Opinion: Aimee Lindsay memorial football fundraiser shows Northland's sporting community's strength

Yesterday's football fundraiser for Aimee Lindsay brought the entire football community together for a 12-hour continuous game at the Onerahi Football Club. Photo / John Stone

When you do this job, a lot of what you have to deal with is negative.

Journalism, at its core, is all about standing up for those who have no voice, challenging those who are answerable to society and making sure those who do wrong are held to account.

This can often come with its fair share of bitterness from those we challenge and the communities they live in. The brazen nature of keyboard warriors has only amplified this as negative comments seem to dominate discourse just for the sake of it.

I'm fortunate that sport can be largely removed from this atmosphere. A big part of my job is to highlight the great achievements of Northland sportspeople and that rarely comes with substantial negative backlash.

However, as most will know, sport at any level is infected with petty politics and Northland is no exception. It continues to astound me how toxic clubs and organisations of any code can become over the smallest of issues, which pale in comparison to the grand scheme.

So you can imagine my reaction to find the fields full at the Onerahi Football Club for the Aimee Lindsay Memorial Football Fundraiser yesterday.

The Onerahi football clubrooms were a hive of activity yesterday. Photo / John Stone

After starting at 8am with a moment of silence, play kicked off and by 10am, there could have been 300 people either on the field or in the grandstand, raising funds for a great cause.

As I laced up my boots and took to the pitch for a much-needed run in the summer heat, it was great to see so many footballers, young and old, playing the game in great spirit.

As always, there were a couple that may have taken the day a bit too seriously but when you're a competitive person in that heat, it's not hard to get a bit carried away.

The football itself was great to watch and it showed Northland's youth certainly have some potential. It was a great effort by some of the Northland FC senior men's and women's team players to come along and give back to the community.

But what was most impressive was to see so many clubs represented throughout the day.

It is so refreshing to see clubs put aside the politics and come together, especially for such an important cause.

Nothing could have been achieved yesterday without the masterful organisation from Vynka Short. Photo / John Stone

For all those who were there, congratulations for giving up your time so close to Christmas to honour the memory of a fantastic young girl.

For those who didn't, take note, because this is how Northland's sporting community should act - in unity, not division.