Historic triumphs such as the 2019 Chatham Cup win will be celebrated when Napier City Rovers marks their 50th anniversary over Easter weekend. Photo / Warren Buckland
Historic triumphs such as the 2019 Chatham Cup win will be celebrated when Napier City Rovers marks their 50th anniversary over Easter weekend. Photo / Warren Buckland
Coaching and playing heroes are set to reunite when Napier City Rovers celebrates their 50th anniversary over Easter weekend.
Three days of celebrations will mark the milestone.
And throughout the 2023 season - which kicks off with the Central League campaign beginning in late March – the club’s first-team will wear a special anniversary strip modelled on its 1985 kit; the year it won the Chatham Cup, Napier City Rovers’ first major title.
Anniversary organiser, former Napier City Rovers player, assistant coach and ex-operations manager Chris McIvor said a special focus was being placed on the club’s winning seasons; which include five Chatham Cup and four National League titles.
Those seasons include 1993 and 2000 when Napier City Rovers recorded ‘The Double’; winning both those years Chatham Cup and National League titles.
“We will focus on the championship years going through the club,” McIvor said.
The celebrations kick-off with a BBQ at Bluewater Stadium on Friday, April 7.
The following night the Napier War Memorial Hall will host an anniversary dinner, with the club’s favourite former player Mark Paston to take the stage for a question-and-answer session.
Mark Paston with his crucial penalty save in the All Whites' 2009 clash with Bahrain. Photo / NZPA / Ross Setford
The goalkeeper made more than 130 first-team appearances for Napier City Rovers and first made the All Whites from the club.
He went on to have a successful professional career and was the penalty-saving hero of the All Whites’ 1-0 win over Bahrain in Wellington in late 2009 which saw the national team qualify for the 2010 World Cup.
“We thought about bringing in a guest speaker, someone quite famous to come in, but I thought let’s just keep it to someone who is connected to us and we can celebrate his achievements,” McIvor said.
“In 1993 he was the reserve goalkeeper and you can see in some of the footage you can see him in the background as a teenager. Then in 2000, he saved the first two penalties in the [National League final] shootout.”
Successful former coaches Roy Stanger, Malcolm Wilson, Mick Wait and Keith Buckley are also set to appear on a legends panel. So too will the club’s first commercial manager Colin Stone (who joined the club via English side Wimbledon), and current first-team coach Bill Robertson - player-coach of the 2019 Chatham Cup-winning team.
Video footage of the club’s historic triumphs will also be shown.
McIvor said given his long association with the club – going back to playing for junior teams as a schoolboy – it was special to be so heavily involved in organising the celebrations.
“The club means a whole lifetime of stuff to me,” he said.
Future club operations manager and 50th celebrations organiser Chris McIvor in action for Napier City Rovers in 2017. Photo / Paul Taylor
“I have very vivid memories of times and places. For me it has been probably a go-to community place to me. Growing up I was drawn into it. I liked soccer, but the club community was an easy connect which you probably can’t say about a lot of sporting entities at the top level anymore.
“I would hate to think without having Napier City Rovers in my life what else I would be doing. And I think you can say that for a lot of people. When you talk about, particularly those who have stayed in Napier, it has been your go-to . . . your other home. It is a special place.”
One of his most cherished highlights was being a member of the 2000 team which won both the Chatham Cup and National League.
The triumphs came in a drama-filled season where the club changed head coach after only five matches.
“We didn’t really fathom what we were up to at that time, we just worked incredibly hard,” McIvor said.
Napier City Rovers coach Bill Robertson took the club to their most recent success on the national stage, the 2019 Chatham Cup victory. Photo / Neil Reid
“When you look back you go, ‘What the heck just happened here?’. A lot of us were young and naïve, but we were fearless.”
During their proud history, Napier City Rovers won the 1993 Chatham Cup final in front of 10,000 fans at McLean Park.
When they won the 1989 National League, a parade was put on for the team through central Napier.
The 50th celebrations culminate on Sunday, April 9.
Club sponsors Thirsty Whale will host a breakfast, before two club All-Stars teams do battle at Bluewater Stadium. The match will be a curtain raiser to Napier City Rovers’ Central League clash with Miramar Rangers.
