WaiBOP Football is delighted to announce that Linley and Rob Parry from McDonald’s Rotorua have increased their support of football in our region.

Along with renewing their rights to the McDonald’s Rotorua Junior Football Tournament, which is held in September each year, Linley and Rob have also provided significant backing for WaiBOP’s goalkeeper development project.

Linley and Rob have been important partners of football in our region over the last couple of seasons with their support of the popular end of season McDonald’s Rotorua Junior Football Tournament. Entries for the 2019 edition of this tournament are now open – click HERE for more. 

An exciting new development is their support of the McDonald’s Rotorua Goalkeeper Development project. This currently includes the McDonald’s Rotorua Goalkeeper Training Programme, which has grown during 2019 and will operate from nine venues across the region in term 3, and the McDonald’s Rotorua Goalkeeper Coach Education Pathway.

 “Our son Tom is a goalkeeper so we both already have a personal interest in that element of the game,” said Linley. “When the opportunity came up to help James [Bannatyne] and the team expand the depth and quality of WaiBOP’s goalkeeper development programme we were very interested in finding a way to make it work.

"Having someone like Seamus [Casey – WaiBOP FDO] based in Rotorua helped clinch the deal, as we’ve witnessed the great work he’s done already. We can see that our support can make a measurable difference, both locally and across the Bay of Plenty and Waikato, to an important, yet often neglected, part of the game.”

James Bannatyne, who leads goalkeeper development in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty, is pleased to have McDonald’s Rotorua on board. “It’s exciting that Linley and Rob have invested in the McDonald’s Rotorua Goalkeeper Development project,” said James. “Their support has already allowed us to expand our programme this year and now we can look at growing things even further.

“I watched Tom Parry at the 2018 National Age Group Tournament, where he played for the title winning WaiBOP U14 team, and was impressed with his potential. Our aim now is to help players like Tom progress to the next level, as well as generate an interest in goalkeeping that creates many more goalkeepers for the clubs across our region.” 

Budding goalkeepers can now sign up for WaiBOP's term 3 goalkeeper development programme. Click HERE for more.

Goalkeeper coaches can also sign up for one of our upcoming Goalkeeper Coach education courses. Click HERE for more. For opportunities to coach in one of our WaiBOP GK programmes or support for your club goalkeeper programme please contact James Bannatyne at james.b@waibop.co.nz.

WaiBOP Football appreciates the commitment of McDonald’s Rotorua as they support our goalkeeping programmes. Linley and Rob Parry from McDonald’s Rotorua play a huge role in enabling our goalkeeping activities right across the region. Please ensure you support them where you can.