The WaiBOP United Gazette
Squad18 Oct 2027
12 saves: Noah Smith was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Deklan Waine
74 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
89 days out for Ryan Lewis after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. WaiBOP United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match16 Oct 2027
9 matches without a win for WaiBOP United
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around WaiBOP United are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Oct 2027
Michael Tuiloma 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 WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Tempers go at WaiBOP United
Oliver Van Hattum 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.
Boardroom18 Oct 2027
5 academy graduates step up at WaiBOP United
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
The terraces18 Oct 2027
One of their own: Noah Smith
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market18 Oct 2027
Ben Sutton steps up from the WaiBOP United academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ben Sutton has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
- Market WaiBOP United promote Ben Stamatelopoulos from within
- Market One of our own: Matt Lockyer joins the WaiBOP United first team
- Match A bad afternoon for WaiBOP United against Hawke's Bay United