Served as chairman of the South Auckland Football Association (region covering Waikato) with meeting reports from 1929 showing "Mr Jas. Baillie presided" over an annual meeting in Hamilton.

Referenced multiple times in Waikato Times in association football coverage in the late 1920s. He refereed key South Auckland finals and regularly presided at South Auckland Football Association meetings.

Mark was nominated in 2022 by Cambridge Football Club.

Mark has been involved in football in the Waikato for decades, including playing Northern League for several clubs. He served on the judicial committee of the former Waikato Football Association and spent eight years as club secretary and committee member at Cambridge Football Club. He also ran the club’s last full preseason tournament, which featured 32 teams.

With more than 20 years as a referee and over fifteen years coaching senior and youth football, Mark has seen the game from every angle. Through it all, his focus has been on enjoyment and growth in the game.

A member of the WaiBOP Board in 2014-2016

Ron dedicates a lot of time into football and is a Life Member of Tauranga City AFC. He started playing for the club in 1968, and was at the helm as Club President for 20 years, including when we competed in the National League. He had a leading hand in guiding the club through some tough times and major changes, and while Ron has retired from an official operational role within the club, he still has an important role ensuring all of our fields are ready for football each week.

Ron has coordinated the successful successful Women's and Men's social tournamentsfor 20 years. During the season, Ron also facilitated the Sunday Social league for the Tauranga region. 

Ron said "To be recognised by those other than within our own club members, is truly an honour and makes the many years of devotion to the club and the game, well worth it." 
24 June 2020 Voted a Life Member

Mr Bright was born in Blenheim in 1931. After a brief stint in Wellington, when he was 22 he joined the merchant navy without telling his family and sailed the world for the next five years before returning to New Zealand.

After attending university in Christchurch he was ordained as a deacon and served for a brief time in Levin before heading to government to work in several agencies in various roles. He was to become the energy conservation officer for the Ministry of Energy and travel the world analysing conservation options for New Zealand.

He retired in 1988 and moved his family to Papamoa to live at the beach.

He brought the Papamoa Football Club into life almost single-handedly.

In 1994, three years after he arrived in the community, a group of parents decided to form a football club at recently realised Gordon Spratt Reserve. They were told they needed 56 players signed up before they could enter a club into the Western Bay of Plenty junior league.

A membership drive ensued, with Mr Bright taking the matter into his own hands and biking door to door through the neighbourhood to secure the necessary numbers.

Within two months he had managed to sign up more than 100 players for the fledgling club.

And his shining example at the club never dimmed in the subsequent years. He was down every Saturday he was in town, he was re-marking lines. He'd stop and support the kids, and cheer them on and give them words of support. He was still very much involved until his death, right from ground level right up to the committee.

He died in November, 2011

John Wilson Cameron was a towering personality and leader in football refereeing in the Waikato and New Zealand for over four decades. On the pitch John was a respected, authoritative figure, and off the pitch was an outspoken, vibrant and sometimes provocative character.

John started refereeing in Nelson in 1965, gained his New Zealand badge in 1967 and shifted to Hamilton in 1970. By 1973 he had made the national league panel, where he remained until 1990. He controlled the 1975 Chatham Cup final and obtained his Fifa badge in 1983. He refereed 21 internationals between 1982 and 1990, and between 1975 and 1990 was named Auckland regional Referee of the Year on nine occasions.

In 1991 he became a national inspector, and in 1992 was appointed New Zealand Soccer Referees Association’s first Director of instruction. He has served as an inspector for A league matches and as a member of the NZ Football Appointments panel.

In 1995 media voted him Referee of the Period 1970-1995 (25 years since inaugural national league)

In 2005 he was awarded the Jim McMullan Service to Football award for a lifetime of work in football refereeing. John has now retired from referee inspections and assessments.

Nominated in 2023 by the WaiBOP Referees Advisory Group. 

Brett Chibnall has been involved in Refereeing in the WaiBOP area for over 20 years following many years of playing. In this time, he achieved Level 4 status and has been an active referee to Northern League Premier
level. Following this he has been a referee and assistant referee in the WaiBOP leagues happy to officiate at whichever appointment he has been appointed to.

