Attention Club Members
Ellerslie AFC would like to confirm that the contract of Munith Naidu as Men’s First Team coach has been terminated by mutual consent, effective immediately.
The club will update members regarding this coaching role as soon as information is available.
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Ellerslie AFC are excited to announce the appointment of Munith Naidu as First Team Head Coach at “The Ponies” for the 2021 season.
Munith joined the Ellerslie team having taken over as caretaker coach from Fred de Jong midway through the 2020 season. Alongside Terry Torrens, Munith helped the team to record a draw and a win in his two games before the second Auckland lockdown ended the NRFL season.
At the recent Napier U19 Championships Munith led the Ellerslie U19’s team to a respectable record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses in a tight group which saw four teams level with 7 points – with the Ellerslie team missing out on the quarter-finals on goal difference.
Munith steps into the NRFL First Team role having previously held the Director of Football position at Fencibles United and Director of Coaching at Bucklands Beach before that. Earlier roles include coaching various Representative teams with Auckland Football Federation, North Queensland Football and youth teams at the Northern Fury, formerly known as the North Queensland Fury.
With over 10 years of coaching experience across the community and talent development pathways in both New Zealand and Australia, Munith brings with him a clear football philosophy and playing style we expect will bring thrilling performances in the 2021 season.
Currently an Asian Confederation C’ Licence holder, Munith is in the final stages of obtaining the OFC B’ Licence accreditation through New Zealand Football. As a club with a proven track record in providing development pathways for both players and coaches, we’re pleased to be giving a young kiwi his debut as a First Team coach in the NRFL.
When Chairman Tim Adams was asked about this appointment he had this to say:
“Munith came in at a tricky time in the 2020 season and was an instant breath of fresh air, he exudes confidence and enthusiasm, and this was almost instantly transferred to the playing group. Having worked with him for a short period in the NRFL and then with our U19’s team I can say I am excited to see the changes he will bring in the 2021 season”.
“Over several discussions about the role between Munith and myself we identified the major change needed is a mindset shift, we have to think and behave like winners to be winners, something Munith is very passionate about”.
“This speaks to the commitment and dedication required from players putting on that Ellerslie AFC shirt, effectively you are representing all 1400+ EAFC members and that responsibility comes with certain expectations.”
“Making any clubs First Team is a privilege, with our long history in the NRFL and a squad packed with Ellerslie AFC homegrown players we can turn this into an advantage for us.”
“We have the players we want, to be successful in Lotto NRFL Div 1. We want to see the players take ownership of that and commit to what will be a very tough and demanding campaign in 2021 – but ultimately if the effort is put in it will be rewarding as well”.
Ellerslie AFC have been competing in the NRFL since 1965 and have competed for 23 years in the Premier League winning the title in 1993, which saw them spend the following two years playing Superclub (which at that point was National League). Ellerslie has a proud history of developing players through their system, with two current All Whites and a host of current National League players having cut their teeth at Michaels Ave
NRFL MENS FIRST TEAM COACH
“Ellerslie are a hard working football club that have contributed a lot to the New Zealand football community over the years. I am grateful to be extending my stay at a club with such a positive reputation and am looking forward to the upcoming season. Despite an extremely challenging year for us all, I am pleased with what I have seen since joining the club and we are well on track to creating a winning team that will achieve results commensurate to the work being done off the pitch.”
Munith Naidu
Over the coming weeks Munith will be working with club Director of Football, Fred De Jong and other club officials to finalise further NRFL staff appointments to be announced in the near future.
Ellerslie’s NRFL campaign will kick-off with pre-season starting in mid-January with the official season scheduled to kick off between mid March and mid April (subject to confirmation from Northern Region Football).
The first pre-season friendly is scheduled for Saturday 27th February. Follow the Ellerslie AFC social media platforms for further details as they become available and get yourself down to Michaels Ave to support the team.
Due to the delay of the end of the season the 2020 Prizegiving was scheduled to be on Halloween, which gave us the perfect excuse to transform prizegiving into a fancy dress event!
We had appearances from Britney Spears, Dr. Evil, a bunch of Tourist Zombies, some of the cast of the Great Gatsby and some fashionably late rappers among others.
We still had some time for awards, as there was some outstanding performances to be celebrated – we celebrated Player and Sportsperson of the year from our four NRFL teams as well as three major club awards – find out who the deserved winners were below!
