Welcome!

Welcome to the latest newsletter keeping you in touch with the news from within the Christchurch Football Club.

Read on for more details…

CFC UPDATE

The board recently announced an extremely positive CFC Independent Rugby Refresh Review.

This review will cover all aspects of the ‘Rugby’ side of the club: from assessing players, coaches, volunteer needs, to the health and welfare of club members, to governance structures and leadership, plus a good look to the future.

We are excited that Brad Mooar, Aussie Mclean, Mark Hammett, Keiran Coll, Andrew Langley, and Natasha Wong have agreed to participate and contribute to this review.

CFC Board Member Mark Arneil will chair, with myself and Jerry Rowberry assisting from a CFC perspective.

As part of the review process, a number of interviews will be conducted involving stakeholders, players and coaches.

Successful club reviews require collaboration among coaches, staff, administrators, players, and community members. By addressing these areas systematically, we can create a roadmap for improvement and rejuvenate the club’s rugby performance and player development efforts.

Our goal is to develop a strategic plan that outlines short-term and long-term outcomes. 

We are genuinely excited with the calibre of this working group and thank them for their commitment.  

Exciting times.

Craig Calder

CFC Chairman

Prizegiving

A reminder to RSVP by the 2nd August with your team manager, and payment by the following week.

Price covers meal, drink, band and special drink deals on the night.

Premier Reserve (Crocs) Match Report

Crocs vs New Brighton Trophy semi final 

The Crocs had an epic battle against New Brighton at the sand pit last week. New Brighton have been the team to beat all season. They have sat at the top of the table all season and only lost one game this year. 

The players and coaches knew we would have to play at the top of our game to beat New Brighton. We identified a few weeks back that we needed to work on our defence, particularly the chop tackle. The lads have worked incredibly hard on tackling, line speed, communication and their connection on defence leading up to this game. The feeling amongst the group was very positive, Kyle and I could see the players were ready. 

The match started really well, with the backline coming up fast on defence. Connor Mahan took his opportunity for an intercept really well and ran away for the first try of the match. We didn’t back off after the score, keeping NB pinned in their own half with great tactical kicking and ruthless defence. NB were under pressure, penalties started to come our way and we pushed the score out further. 

The Crocs went into the half up 16-3 on the score board. The confidence was building for an upset win, but we knew NB would throw everything at us in the second half. Some wise words were shared at half time, with the lads getting some well-deserved lollies, they were ready to go again.

We didn’t start the second half very well; NB were fired up and we spent 25 mins on defence in our half. NB managed to pull the score back to 16-13. Kyle and I recognised our impact players were needed. Bringing on Caleb and James to make an impact in the forwards. They were both outstanding bringing the energy the team needed. 

Once we got out of our half, we started to apply pressure to the NB defence and we were so close to scoring, with Jake Tither inches away from getting the ball over the line. More fresh legs were required, on came Dave Tamou. Dave made an immediate impact with his hard straight running, getting over the gain line and stretching the NB defence. 

The clock was ticking away, the lads stayed composed and backed themselves to score. Quick hands from Kalle and Jake, got the ball to Dave on the left wing, Dave still had work to do but he managed to push through the NB defence and score a great try in the corner. With the score now 21-13, Reuben Fisher steps up to convert the try from the touch line. Fish kicked the conversion with perfection to make the score 23-13. 

With a few minutes left on the clock, my heart rate started to return to normal. To win this match was something the lads knew they were capable of, and everyone is really proud of your effort. The job isn’t finished, and we have a huge task on our hands this Saturday, but we are ready. 

Thanks to all the supporters that came to watch the match, especially the Div1 boys. To have the Div1 players there means a lot to the group, and we hope to see you all at Sydenham Park this week. I’d like to make a special mention to Charlee Barrett, for his commentary on the video. Charlee you should think about a career at Sky Sports with chat like that. 

Player of the match Ben Middleton. 

Try scorers Connor Mahan and Dave Tamou.

Reuben Fisher kicking 2 conservations and 3 penalties. 

UP THE CROCS!!