Brett has been an active member on WaiBOP referee committees and is a current member of the newly formed Referees Advisory Group.

As a teacher at Hillcrest High School Brett has been able to secure training and coaching facilities for use by the referee group and for courses to be held for the various referees' qualifications.

Most importantly Brett has been the leader of the WaiBOP Referees Appointment Panel for over 10 years. This is a time-consuming role that requires a commitment from February to October of many hours per week to schedule a total of around 2000 appointments during the season. It requires Brett to liaise with the WaiBOP referee group and the NRFL appointments panel to ensure games are covered with the appropriately qualified officials.

Due to the high regard he is held in within the WaiBOP federation Brett has become a mentor and confidant to many referees as well as players and coaches.

Charles Crabb was an early Hamilton Wanderers player (1920s) who later became a referee.

His brother, Adam Crabb, had been a vice-president of South Auckland FA for many years (and also formed the Frankton Railway club in 1925), while his nephew Don (son of Adam) was a New Zealand representative in 1933.

In June 1930 Charles Crabb joined the South Auckland FA management committee and in 1932 was elected a life member, while still serving on the management committee. He also managed the South Auckland senior representative team that year.

In 1933 the Hamilton Primary Schools Sub-Association was formed with Crabb one of the committee members.

Charles Crabb died on January 3, 1948 aged 63. In 1949 the Charles Crabb Trophy was introduced as a trophy for representative U23 matches between Auckland and Waikato.

However due to lack of interest and travel difficulties it was resolved the trophy should be offered for Waikato competition. In 1950 the Crabb Memorial Trophy was awarded to the winners of the Waikato Division 4 (an Under 16 league) championship.

Charles Crabb also had a son, Alex, who represented South Auckland. 

George Cox was a Huntly Howden Cup-winning footballer in 1923, who also became a leading Waikato referee, secretary-treasurer of the South Auckland Football Association, and later its first life member.

Cox's premier refereeing appointments included controlling the South Auckland v Chinese Universities match played at the Claudelands Showgrounds, Hamilton, in 1924, while he joined the association's management committee in 1925.

In 1926 Cox was appointed examiner to the association for referees’ badges and in 1927 was elected association secretary-treasurer, having already performed the duties on an interim basis for the preceding year.

In 1928 he took charge of the South Auckland representative team as a selector and manager and was also delegate to the NZ Football Association and New Zealand Referees Association.

In 1929 at the annual meeting at the Waikato Winter Show Buildings, Hamilton, Cox was elected as the South Auckland Football Association's first life member. In early 1930 Cox moved to Christchurch and in May Frank Mead took over as secretary-treasurer.

In 1951 Cox gifted the association an inscribed gavel.

Brendon has served the WaiBOP region for a very long time, not only as chairman of Hamilton Wanderers, but also as a referee for WaiBOP and Northern League football.

His efforts over this time has seen him become a widely respected figure within WaiBOP, Northern Football and New Zealand Football circles.

He was a major driving force behind Hamilton Wanderers, achieving and attaining their first ever national league license and guided the club through that period superbl.

Whilst he has stepped away as chairman, Brendon continues to give back to the game as a respected referee in the WaiBOP / Northern Leauges.

Nominated by David Douglas - Hamilton Wanderers.

• Started at Hamilton Wanderers in 1985
• Played Northern League football for Hamilton Wanderers from 1996-2001
• Coach of Hamilton Wanderers Northern League 2002 and 2003 season
• Chair of Waikato FC 2010 -2012 in Mens National League
• Chair of Hamilton Wanderers 2004-2017
• Life Member of Hamilton Wanderers 2013
• Life Member of WaiBop 2018
• Referee from 2017-current ( Current Level 4 referee)
  

Brendon says his drive was to take Hamilton Wanderers to be one of the elite clubs in NZ despite the size of the club, both in Men’s and Ladies’ football.

The 2 highlights for Brendon have been getting Hamilton Wanderers into the Men’s National League, and 
and growing the Ladies game at Hamilton Wanderers.  They only had 2 social Ladies Teams initially,  but went on to take the Ladies Team through to Northern League Premier Football.
 