Women’s NRFL Reserves
Player of the Year
Ella Wiebe
Sportsperson of the Year
Erin Mattingly
Women’s NRFL First Team
Player of the Year
Britney Cunningham-Lee
Sportsperson of the Year
Deb Tutty
Men’s NRFL Reserves
Player of the Year
Farhan Azim
Sportsperson of the Year
Dirrenesh Thirukumar
Men’s NRFL First Team
Player of the Year
Andre Munro-Wilson
Sportsperson of the Year
Josh Lai
Now for the three Club Awards for 2020 – First up we have our Manager of the Year for 2020, and the winner is:
Manager of the Year is a prestigious award, mainly because the job as team manager is normally such a thankless task, from organising friendly games, getting your team registered, sorting out uniforms and in 2020 dealing with Covid regulations – there is a lot on the plate of a team manager. In Aaron’s case this is also his first year as his team joined the club for the first time in 2020, so to immediately hit the ground running is no mean feat – great work Aaron, good luck to you and the Red Ruru’s in 2021!
It’s not often we have a back to back winner in our major club awards but Steph Jones who took the title of 2019’s Supporter of the Year doubled up and brought her partner with her in 2020 – the couple between them played, managed, kept Bar and supported this season. An epic effort from them – exactly what makes Ellerslie the club it is!
Our final and ultimate club award goes to the ever present Hollie Leona, who asides from playing in our Women’s NRFL team this season (one of a few one club players I might add) she also took on writing match reports for the Men’s NRFL First Team on Saturdays, took over the Club’s Instagram account and has put her hand up time and time again this season to help.
She already coaches a Junior team as well – what a rockstar.
We are so stoked to have you on board Hollie, a future club president in the making!
That’s the end of the awards for 2020, and this signals the close of the 2020 season, so it’s appropriate at this point to thank everyone for their efforts this season, a season that has thrown up unheralded challenges – but hopefully we can avoid a repeat in the 2021 season.
For members we will be back in touch about the 2021 season in due course, but for the time being enjoy some sunny weather and your weekends at the beach, before you know it we will be back in winter and gearing up for the 2021 season!
Baradene College – Friday the 30th of October
Despite the 2020 season falling short due to Covid – there were a number of things to celebrate, including some standout performances from our volunteers, be that coaches, managers, grade co-ordinators or many of the other people who put their hands up to help deliver community sport.
You can check out all the teams and their winners in our electronic year book by clicking the picture below
Photos from the event can be found on our facebook page – link below:
2020 Junior Youth Prizegiving Photos
Congratulations to all the winners of the team awards, and also to those players who were awarded 5 or 10 Year Certificates – Ellerslie AFC loves to see players fall in love with Football and stick at it and in 2020 there is a massive number of 70 players who have achieved a 5 year milestone, and 8 reaching 10 years. It’s no easy feat to play for 5 consecutive years, let alone 10 so we applaud the commitment of these players and their supportive families!
Focusing on some individual awards – The Spirit of Tamaki League Certificates were presented for their second year, these certificates are special to us as a club as the Tamaki League personifies everything this club is about and as such when we see coaches/managers/volunteers encompassing those values we feel that should be celebrated – so please congratulate the 2020 recipients of the Spirit of Tamaki League Certificates:
Just before we move onto the Major Club Awards we wanted to recognise a very unique effort this season – and as such a recipient of our new Coaching Merit award – essentially very simular to the Spirit of Tamaki League award, but for people excelling in the upper Junior and/or Youth Space – here is what Director of Coaching Ryan Shiffman had to say:
“This is a new coaching award in 2020 and we wanted to thank someone who has gone above and beyond. Rosie had never coached before, but with the team struggling to find a coach, she found the courage to step up and give it a go. This is a story that happens year on year, but what made this one special was that these were not a younger Tamaki league U6-U8 team. The team she was going to coach was an U12 Boys team. Rosie did a fantastic job with this team and we thank her so much for what she did for this group of boys, in what was already such a tough year for so many. A round of applause for Rosie Pukeiti!”
Finally we wanted to recognise the following winners of the 2020 Major Club Awards, who have gone above and beyond in 2020!
When it comes to services to the club, it is tough to best the effort of Jonty, not only in 2020, but in many previous years as well. He has coached a multitude of teams across the years, Jonty is a student of the game.
He is a guy who wants to help and continually puts others before himself. He has joined the club’s committee this season to continue to help Ellerslie players have a better experience and we believe Jonty is extremely deserving of the Bartlett Cup for his service to this club. Thank you for all that you do!
Ellerslie AFC is lucky to have Gareth with when you look at the amount of effort he puts into this club every single year, especially on the female side of the game. Over the 5 years Gareth has been involved at the club, he has taken on every task.
