The WaiBOP United Gazette
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tim Van Hattum
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. WaiBOP United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match5 Dec 2026
No end in sight to WaiBOP United's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at WaiBOP United has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Joe Lockyer, 15, plays like he has been here for years — 7.67
A mark of 7.67 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 15-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market7 Dec 2026
Stefan Fenton 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 The request is on a desk at WaiBOP United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Ryan Just beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at WaiBOP United
Alex Van Hattum and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Dec 2026
James Rufer signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” James Rufer and WaiBOP United agree another 3 years.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
WaiBOP United supporters have found a favourite in Joe Lockyer
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 15-year-old it feels ownership of. Joe Lockyer has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Callum Smith is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
- Match WaiBOP United at the halfway mark
- Match Hawke's Bay United snatch it back from WaiBOP United
- The dugout The manager makes an example of Ryan Singh