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Around 80 youth football teams descended on the Hibiscus Coast for the inaugural Auckland Champions Cup last month, with organisers already planning to grow the tournament into an annual international event.
Hosted by Hibiscus Coast Football Club from September 25 to 27, the tournament attracted teams from Wellington, Nelson, Tauranga, Cambridge and New Plymouth, as well as a team from Melbourne.
Club manager Tony Naidu says the event was a huge success despite the torrential rain across the weekend.
“We have had such positive feedback. Behind-the-scenes we were busy reorganising the fields due to the rain, but there must have been close to 2000 people here and everyone seems to have had a great time,” Naidu says.
The tournament catered for boys and girls from under-eight through to under-17 level, with teams from clubs, academies and schools competing in a round-robin format before progressing into finals.
Naidu says the tournament has significant potential for the Coast and could eventually develop into something similar to the AIMS Games, but focused on football.
“The local cafes were packed with players and supporters, and the club tuck shop sold 160kg of chips,” he says.
“We are already getting enquiries from teams that didn’t attend this year, so we are hoping next year will be bigger and better.”
The weather created challenges, with Hibiscus Coast Raiders and Whangaparāoa College stepping up to provide additional fields, Naidu says.
Football mum Mischa Knox says parents also worked hard to keep players warm and dry.
“The weather was pretty shocking, but we had a dedicated support crew setting up gazebos, running shirts home for a quick tumble-dry between matches, holding umbrellas and trying to keep subs warm,” she says.
“The kids are so resilient and it was a real experience for them playing with a ball that slippery. It kind of added to the experience and they really dug deep.”
The eighth-grade Hibiscus Coast team finished at the top of the points table before facing Kerikeri Penguins in the final. After the match finished 4-4, Hibiscus Coast won the penalty shootout 4-2.
Sports Group managing director Rolando Navas says it was the first time the organisation had staged the Champions Cup in Auckland, although it runs several tournaments in Australia and held a tournament in Cambridge last year.
He says the Hibiscus Coast was chosen with the tournament’s future growth in mind.
“We wanted somewhere that was nice to visit and attractive for travelling teams, but also somewhere with enough fields to expand,” Navas says.
He says Sports Group commits to its tournaments for at least three years to give them time to grow.
The long-term plan is to attract more teams from other parts of New Zealand and overseas, as well as develop exchange opportunities for players and referees.
Navas says Hibiscus Coast Football Club, Auckland Council and the wider community had been supportive of the event.
“We wanted to get the whole community involved, and Hibiscus Coast Football Club and the council have been fantastic to deal with.”