Matt Aked  

Congratulations

A huge congratulations to all our CFC players that have been called up to higher honours.

Canterbury FPC - Martha Mataele, Caitlin Sears, Emma Whinney, Adi Vani Teleqa, Kilisitina Vea, Manea Waaka - unavailable due to injury, hope your receovery goes well.

Canterbury NPC - Tom Christie, Dallas McLeod

Paramatta Eels - Rosie Kelly

Newcastle Knights - Isabella Waterman

All the best for your upcoming season from the Club, give 'em the axe.

MEMBERSHIP CARD REMINDER

A gentle reminder!

You can still use your CFC Membership at all the Oxford Group locations including The Bog, Fat Eddies, Bealey, The Goodhome Ferrymead, KONG and the Original Sin.

Every time you eat or drink at one of these establishments your team or the club get 10%.

Also, you get to skip the queue with priority access. 

WE NEED YOU TO SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR SO THEY CAN SUPPORT YOU AND CFC.

Bobs Word 

It didn’t seem that long ago I stood along with several other CFC supporters watching a rather depleted Div Two team lose their first game of the season to Sumner at a very chilly and windswept McCormack’s Bay Park. Having lost many of their last year’s team for varying reasons I have to admit that things looked pretty grim for these guys albeit it was early days.

Wind the clock forward 3 months and last Saturday at Rawhiti Domain they played extremely well to beat a tough and typically gnarly Brighton on their home deck. Wonderful.

I have enjoyed following this team this year. Under coaches Kyle Brewer and Matt Aked, they have continued to develop from a tough start to the season and have played some very attractive rugby in a very competitive and hard-fought grade through some challenging times. Their culture both on and off the field has been exemplary especially off the field at our club. Always great numbers, dress ups and heaps of fun. What a team! There final is v Sydenham on Saturday at 1PM at Sydenham Park. Get there and support this great team.

Following Div Two’s epic win I travelled to Ilam to have a look at the UC v Sydenham semi. What a game. Very close, but in the end the UC backs were just too classy for a valiant Sydenham outfit. If it’s a dry track at Rugby Park for the final on Sunday as much as I’d like Linwood to win UC will be too good out wide in my view.

This Friday our great club celebrates its 160th Jubilee at a Dinner to be held at Christchurch Park which promises to be a great night with Guest Speaker Steve Tew.

It's pretty hard to fathom that our club played the first game of football at Latimer Square on Weds 26 August at 2.40PM in 1863. Each team consisted of 22 players. The game lasted 2 ½ hours and the first AGM of our club on Monday 31/8/1863. What a history we’ll be celebrating.

Great to see the AB’s looking good, building depth. Bring on the Argies.

If I don’t see you on Friday evening, I’ll see you at Sydenham Park at 1PM sharp on Saturday (possibly hungover).

Give Em The Axe

Bob

Junior Rugby

Junior Club da this Saturday, and we can't wait!!

It'll be a quick change from the 160th Dinner the night before to prepare for an incredible day for our tamariki.

We have free bouncy castle and facepainting, a free sausage and drink for each player. 

There will also be Little Orbits Donuts and the clubrooms will be open for Hot Food, Barista Coffee and Cold Drinks.

Two fundraising tables will be set up for the U12 and U13 CFC Tournament teams, one will be a bake sale and the other a raffle table, these will be cash only so make sure to bring some coins along!

Players of the day to be celebrated in the clubrooms after their games:

              *10:20am - Yr 1 teams that played at 9:30am

               *10:30am - Yr 2 teams that played at 9:30am

               *10:40am - Rest of the teams that played at 9:30am

               *11:30am - Teams that play at 10:30am

               *12:30pm - Teams that play at 11:30am

                *1:00pm - Yr 8 Raptors and Rebels

See you all there in your Red and Black!

Book this Venue

If you are a business that is looking for a central conference venue or meeting space with full catering and motel units, Christchurch Football Club is the perfect place! Members discount available.

Please contact: Jen Muller 021 0222 7810

Article added: Monday 29 July 2024