THE ALTERNATIVE VIEWPOINT (Tim Adams)

Firstly let me lay down some background for the theme of the 2016 season.

I have been the one behind the pen for the match reports at Ellerslie AFC for a number of years now and I have always written in a manner that would not offend a opposition player or supporter – now this has been fine but this year I will also be writing on here with a slightly less restrictive brief.

I have been around the game for a number of years now and I have probably made as many enemies as I have friends but I find the things that frustrate me about our game also frustrate other people – so it’s time a spade gets called a spade.

To be clear “The Alternative Viewpoint” is my opinion on matters, it’s not in any way to be taken as the official (or un-official) viewpoint of my club – so if you disagree on anything I say, leave a comment and we can discuss.

 

With the formalities out of the way my first topic is Ellerslie’s first official pre-season games against Birkenhead United on Friday night at Ngahue Reserve.

The Ellerslie Reserves kicked off the fixtures on the Number 1 field at Ngahue Reserve at 6:45pm – there was a number of new players on trial and some more familiar Ellerslie names as well.  Ben Fletcher who is our newly appointed Reserves coach took charge of his first game, and he had his work cut out for him against a well drilled and young Birkenhead Reserves side.  I didn’t catch most of this game as I was focused on the First Team game on the neighboring field, but the end result was a 2-1 win to our visitors, with Ben and his team happy to bank 90 mins and a chance to see more from some of our potential players.  (squads to start getting named early next week).

In the first team game which kicked off at 7:15pm the Ellerslie side started energetically and were rewarded when the Birko keeper played a goalkick short to his CB.  Isaac did a good job pressing the CB who was barely outside of the area when he received the ball and the press was too much for him as he coughed up the ball straight to Isaac.  The ball was then passed sideways to Iwa who calmly applied a first time finish past the Birko GK into the top right hand corner.  1-0 Ellerslie.

Birkenhead came back into the game when they converted a penalty to level the scores, after the referee had called the spot kick for a handball in the area – that seemed to spark Birko into life and soon afterwards both teams came together for a brief push and shove session after a physical altercation between Seb Poelman and a Birko player.  In reality there was nothing but pushing and a few insults being thrown back and forward – but the flashpoint inspired Birkenhead as they went into halftime after bagging two more goals for a 3-1 lead.

For me the first second half of note was when the referee got a blatant throw in call wrong, with the throw awarded to Ellerslie instead of Birko – A Birko player who was clearly annoyed by the call demanded the Ellerslie player be honest and give up the throw, to which the Ellerslie player replied “I’m just going with the Referee’s call” – this again incensed Birko as they felt wronged, and I only added fuel to the fire by suggesting to the Birko player that he better be honest on all his calls going forward.

It turns out I would regret chipping in as the Birko players took my advice as a chance to start sledging even though they were comfortably the better team.  One player in particular, a Mr Dan Morgan took it upon himself to spend the next 20-25 mins sledging the entire team and in particular one player who he repeatedly bullied for his “errors” to the point where the player asked to come off.  While a fantastic player and doing a great Jack Hobson-McVeigh impression in the middle of the field – I don’t think much of his attitude.  It seems with the departure of Chad Coombes and Adam Dickinson from Birkenhead that Dan has taken on the mantle of “Birko Big Mouth”, and that’s a shame for a player who should really leave his feet to do the talking.  My lesson learnt though, don’t offer advice from the sideline to a team who are dominating…

On Birko in general they are a club anyone should look at and copy – they have won everything there is to be won at a development level and only a fool would bet against them picking up the NRFL Premier League title and/or the Chatham Cup in the future of Paul Hobson’s reign.  I do wish them all the best for the upcoming season, but I do hope Dan get’s his mind back on his football and lays off the David Warner impressions.

Oh for the record Birko scored a couple more goals to make the final score a comfortable 5-1 win.

Next up Ellerslie AFC take on Central United next Friday night at Ngahue – stay tuned for another Alternative Viewpoint from that one.