Patsi Davis was nominated by Melville Football Club in 2015. 

Bruce Holloway wrote at the time

Patsi has been the longest-serving and arguably the most effective chair to serve the Waibop federation since formation in late 1999.

She joined the Waibop (then Force 3) board in 2003 and has been a pillar of our regional football administration since, serving 10 years as chair.

With a background in law, social science and health, Patsi has stamped her own unique personality on the game here, and also played an increasingly important role at national level behind the scenes in improving the quality of New Zealand Football governance.

In football we tend to be quick with our criticism, so it is important that we should be just as adroit in our recognition of service and achievement within the code.

In recent weeks we have seen the fruits of what could be considered Patsi's finest achievement, in securing Fifa U-20 tournament matches for Hamilton.

It was due largely to her efforts in chairing and leading the H15 group - a united front of business people, politicians and the football community - that hosting rights were secured after Hamilton City Council had initially rejected bidding for the matches.

Perhaps more importantly, this exercise has built bonds and links with the movers and shakers of the business and civic community that the code has never previously enjoyed.

Patsi affiliates to Kai Tahu. She has completed tertiary qualifications in Law, Health Management and Social Sciences. She offers a wealth of experience through a number of roles including board experience in health and education, senior health sector strategic planning, workforce development and service management, lectureships in health science at the Auckland University of Technology and in law at the University of Waikato and her appointment to the Human Rights Review Tribunal.

A successful all round high school and representative athlete, Patsi's focus on football was initiated through her children's involvement with grassroots, Federation and NZ Football programmes. Patsi places a strong emphasis on good governance along with collaborative leadership, strategies to solve problems, fair play, quality improvement and diversity because it enables ideas and innovation to soar at the boardroom table.

Patsi joined the Force Three board in 2002, and stepped down in 2016, and was Board Chair for much of that time.

In April 1927, the Waikato Times credited “Mr Jas Douglas, of Huntly” with outstanding service as secretary of the Lower Waikato sub‑Association, a regional branch of the South Auckland Football Association

Brett Gander has been part of Blue Rovers FC for many years. He has mentored and coached young goal keepers doing free Goal-keeping clinics and school holiday programmes.

He played in goal throughout his playing days and has been coaching others since he was 16 years old. He is mostly self taught but, recently completed a level one goal keeping course.

Brett started coaching three or four children at Otumoetai, extending his coaching sessions to Katikati on Sunday mornings. At one stage there were about 40 players turning up. His own children started playing at Waipuna so, he coached there and at Blue Rovers.

Brett is highly respected by players, families and coaches for his amazing work and positive impact on the young goal keepers.

He is Goal keeper coach and a Life Member of Blue Rovers.

A referee in the 1980s/90s

Passed away 22 August 2014 aged 82 years. A friend, mentor and guiding influence to many referees in the Waikato and beyond.

(Possibly 2010)

John Holden from Otumoetai Soccer Club was recently made a life member of the Western Bay of Plenty Junior Management Committee.

Like so many volunteers Holden got involved as a result of his son wanting to play a sport and in this instance football was that sport.

Holden’s first involvement with football was with the Otumoetai Soccer Club committee. This was at a time when computers were more common at work than in homes but Holden had a good working knowledge and a keenness to learn more about their advantages.

Like so many clubs Otumoetai’s records were all manually collated and this involved many hours to put together just over forty teams. Asked if he would load all of the information on to the computer Holden readily agreed.

That was about 14 years ago and during the subsequent years not only has the membership grown at Otumoetai SC to 78 teams and 750 members but the amount of information collated has also grown considerably. This year the club has gone to an online registration system and Holden has been the cornerstone of that steep learning curve.

Two years ago when the treasurer stood down Holden took on that role also.

As well as being a club delegate on the Western BOP Junior Association, Holden has also been both Chairman for a season and Vice-Chairman for several seasons. Holden and his wife Bev shared the roles of Fixtures Officer and Results Officer from 1994 to 2003, a major undertaking.

When it comes to issues involving the constitution he is the man to turn to, as Holden’s knowledge of the rules of club, association and meeting protecol in general are outstanding.

