Football: Local teams stumble but comp praised

Sean Kim of Western Heights High School boots downfield. Photo / Ben Fraser

School football teams were in action this weekend at a pre-season tournament in Rotorua.

The Geyser Football Tournament brought teams from around the central North Island to play at Ray Boord Park and Rotorua International Stadium.

A number of Rotorua schools made it out to represent the host city, but unfortunately none were able to make much of a dent on the final leaderboard.

Geyser treasurer Chris Day said there had been a great reaction from visiting teams to the running of the event.

"We had a straw poll of all the coaches here and they think it's some of the best organisation and facilities they have seen," he said.

Day was also quick to praise Rotorua Lakes Council for its help in staging the tournament.

It was the second time the competition had been held since taking over from the Western Heights High School Invitational Tournament last year.

The number of teams was up this time around, with 19 boys and girls teams playing over the weekend.

Western Heights High might have been hoping to repeat their dominance of last year's tournament, when both their boys and girls squads walked away with titles.

But after not entering a girls team this year, the boys were beaten 2-0 by Gisborne in Sunday's fifth and sixth place playoff.

They had previously lost 1-0 to eventual title winners Massey High School earlier in the competition.

Massey took home the title after beating St John's of Hamilton 1-0 at the International Stadium yesterday.

In the girls tournament final, Trident beat Hilcrest 1-0 to take home their winners' medals.

Before the weekend's games kicked off, Day said one of the main goals of the tournament was to boost the profile of Geyser Football Club.

The club was established in 2013 to help young footballers in Rotorua.