The WaiBOP United Gazette
Market10 Aug 2026
Winston Just agrees terms with Hawke's Bay United
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around WaiBOP United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Jake Sutton is a medical away from WaiBOP United
The deal with Southern United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Kosta Reid signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kosta Reid and WaiBOP United agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ryan Just 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 WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kosta Reid 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Marco Colvey joins the WaiBOP United first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marco Colvey is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
WaiBOP United promote Sam McCowatt from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sam McCowatt has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
James Rufer steps up from the WaiBOP United academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. James Rufer 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sam Boxall out for 55 days
The medical room confirms 55 days on the sidelines for Sam Boxall, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
In brief
- The dugout Kosta Reid knocks on the manager's door
- The dugout The manager makes an example of Ryan Stamatelopoulos