Holden’s involvement in the sport is not only through administration as he has another football passion and that is refereeing. Originally refereeing his son’s team, a request to undertake a course saw Holden step into full refereeing, which he has he has been actively involved in until the past couple of seasons.

He has refereed at all levels from junior to senior and has been a stalwart at school tournaments such as the annual intermediate school tournament where he organises the referees for a week of play for up to 20 teams.

Over the years many midweek inter-school games have had Holden officiating.

Holden has also been on the Referees Committee for many years where he has been Chairman and Treasurer and is currently an inspector of referees at the senior level.

As if this wasn’t enough to keep him occupied Holden is also President of Tauranga RSA.

Holden is a rock on the Otumoetai SC committee and at 70+ shows no sign of retiring, despite his son having moved on several years ago. He is a true club volunteer through and through.

NORMAN HOWE         1936 – 2022

Football coach and referee Norm was associated with football for more than 50 years. He retired in 2019 at 83 years old, he was a legend in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

From York in England, he, his wife Christine and their three children arrived in New Zealand in 1968. Norm was a rugby league player and played league right up till he immigrated to New Zealand.   

He became involved with Football when his children showed interest in the game. He coached 13/14th grade, travelling to national tournaments with his teams.

Norm became a member of Whakatane Town AFC in 1969 and was made a Life Member in 2003.

In 1975 he helped organise the labour to build the clubrooms and was Club Captain in 1978.

In 1982 Norm was involved with setting up the Eastern Bay Referees Association,  in 1988 he was awarded the NZ Referees Badge. He travelled extensively throughout NZ refereeing Junior and Northern League games, the last few years of his refereeing he refereed youth games.  All in all he refereed more than 800 games. 

Spanning a period of 33 years Norm’s voice was well known to listeners of the 1XX radio sports show.

Every Monday evening he would report on the weekly referee’s appointments and fixtures as well as the weekly results.   

Norm was a football legend in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, everybody knew him and respected him.

Dave Ireland has been a long-serving leader in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty football community, with involvement spanning governance, playing, refereeing, and club leadership. He first joined the WaiBOP Football Board in 2002, serving a seven-year term. He re-joined in 2014 and was elected as Chair, a role he held for eight years. After stepping down as Chair in 2022, Dave remained an elected board member until 2023.

A lifelong footballer, Dave played across multiple levels, including National League, and has given decades of service to Te Awamutu AFC. He served as the club’s president for many years and was honoured with Life Membership in recognition of his leadership and contribution.

Beyond his club and board roles, Dave is known for supporting all aspects of the game, from governance and club development through to refereeing. In 2017, he was named Waikato Rookie Referee of the Year.

Made Life Member at 2025 AGM

Barry was involved with football for more than 25 years. He was a well-respected referee who had a large role in developing young referees in Tauranga, something he believed was crucial to the game.

He got into football through the involvement of his children.

He was also an integral part of the Western Bay of Plenty Junior Football Association (WBOPJFA), and he worked for several years as an administrator for WaiBOP Football Federation. 

Dave Maisey never played football, but was drawn into the code in the 1960s when his two boys started playing and he discovered there was nobody to referee, with few even knowing the rules - so he took up the whistle himself.

He refereed through to the late 1980s.

Maisey had also been one of the unsung heroes of Waikato United, which amalgamated with Melville in mid-1996 to form Melville United.

Dave was employed as a council groundsman and for many years used his access to tractors to mow Muir Park (privately-owned venue of Hamilton AFC and Waikato United for many decades).

After Waikato United merged with Melville, Maisey would also often personally mow the Gower Park No 1 pitch to get it to a standard above what the council was prepared to present it – though in later years occupational health and safety regulations prevented that.

He continued as volunteer club groundsman until mobility problems with his hip stopped him in his early 80s, and also served many years on the Melville United management committee.

In retirement, in 1991 Dave became coach of the Waikato Special Olympics football team and held the post until 2010, not only winning numerous national championships, but also getting the players to assist him in marking the Gower Park pitches.

In 2005 Dave was named as Melville Club Person of the Year and made a life member shortly afterwards. In 2012 he won the national Jim McMullen Trophy for services to football.

