Third placing overall represented an outstanding effort by the Douglas Villa 13th grade junior promotional league football squad at the 2012 McCartney invitational tournament played at Taupo.
This tourney attracts teams from all over New Zealand with Douglas Villa playing six 40-minute games over two days, a good many of them in heavy rain and cold winds, which tested the skills and fortitude of the players.
And they responded magnificently to that challenge, winning four of their matches to come third overall.
Highlight for Douglas Villa was their 3-2 victory over Waitakere City, a club whose huge talent pool and financial resources are well beyond anything on offer in Wairarapa.
To provide a perspective, Douglas Villa's squad of 15 players was chosen from a trial pool of 22 hopefuls while Waitakere City had some 400 youngsters wanting to be part of the action.
