A Letter From the Wanaka AFC First Team Captain and Team
An Open Letter From the Wānaka AFC First Team Captain and Team
Dear Wānaka AFC Community,
On Saturday 31 August, the Wānaka AFC Men’s First Team hosted Green Island AFC at Wānaka Recreation Centre in our final regular season game. It was a big one for us as a team — we knew that a win would not only secure our highest ever finish in the SPL, but also the chance to play off for promotion into the Southern League - making history for the whole club and football community!
On Friday night and Saturday morning there was some pretty heavy rainfall, which left the pitch in a questionable state for us to play on. Both the opposition, and the referees had concerns about player welfare, and all of a sudden the game was under threat of cancellation!
Something had to be done immediately to ensure the game went ahead. So an SOS went out to the Wānaka AFC community and what happened next shocked us! The SOS call was not only answered but answered in numbers and with incredible energy. While the team was busy warming up, we were in awe as we looked over and saw waves of club members; junior players, parents, coaching staff and supporters, all pitching in, arriving with brooms to sweep the pitch and help to disperse the standing water to make sure it was in a state for us to play out our most important game of the season.
In addition, we were absolutely overwhelmed by the number of people who came out for the game. There were 200+ people in attendance. It was amazing to see the stand full and the sidelines packed We were touched to have so many Junior players keen to be involved as walk-out players and ball kids and to see them getting involved with games at half-time and sticking around to take penalties at the end.
For the boys in the First Team, to have the support of the club and community behind us as we got the win means nothing but the world to us! We all know it wouldn’t have been possible without the members of our great club. It was definitely a team and community win, on and off the pitch and the support that was shown to us will not be forgotten!
Now we’re back to the training pitch with three weeks to prepare for our playoff game for promotion into the Southern League. THANK YOU for helping us get to this position!
From, your Club Captain and the Wānaka AFC Men’s First Team
Josh Shackleton
Paul Rodwell | Jake Thompson | Alex Wilson | Anthony Sprowson | Stephen Sprowson | Jacob Fielding | Alex Wright | Fabio Martins de Sousa | Brandon Dickson | Ethan Arratia | Daniel Brum | Allan Carmichael | Barnes Metcalfe | Alex Plimmer | Zack Adams-Biggs | MJ Dvoracek | Ollie Wildman | Jem Curtis | Hakan Erbilir
