Sova steps into United role

FLASHBACK TO 2011: Phil Keinzley celebrates Wairarapa United's 2-1 win over Napier City Rovers in the Chatham Cup final.PHOTO/FILE

Former YoungHeart Manawatu coach Bob Sova is to guide the fortunes of Wairarapa United through the remainder of their 2014 Chatham Cup and Central League football campaigns.

Sova, from Palmerston North, has been named as the replacement for Phil Keinzley, whose decision to stand down from the coaching position comes after a 16-year and 400-game involvement in that role with either the United premier men's or women's teams.

Keinzley and wife Fae are about to head to Brazil for the World Cup but Keinzley is adamant a change in coach would have happened anyway, and is just as adamant his coaching days at premier level are over.

"I've done my bit, it's time for a change," he said yesterday.

"The old motivation isn't what it was and when that goes you have to question whether you should be there, don't you?"

The 2011 success of United in the country's premier men's knockout competition, the Chatham Cup, will always be a standout in Keinzley's list of successes in the coaching sphere and he also recalls with fondness the season where they earned promotion to the Central League and won the Hilton Petone Cup and Swindale Shield along the way.

Under his tutelage, the United women's team made it to the final of their equivalent to the Chatham Cup three times - then known as the Swanz Cup - and a national league final.

Nothing has exemplified Keinzley's loyalty to United more than this season where he has filled the head coaching position for all three sides: the premier men's squad, the men's seconds team, who play in the Capital second division series, and their women's team, whose eight-match unbeaten run in the Capital third division series has guaranteed them a second division spot for the rest of the season.

Keinzley wasn't keen to undertake such a hefty involvement but with a dearth of suitable applicants he shouldered the extra burden to keep all three teams afloat.

"It was never going to be ideal, you can't expect anybody to coach three different sides and do a decent job for all of them," he said.

Sova's appointment as premier men's team coach excites Keinzley, who says he has the credentials to make an excellent fist of the role. Sova has had success with YoungHeart Manawatu national summer league senior men's and youth sides and he is one of few Kiwis to hold a Uefa pro coaching licence, something he achieved in 2010. That required writing a thesis, completing a 300-page log book and undergoing a range of practical and oral assessments.

There are no guarantees, however, Sova will continue as Wairarapa United coach in 2015. He has been appointed for the remainder of this season only and then the position will be widely advertised.

Taking over as coach of the United seconds for the rest of their 2014 campaign is Mike Howard, of Featherston, while the search is still on for a temporary coach for the women's team, temporary in the sense Keinzley is happy to to step back into the coaching role when he returns from Brazil.