Fiercely independent, into his 90s, in 2022 Maisey was still driving to Melville's away matches in Auckland.

 “I’ve had a lifetime of enjoyment out of football, so I have only tried to put back in what I have got out of it," Maisey said in 2022.

Mr E. R. Marsh was the secretary of Hamilton United F.C. in 1925 and was listed as a referee in 1930 (Source: Papers Past)

Long-time Cambridge Football Club president Peter Martens QSM was honoured with a Life Membership of WaiBOP Football after four decades of volunteer work with local and regional football. .He served as President of Cambridge football Club for 45 years. 

Since joining Cambridge Football Club as a junior player in 1957, Peter has given tens of thousands of hours as a volunteer in a wide range of roles, all of which have contributed to the growth of the club and its value to its localcommunity.

When injury ended his own playing days, he began coaching children’s teams in 1973 and soon after was elected to the club’s executive commitee. After a spell of OE in the late 1970s, he returned to New Zealand in 1981 and rejoined the club’s committee a year later. He became club secretary (1985-87) and was first elected club president in 1987 - a role he has held since. In 2019, he chaired his 30th consecutive Annual General Meeting.

During his 40+ years of volunteer service to the Cambridge club, he still found time to play significant roles in regional administration of the sport. Peter joined the executive of the Waikato Football Association in 1985, helping govern football in the wider region.

He represented the Waikato body at meetings of the sport’s national body and in 1993, he was appointed to the Northern Provincial Council (the regional body governing the sport in the upper North Island). In the late 1990s, he played a significant part in helping restructure the governance of the sport, helping with a restructure to seven regional federations affiliated to the national body.

He became a foundation board member of Force Three (one of the seven regional federations). In all, he served 13 years on the Waikato Football Association and six years on the Northern Provincial Council. He has contributed as a coach, team manager, referee, committee member and as an administrator at club and regional levels.

At the start of 2020, Peter was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) in the New Year’s Honours for his services to football. He has received a Contribution to Sport Medal from Sport Waikato and in 2016, he was made a Life Member of Cambridge Football Club.

John is a local legend in Taupo having committed so much to his club over the past two decades.

20+ years service to Taupo AFC and the local Taupo Community
17 years as President of Taupo AFC
Tournament Director of the McCartney Invitational Tournament

WaiBOP recognised John McCartney's 20 years service to Taupo AFC and the local community with 17 of those as President. June 2023 AGM. 

Waikato Football Association management committee in 1927 and by the 1950s was a WFA vice-president. He must have been made a life member at about the same time. (George McKinley died 2 July 1954 age 62.)

John McKinnon was a defender in the original Hamilton Wanderers team in 1911 and in 1913 played for the Hamilton representative team in fixtures against Taupiri, Huntly and Te Awamutu.

In 1926 he was elected president of the South Auckland Football Association and served three years in that role. In April 1930 became the second life member of the association, though died in June the same year, aged 52.

Stan Pilott took up refereeing, from his perspective, out of necessity.

He had become involved in football after bringing wife Doreen and sons Ian (Marty), Roy and Vernon out from England in 1964 to a job in Palmerston North.

Brother in law Geoff Brown was playing for Thistle, and the club was soon informed of Stan’s mathematical expertise and extraordinary eye for detail. He became the club treasurer.

After a move to the South Waikato, he took on the same role with Tokoroa  AFC. He soon noted one game at the club’s then home, the Memorial Sportsground, appeared to be progressing without a referee – it was being controlled from someone on the sideline.

Stan decided a referee was needed and immediately began studying  the rules of the game. In a short space of time he had earned a Waikato, then New Zealand badge and was controlling Northern League matches, sometimes with Vern on the sideline holding a flag.

It was always a matter of humour for son Roy that Tokoroa always felt Stan leaned towards the opposition, while opposing club always maintained he favoured Tokoroa.

Stan continued to be at the end of the phone for Tokoroa managers in need of a ref well after “retiring” from the Saturday circuit and was a familiar figure controlling school and women’s matches beyond his 80th birthday – and the best part of 40 years after his first match.

Stan died in 2010 and was posthumously awarded life membership of Tokoroa AFC as part of its 60th anniversary celebration in 2017.