Gareth has been involved in coaching, managing, refereeing and helping ensure so many female players stay involved in the game at this club, for that he is truly deserving of receiving this award. Thank you, Gareth for all that you do.
Bobbie has coached at Ellerslie AFC for multiple seasons on both the boys and girls side of the club. Every team we have witnessed Bobbie be involved in has seen a great increase in skill, some good results but most importantly, a high level of enjoyment from the players in the team.
The amount of hard work and effort Bobbie has put into the club cannot be summed up in this award, years of coaching right through the Tamaki league and into the graded rep teams for boys and girls, Bobbie has done it all. She is someone who is consistent to put her hand up and we hope she continues to be involved in the club for many more years. Thank you for all that you do!
Both these players have a deep passion for Ellerslie AFC and have gone above and beyond in terms of supporting teams, teammates and coaching younger players at the club.
Marie has been at the club for 8 seasons now, and at 15 years old, is slightly more than half her life. Marie is constantly at the fields training, playing or watching the Women’s 1st Team and Reserves play. She is as dedicated as they come. Marie has put her hand up to volunteer coach at our U5 Starter Program last season and has also volunteer coached at a number of holiday programs.
Jemma has been at Ellerslie AFC for 4 seasons now, not exactly half her life, but close. Jemma has coached at holiday programs and at our Girls PDP program through terms 2 and 3 this season. She is also coaching at both the Girls and Boys PDP in Term 4. Even during the first lockdown, Jemma was one of our main stars in a juggling video the girls put out to encourage other females to work on their juggling skills.
Both these girls care deeply this club and we wanted to recognize them for their efforts of inspiring younger players at our club to love the game the way these two girls do. Ellerslie AFC is very lucky to have both these girls at our club.
Special mention goes to Jane Horgan who sponsors the prizegiving and co-ordinates a large part of the event.
Of course there are many other people to thank, Kelly and Lynnette for doing the admin for the event, Baradene College for letting us use their amazing facility, Hollie Leona for her work on the camera, a number of Men’s and Women’s First Team players for taking the time to come and help, and Fred and Ryan for being the front of house stars during the event!
So that closes the book on another season – thanks everyone for all their help this year, year that we all truly pitched in and helped when it was needed.
After months of hard work in the background from both Ellerslie AFC and Auckland Stadiums, Ellerslie AFC can officially announce a partnership between the two parties to deliver a gold standard tournament experience at a world-class venue.
Auckland Stadiums will be hosting the U11 National Football Tournament at Mt Smart Stadium, a renowned sporting venue with a rich history in football. Mt Smart Stadium hosted the All Whites’ World Cup qualifying campaign for the 1981 FIFA World Cup and is home to Oceania Football Confederation and Auckland Football Federation.
James Parkinson, Director Auckland Stadiums, said “Mt Smart Stadium is an important hub for community sport and the Auckland Stadiums team is looking forward to working alongside Ellerslie Football to create a memorable event experience for the players, parents and patrons”.
Ellerslie’s Director of Football Fred de Jong who used to play at Mt Smart Stadium as a striker for the Football Kingz and Ellerslie’s Director of Coaching Ryan Shiffman came to check out the venue and to confirm the partnership with Auckland Stadiums this week. The team were impressed with the facilities and were visibly excited about running this tournament for the best U11 football players in New Zealand.
2020 will be the second annual U11 Nationals Tournament, the tournament was initially scheduled earlier this year in September but was delayed until 2021 due to the pandemic. Ellerslie Football are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Auckland Stadiums and bring the U11 Nationals Tournament back to 2020. This will give the 2020 U11’s age group a chance to compete in what Ellerslie AFC see as a tournament with massive potential in the future.
Ellerslie AFC Chairman Tim Adams had this to say about the new partnership “I’m really excited for this 2020 U11’s Tournament, for the players they get to experience a stadium atmosphere and for the parents/spectators a great venue to watch and support the teams. Auckland Stadiums have been super supportive in getting this U11’s tournament off the ground, in what will be an unprecedented event at this age group. We look forward to running this event with them and hopefully a few more events in the future”.
