“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 The request is on a desk at WaiBOP United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nathan Lobo 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Nelson 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at WaiBOP United, and 0 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Nathan Lobo
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Nathan Lobo has come out of that comparison in the side, and WaiBOP United have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
James Nelson 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Nelson 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.
Marked 8.29. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at WaiBOP United.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Callum Lockyer was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I watch every WaiBOP United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Wellington Phoenix runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at WaiBOP United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WaiBOP United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Nathan Lobo 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.
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.
Riley Richards, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Riley Richards 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Callum Lockyer and WaiBOP United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I watch every WaiBOP United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Wellington Phoenix runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Kosta Stamatelopoulos 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Nelson 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Matt Singh has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Nelson 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.
The name of Dane Boxall has come up in conversations WaiBOP United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I did not go to Wellington Phoenix to sit and watch. I want to come back to WaiBOP United and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thobani Gumede is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Bill Tuiloma 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Nelson 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 5 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Add another name to the list: Southern United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oliver Payne. The answer from WaiBOP United has not changed — yet.
In brief
SquadWords at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Marco Fenton 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Marco Fenton has improved at 30, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The phone has started ringing about Ben Barbarouses again, and this time the name on the line is Auckland City. WaiBOP United are listening politely and promising nothing.
James Nelson 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ben Barbarouses and WaiBOP United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around WaiBOP United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marco Fenton and WaiBOP United agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every WaiBOP United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Southern United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Ben Barbarouses’s exile
Position 1, 28 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WaiBOP United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at WaiBOP United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marco Fenton 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
James Nelson 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WaiBOP United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at WaiBOP United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marco Fenton 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Wood 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Ben Barbarouses’s exile
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WaiBOP United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Marco Fenton 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.
Add another name to the list: Auckland City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ben Tuiloma. The answer from WaiBOP United has not changed — yet.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Wood 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
MarketTim Waine returns from a loan that gave him nothing
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Ben Barbarouses’s exile
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Southern United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Southern United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Owen Jones 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.
A 2‑1 win over Hawke's Bay United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ben Barbarouses 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Francis Garbett is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Southern United will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Southern United deserved better, and so did he.
Position 1, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WaiBOP United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” WaiBOP United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and WaiBOP United have had the benefit of it.
Marco Fenton 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.
Add another name to the list: Auckland City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ben Tuiloma. The answer from WaiBOP United has not changed — yet.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“I did not go to Wellington Phoenix to sit and watch. I want to come back to WaiBOP United and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Southern United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Callum Cacace and Southern United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Southern United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Southern United can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Jai Smith 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.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Southern United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Southern United can pretend not to have heard.
Owen Jones 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jai 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.
At 19 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.
“I watch every Southern United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Auckland City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
“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 Southern United, and it is not being withdrawn.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Callum Tuiloma and Southern United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Owen Jones 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Southern United can tell you which week it ends in.
“I watch every Southern United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Auckland City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Southern United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Francis Garbett 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Hawke's Bay United? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Southern United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Southern United scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Southern United can pretend not to have heard.
7.78, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Southern United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ben Barbarouses. 2‑1 against Canterbury United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jake Stamatelopoulos 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WaiBOP United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 5 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad26 Oct 2026
James Nelson 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.
A 2‑1 win over Canterbury United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Riley Richards 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.
“I watch every WaiBOP United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Southern United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.