Ben Nelson

Left Midfielder - Canterbury United U20
7 Nov 2027
Sunday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 3 Transfers Relations Events 83 Awards Matches History

Marked for Ben Nelson

30 Edition

The Canterbury United Gazette

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market22 Feb 2027

Bill Just puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Canterbury United, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad22 Feb 2027

Tempers go at Canterbury United

Alex Payne was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad22 Feb 2027

Bill Just 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.

In brief

Back issues
26 Edition

The Canterbury United Gazette

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market25 Jan 2027

Bill Just puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Canterbury United, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market25 Jan 2027

Central Coast Mariners watching Michael Colvey

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Canterbury United have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad25 Jan 2027

Santiago Martínez 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 Canterbury United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

17 Edition

The Canterbury United Gazette

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match18 Nov 2026

Canterbury United out of the cup

Hawke's Bay United ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.

Match21 Nov 2026

Chastening afternoon for Canterbury United

A 0‑3 beating by Auckland City was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market23 Nov 2026

Cameron Kirwan hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Canterbury United can pretend not to have heard.

Squad23 Nov 2026

A fracture rules Chris Smith out for 50 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Canterbury United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings23 Nov 2026

A debut Ben Nelson will not forget — 7.25

There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.25 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.

The terraces23 Nov 2026

A cup hiding at Hawke's Bay United leaves Canterbury United explaining themselves

0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.

Squad23 Nov 2026

Alex Payne 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 Canterbury United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad23 Nov 2026

The manager makes an example of Clayton Lewis

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Boardroom23 Nov 2026

Nobody left the Canterbury United dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

In brief