The Hawke's Bay United Courier
Squad14 Dec 2026
Francis Bell damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match14 Dec 2026
Hawke's Bay United up to position 2
15 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Zaharaddeen Bello in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hawke's Bay United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
The crowd has taken to Cameron Bell
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match12 Dec 2026
Hawke's Bay United get the job done against Waitakere United
A 1‑0 win over Waitakere United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
James Sutton runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Deklan Barbarouses falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Winston McCowatt takes the honours
Marked 7.74 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Hawke's Bay United had the best player on the pitch.
Market14 Dec 2026
Talks stall between Hawke's Bay United and Alex Rufer
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
In brief
- Squad Cameron Bell finally opens his account
- Market Ben Boxall linked with a move away