Juniors on annual pilgrimage

LINING UP: Douglas Villa's well-performed 13th grade team are: back row, Shea Fowler (left), Brad Clark, Tremaine Rimene-Albrett, Caden Cameron, Connor Turton, Liam Gerritsen, Brooke Innes and Danielle Turton (guest). Front row, Nick McLaren (left), Isaac Noble, Caleb Anstis, Brodie Dick, Scott O'Connor, Kyle Green and Jake Pawson.

DOUGLAS Villa AFC are gearing up for the annual pilgrimage of junior footballers from all parts of the lower North Island to Masterton.

This weekend, two sporting venues, Park Sportsground and McJorrow Park, will be a veritable sea of colour as 138 teams comprising about 1400 players do battle at a tournament which will have grades 7, 9, 11 and 13 sides as the centre of attention on Saturday and grades 8, 10, 12 and 14 sides on Sunday.

That, by any standards, is an impressively big event but it could have been bigger with entries stretching beyond breaking point, and necessitating the establishment of a waiting list.

"As soon as we opened the registrations, the entries came flooding in and, unfortunately, some teams weren't quick enough and couldn't get in," Douglas Villa 13th grade coach Daniel Pawson said.

"You never like turning teams away but that's how popular this tourney is."

Each team will have a minimum of four games with matches being played over 12 minutes each way. There is just three minutes between one match ending and the next starting and any team turning up late will find themselves being defaulted.

"You can't muck around, we have so many games to get through in one day that it's pretty much a case of go, go, go," Pawson said.

"It doesn't take long for teams to get the message, they soon understand the importance of keeping things moving."

Pawson's side will be one of the favourites for the 13th grade title after coming fourth on this season's Travel League competition, which had them competing against the best teams in their age group from the greater Wellington area.

But he is quick to say the standard of play in each of the grades is so high that nothing could be taken for granted.

"You can never guarantee anything. Looking at our grade there are probably four or five teams who could make it to the final," he said.

"Consistency is the thing, you need to play well in every game to be there at the finish."

No Wairarapa clubs were among the winners last year, when North Wellington won the 7th and 14th grades, Onslow the 10th and 11th grades, Upper Hutt the 8th grade, Petone the 9th grade, Miramar the 12th grade and Porirua the 13th grade.