For more information about the tournament please see below:
Entry’s and General Enquiries:
Kelly Bolus – info@ellersliefootball.org.nz
Tournament Director:
Ryan Shiffman – coaching@ellersliefootball.org.nz
Referee’s Co-ordination:
Alejo Legiusamon Perez – alejope@hotmail.com
Volunteers and Ground Liaison:
Fred de Jong – seniorcoaching@ellersliefootball.org.nz
Social Media:
Hollie Leona – eafcmedia@gmail.com
Sponsorship and Marketing:
Tim Adams – chairman@ellersliefootball.org.nz
Ellerslie AFC Website for U11 Nationals:
https://ellersliefootball.org.nz/nationaltournament.php
Ellerslie AFC have confirmed their U19’s squad for the Nationals at Napier over Labour Weekend, and in the squad there is 4 players who have featured in Women’s NRFL Premier League this season for Ellerslie, while there is another 7 players who have played NRFL Reserves.
Of the 18 players named 12 have been involved with Ellerslie in this tournament in the past two years, with 11 of those 12 part of the squad that made the final last year.
Ryan has been able to strengthen the squad with some quality guest players joining us from Auckland United, which makes the squad even more experienced with all the guest players having NRFL experience.
The tournament this year has grown from 8 teams to 12 teams, which means the Women’s Tournament follows a very simular format to the boys tournament, with three pool games on Saturday and 2 pool games on Sunday. The top two teams from each pool will then meet in a semi-final on Sunday afternoon with the winners going on to play the final in Bluewater Stadium on Monday morning.
Supporters from Auckland can follow our progress on social media – we will be updating Instagram throughout the day and Facebook at the end of each day. For live match coverage please check our Twitter page!
(Links at the bottom)
Social Media:
http://www.instagram.com/ellerslieafc
http://www.facebook.com/EllerslieAFC
Fixtures for the 17th of October for our Junior and Youth teams in U9-U16 grades have now been confirmed – Please download these fixtures below.
Onsite this Saturday will be the Coffee Guy during the morning to get your caffeine fix, and also there will be a voting booth at the Ellerslie YMCA – so you can check out the football and tick off your voting at the same time.
Because of the voting booth there will an increase to the normal amount of traffic so please consider carpooling, walking or parking on the neighbouring streets.
If for some reason, your team can no longer fulfil the fixture or you have any other issues with your fixtures, please contact Kelly Bolus immediately on info@ellersliefootball.org.nz
Tamaki League fixtures will be available from Thursday this week and are as per the Northern Region Football website – see link below:
http://www.aucklandfootball.org.nz/Competitions/InHouse-Competitions-U5U8/Tamaki-Leagues
Working with a few other Auckland Clubs, we have managed to get games for most teams who indicated their interest in playing this weekend. The club administrators have done the best they can with the teams entered to match up similar levels of teams within grades.
Now that we are in Level 1 we encourage parents and family to attend games as per normal, but please remember to follow the general guidelines of Level 1 which include:
You can download the fixtures below
Munith Naidu confirmed his 2020 Napier U19’s Tournament team today with 10 of the 18 players having been to Napier with Ellerslie AFC previously. After going through a list of 45 trialists – we are proud to confirm the following 18 as our 2020 Napier U19’s Tournament Team.
The squad features a number of players who have played NRFL this season (or previously), including Jacob, Luke, Dirrenesh, Alex, Avi, Taylor, Kosei, Andre, Kyryl, Farhan, Hazem and Ben.
We would like to thank everyone who trialled, there was tough competition for spots and everyone gave it a good crack.
Our tournament starts on the 23rd October with a travel day before we open play in our pool with a tough game against one of the favourites in Western Springs.
You can follow our progress on social media – Twitter will be updated with live scores during games with updates on facebook each evening and on instagram throughout the day.
Our Women’s Team will be announced shortly.
The long running Football 7’s programme is back for Summer – powered by Aotearoa’s favourite summer provider Football Fix.
Competitions at Michaels Ave and College Rifles are available and it’s the final call for teams to enter for Junior and Youth competitions (which start next week).
Get your team together and hit up Football7s.co.nz to enter your team.
There are limited spaces available so please get in quick!
Fixtures for the 10th of October for our Junior and Youth teams in U9-U16 grades have now been confirmed – Please download these fixtures below.
If for some reason, your team can no longer fulfil the fixture or you have any other issues with your fixtures, please contact Kelly Bolus immediately on info@ellersliefootball.org.nz
Tamaki League fixtures are as per the Northern Region Football website – see link below:
http://www.aucklandfootball.org.nz/Competitions/InHouse-Competitions-U5U8/Tamaki-Leagues
Working with a few other Auckland Clubs, we have managed to get games for most teams who indicated their interest in playing this weekend. The club administrators have done the best they can with the teams entered to match up similar levels of teams within grades.
Please remember to follow all the Ellerslie AFC “Return to Play” guidelines covered in our club update earlier this week
2020 CLUB UPDATE # 13
You can download the fixtures below