Deryck Shaw was nominated in 2016 by Rotorua United Football Club.

As the current president of Rotorua United AFC I would like to nominate Deryck Shaw for his service to Football in our club, Rotorua and more recently with Football New Zealand.

Deryck was instrumental in Rotorua United becoming a registered charity and over number of years worked tirelessly as President to establish pathways within Rotorua Football.

As part of his work he was a key member in driving Rotorua United and Ngongotaha into a partnership called "Geyser Football" which has seen the best youth players in the area competing at the highest regional level for age groups Under 13, Under 15 and Under 17.

Since resigning as President of Rotorua United Deryck recently became President of New Zealand Football. This is representative of the great Job Deryck is doing within the community, locally and nationally.

It is quite a high honor to have a small club official/volunteer from the WaiBop region leading NZF forward. And well worth the recognition of his passion and time given up to keep us on the map.

Deryck has been a committed leader in the football community for decades. He served as president of Rotorua United before joining the WaiBOP Football board in 2009, contributing to the development of football across the region. In 2014, he was appointed to New Zealand Football’s executive committee and was elected President in 2015, a role he held until 2018.

Deryck has had more than 30 years governance involvement in education, health and disabilities, tourism and sports, social services and recreation sectors and nearly 40 years as a business owner.

He has held governance roles across a range of sectors, including chairing the Lakes District Health Board, and has contributed to local and national initiatives that support health, sport and community outcomes.

Bill Thomas was the final life member elected by the former Waikato Football Association in 1986. (In 1984, to preserve the mana of life membership, the association had resolved that to be eligible for such recognition, you needed to have served in a voluntary or honorary capacity for a minimum of 15 years and he was one of the few to exceed this threshold.)

Thomas was a member of the Waikato Junior Football Association for several years in the late 1960s after shifting north from Wanganui, where he had served with the Air Force and been a public duty officer with St John.

Thomas then joined the WFA executive in 1971, having previously also been a Waikato senior representative selector and in 1973 he was elected association president/chairman, a position he held until 1991. A long stint on the Waikato Judicial Committee pre-dated his chairmanship, and he was renowned for strongly disagreeing with national misconduct regulations, introduced in 1989, which removed the right of appeal in most cases.

During his time in the Waikato Thomas shunned direct affiliation with any club though did serve in an advisory capacity with Claudelands Rovers for a couple of years, while he also assisted with the building of the Muir Park (Hamilton AFC) clubrooms, spending a series of Sunday mornings there mixing concrete.

In March 1991, Thomas announced his resignation from the WFA for health reasons, and moved back to Wanganui. Thomas' son, Earle (who attended Fairfield College) went on to make 43 senior appearances for New Zealand.

Nominated in 2018 by Paul Higgins of the WaiBOP Referees Group

• Life Member Papamoa Football Club (former club President)
• Former WaiBoP Board Member
• Current member WaiBoP Referees Group
• Current member WaiBoP Referees Committee
• Former Referee
• Current Referee Assessor
• Current WaiBoP Representative to NZ Football Referees Committee
• Current Board Member of NZMO

Barb has and continues to work tirelessly for football referees in the WaiBoP region. Her work with referees, especially the youth referees, has allowed a number of these people to officiate at national level and internationally.

Papamoa FC nominated Paul van Der Salm for Life Membership in 2020.

He stepped down from the Papamoa FC committee in 2o2o, but continued on in a playing and groundskeeper position and also still as a back up in the accounting and Comet area.

A brief "Footballing CV" for him which encompasses the old Western Bay of Plenty Junior and WaiBop Referees;

Papamoa Football Club

Joined PFC in 2000, after moving down from Auckland.

2000 to Present - senior player;

2002 to 2019 - committee member;

2002 to 2018/2019 - senior teams coordinator;

2002 to 2005 - assisted (in the background) wife Julia with Treasurer role;

2002 to 2011 - Assistant Field Coordinator/Marker/Groundsman to Alan
Bright;

2012 to Present - Field marker/Groundsman (Alan Bright deceased
16.10.2011);

2002 to 2003 - Delegate to PSRC meetings;

2003 to 2004 - Gear coordinator;

2003 to 2005 – Delegate to WBOPJFA meetings;

2006 to 2019 - Treasurer;

Feb 2016 - made life member.

