Napier City Rovers rookie Nick Yorke always knew he had it in him but he had to make some smart moves to reach Central League level today. Photo/Paul Taylor
Napier City Rovers rookie Nick Yorke always knew he had it in him but he had to make some smart moves to reach Central League level today. Photo/Paul Taylor
A shade more than two years ago Nick Yorke was playing the beautiful game but not going anywhere with it at all.
"I wanted to go somewhere with football so I trained for months and months," says Yorke, who will bank on some game time for Thirsty Whale Napier City Rovers this long weekend.
The Rovers play North Wellington in the capital city in a Central League in a 2.30pm kick off today before they host Tawa at Bluewater Stadium, Park Island, in a 2pm kick off in round two of the Chatham Cup (national knockout competition) on Queen's Birthday Monday.
So what was the catalyst for the meteoric rise from secondary schoolboys' footy to the most elite winter ranks of the Capital Football competition in such a relatively short time for him?
The 18-year-old reveals he was in year 9 at Havelock North High School but was finding no traction so he picked up his satchel and switched allegiances to Hastings Boys' High School.
"I needed something to put me straight and get me going," he says, mindful coach Grant Hastings was grooming talent at the HBHS academy.
Hastings has moulded him from schoolboy footballer to becoming who he is now. He salutes the former Central League coach for his guidance as well as Blues current coach Bill Robertson and his assistant, Stu James.
Yorke's parents, Jennifer and Tim Yorke, of Havelock North, had no experience in the code although his kickboxing father had played rugby and had performed assistant team manager roles to eventually pick up enough nous to start coaching him, not long after Nick started playing at 5 until he was 11.
"He always helped me out and motivated me by telling me what I did right and wrong."
His mother didn't fancy rugby so she floated the "round-ball" idea and Yorke accepted it.
How's the teenager finding the step up from school level to the men's leagues?
"Well, in school you come against people of the same age so you have to really battle and there's quality," he says. "But when you play prems [or Central League] it's men's football so you're up against the physicality and have to work out ways to win the game."
Yorke tends to pace himself against the adults but, at times, soaks up the attention to lean on them instead.
Adding valuable minutes under his belt, if the cup opportunity arises, is on his agenda.
The year 13 student, who played two seasons in the Bay premier men's league but trained alongside the Rovers' Central League squad last winter, made his league debut off the bench against Wairarapa United on Good Friday in April.
"As soon as I got on I had so much emotion I just went on to enjoy it and I was so proud I got to achieve my goal of [playing at that level]," says Yorke who debuted at centreback but played leftback against Lower Hutt City and rightback in the Wellington Olympic clash.
He is gleaning as much as he can alongside captain Fergus Neil and fellow defenders. It excites Yorke that if he runs on he'll face an unknown opposition from the Capital Premier League.
"I expect them to come out with so much aggression and so much fight because it's a one-off game so anything can happen in football."
Chatham Cup fixtures tend to bring out the mongrel in lower-tier or same-tier underdogs.
The Rovers are coming off a 6-1 hiding on the road, at the hands of the Greeks in the previous league match last Saturday, so the two games in three days will test their mettle.
The defending league champions, who are import heavy, have succumbed twice this season and also lost their top-rung status to arch rivals Western Suburbs, who remain the only undefeated side in the campaign although they have two draws after nine rounds.
HBHS coach Grant Hastings works with the first XI team. Facing the camera is another product of the school who is now playing striker for the Havelock North Wanders. Photo/File
■ Building King Havelock then roll out the carpet for North Wanderers at Guthrie Park, Hastings, for a 1pm cup encounter on Monday. The Central Federation League leaders will, no doubt, hope the Rovers will have softened up the visitors for them in the league clash.
Fellow Fed newcomers Alexander Electric Napier Marist face a cup litmus test against Central Leaguers Stop Out Sports Club in a 2pm kick off in Wellington but will be better for it because the Fed League has pretty much become a two-horse race.
