo shows player of the tournament Fraser on the ball for Wellington against Auckland
For further information contact Street Football Aotearoa
or Tom Kelly, Trustee 021 024 91704
