The power of legacy – and honouring the past – has been drilled into the Napier City Rovers squad
Video / Neil Reid
One of the most important pre-season sessions the Napier City Rovers have completed in the lead-up to football’s 2024 Central League hasn’t taken place on the training pitch.
Instead, it was a challenge laid out to squad members in their Bluewater Stadium clubrooms; with untold reminders hanging on the walls around them of some of the great Napier City Rovers teams and players who have gone before them.
Legacy was the theme of a strong presentation from head coach Bill Robertson, assistant Stephen Hoyle and club legend Chris McIvor to the squad - which features 10 new signings this season.
“In actual reality, I wasn’t a great footballer,” McIvor said. “I was just the hardest worker.
“I had a mentality. When I was 18 years old, I was a crappy footballer, but man could I run. We had probably four All Whites on our team and I said, ‘I’m gonna smoke every one of those All Whites in the beep test. I’m gonna tell the coach that I am the hardest-working player here and make it really hard for him not to pick me’.
Napier City Rovers players and coaching staff listen in during a pre-season presentation by club legend Chris McIvor about the power of leaving a legacy. Photo / Neil Reid
“So, what are you doing to make it hard for the coach to pick you, or what are you gonna do?”
The New Zealand Herald was invited into the otherwise private team meeting by Robertson as part of the weekly Inside the Rovers video series profiling the team and their efforts this season.
He told his players that they were “borrowing the shirt”.
Midfielder Sam Lack surges ahead for Napier City Rovers in their 2-1 pre-season win over the Wellington Phoenix Reserves at Bluewater Stadium last Saturday. Photo / Neil Reid
“Some good players have come through this club,” Robertson said. “You might wear a squad number this year and there’s a good player that’s come before you in that number.”
“I’d love to be remembered as a winner, someone who gave my all, all the time... someone who brought success to the club.
“I’d love that to be my legacy, but you’ve got the opportunity [to create your own] now.”
Their return to the National League in 2022 after two decades was something Robertson should be proud of.
Last year he built on that further.
Ahead of the 2024 season - which begins with the March 31 opening-round Central League clash against champions Wellington Olympic at Bluewater Stadium - McIvor told the team there were several aspects from teams that provided past glories for the club which they could learn to use again to their advantage.
Liam Schofield plays the ball forward for Napier City Rovers during his side's pre-season win over the Wellington Phoenix Reserves. Photo / Neil Reid
“What made us successful when we came from this small place called Napier, who has no bloody right to go to Auckland and turn over Auckland teams with bigger budgets and stuff like that?” he said.
“The first thing is, and this is the most important thing, is you have to have real belief that you can beat these teams. It’s little man’s pride.
“It’s like Johnny. He’ll walk into any room and own it. He will make you believe that he is better than you.”
McIvor said his teammates in the 1990s and early 2000s respected the opposition, but they weren’t intimidated by reputations.
“We didn’t give a s*** who they were, we were right at them,” he said.
“We built a culture... we believed it can be done.”
Napier City Rovers player Liam Schofield goes down during the second half of his side’s 2-1 pre-season win over the Wellington Phoenix Reserves. Photo / Neil Reid
Backing up hard work and commitments given to teammates and coaches was also crucial, he said.
“I would challenge anyone in this room right now that you have got more to give and you can do something bigger and better all the time,” McIvor said.
“So often I hear people tell me, ‘I’m gonna get this done’, ‘I’m gonna do’... that kind of people.
“So, if you [are] gonna throw out this vision that you can win the National League, you gotta load up, you gotta do more and more.”
Excuses had to be left at the door.
New Zealand Football’s domestic leagues are deemed amateur competitions; meaning, under competition regulations, players cannot be paid to play fulltime.
That means Napier City Rovers’ playing roster is employed in jobs such as teaching, painting, plumbing, truck driving, building, orchard work and retail.
“You can’t have a mentality of, ‘I have worked eight hours today. I’m tired’. That’s just life,” McIvor said.
A strong “culture of competition” internally in the squad was also required.
“Outwork anyone in your team, you’ve got to create a culture of competition, like really good competition. If you are in my position and I can’t get on the field, I’m coming at you,” he said.
“I’m not gonna take you out of training, but I’m gonna be aggressive though.”
Celebrating the good times as a team was also important.
But even more important was working “even harder”.
“I remember walking in through those doors when I was 18-19 years old and looking at guys who had gone before me,” he said.
“And if we had a s*** game... they’d come and tell you, We are a bit more respectful today or we might have a few beers and then tell you,” he laughed.
“But there has been a truckload of people that have gone before you that have worn the shirt, as is in every club. But this is a special club.”
Napier City Rovers’ haul of four National League titles is higher than any other provincial-based football club in New Zealand.
Rovers are also equal third as the most prolific winner of the Chatham Cup with five triumphs.
Napier City Rovers are also Hawke’s Bay’s most successful team when it comes to winning elite national titles.
Napier City Rovers club legend Chris McIvor in action for his beloved club in 2017. Photo / NZME
“This club has won four National League titles,” McIvor told the players.
“The other two franchise sports teams in this region [rugby’s Hawke’s Bay Magpies and basketball’s Hawke’s Bay Hawks], how many national championships have they won?
McIvor said the teams that he was involved with from the 1990s to the early 2000s truly built a proud legacy to look back on.
Now was the opportunity for the squad of 2024 to do the same.
“We didn’t know it at the time, but we built a legacy,” he said.
Ben Stanley leaves a Wellington Phoenix Reserves opponent in his wake during Napier City Rovers’ 2-1 pre-season win at Bluewater Stadium last Saturday. Photo / Neil Reid
“Is there anyone in this room that doesn’t believe that Napier City Rovers could not win the National League again? Because you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t believe.
“I’m sure some of you have come into this club and you can see just in this room the history, what it means to be part of this club. My challenge to you tonight is why not?”
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.