Western Bay of Plenty Junior Football Association / WBOP Junior Management
Committee

2003 to 2005 - PFC Delegate;

2005 to 2007 – Secretary;

Dec 2010 to July 2011 - completed/effected windup/dissolution of WBOPJMC
and handover to WaiBOP FF;

WaiBOP Referees

2005 to 2014 - Active (appointed to games) referee;

2007 - BOP Referees Committee;

2013 to 2015 - BOP Referees Treasurer;  

Diane’s sporting background was rugby and basketball but her husband Neil and his family were football mad!

Neil was playing and coaching in their early years, so Diane and their 2 children decided to follow him into the game. In doing so she became involved in all aspects of  football for the next 30-40 years.

She coached juniors, managed teams and headed many sub-committees, juniors, finance and building - and more - for the Kawerau club. 

Both Diane and Neil were heavily involved with the building of the Clubrooms at Stoneham Park (Kawerau) and in the heady days of Northern League Football.

Before the advent of the Federation system, the governing body of football in the area was the Bay of Plenty Football Association (BOPFA). Diane started out as the representative of the Kawerau Club at the meetings, but soon moved onto the BOPFA Board as Treasurer, a post she held for many years, right up to the time the BOPFA was wound up. She was also Chairperson through the transition from BOPFA to WaiBOP Football Federation.

After BOPFA was wound up, there were big changes for the Kawerau Club that Diane was intrumental in working through. The sale of the clubrooms, and then joining the local Rugby Club to form the Kawerau Sports Club.

Following that change, Diane then retired from all football, a well-deserved retirement.

Jas Wallace was a leading Huntly-based referee in the 1920s and South Auckland Football Association representative selector in the 1930s.

Nominated June 2021 by Ngāruawāhia United.

Jared has been passionate and involved in football since we were kids.
From entering his own Ngāruawāhia team in the men's division when we were in high school. Jared has dedicated his life to the game and the ongoing success of our Ngāruawāhia Football Club. Since becoming
president of the club he has sparked new life, culture and vision to our Club.

Since the club pulled out of the northern league, he rebuilt the club from the ground up, we now have more teams than ever before - with 4 senior teams, ladies team and multiple junior teams. He has succeeded in bring us all together as a group of young and old players who are passionate about football.
Jared with the support of his family do a lot more behind the scenes to support the club and its players. It is my hope for Jared to receive an acknowledgment for his life long dedication and service to the game he loves. There is no one more deserving of this nomination.

Jared Williams, Ngāruawāhia United's President, passed away on July 19, 2021, following a second brave battle with cancer. Jared was a strong champion for Ngāruawāhia United and football in his community.

Alongside his many achievements with Ngāruawāhia United, Jared was a leading proponent in establishing the Waikato Men's Over 35s League, which began at the start of the 2021 season.

He was made a life member of WaiBOP Football Federation at 2021 AGM. 

Ron White, a long-serving administrator in the Waikato Football Association (Waikato FA). Ron joined the WFA in 1949 and became secretary in 1951, a position he held until 1999.

In the 1950s he introduced football to Melville Primary school. They gave Ron a patch of land, as long as he provided the goalposts himself, marked the field and could only have players once the rugby teams were full.

From 1957-68 he took junior rep teams, having gained his prelim coaching badge under Ken Armstrong. Ron was also manager of the senior Waikato rep team in the late fifties and early sixties. He served as Waikato’s delegate to NZFA annual meetings from 1951-99, and in the mid-60s was appointed to the McGuigan Committee which examined the future of New Zealand football.

This was the era before answer phones, photocopiers, computers. Being a provincial secretary was a work-intensive post, with draws done manually, and results phoned through and collated by hand. A family evening at the White household would regularly consist of sitting around collating and folding sheets of paper in envelopes ready for pasting.

For generations the WFA also met at the Whites house – every fortnight in season — and it was not unusual for meetings to go to 12.30pm and beyond.

(Extracts from Ron White’s Eulogy, by Bruce Holloway. Ron passed away in May 2006)