July 31, 2026 • 12 mins
Ahead of the weekend's Central League action, Adam catches up with Joe Serci from the Tackld Podcast.
As well as discussing the weekend's action, they chat the recent FIFA World Cup and how the windfall could benefit the grassroots football scene, the new National League format starting in 2027, and the results of last week's Chatham Cup quarterfinals.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The local football scene now heading into the weekend. Our
rotation this week sees us talking the men's Central League
and Joe Cercy is back with us out of the
Tackled podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Looking to you, Joe, Yeah, very good morning to you, Adam,
and I hope you're will very well.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Thanks up. Lot's happening in the world of sport at
the moment, and I know you will be very busy.
I'm on the sidelines of the courts and fields of
Wellington as many of those window sports are draw to
a close in their respective seasons, and Joe well quickly
zero back into the World's Cup. We last spoke a
couple of weeks ago, right before the final, and I
guess the question now here in New Zealand is at
(00:35):
a local level of football. Are we far away from
seeing maybe some financial benefits from his zell of being
part of the World Cup. What do you reckon?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
There should be some cash back flowing down. The question
mark is how will money be spent? And let's just
talk about some of the numbers. So estimates I've seen
suggest that in total the World Cup generated about fifteen
billion dollars in red you, which is absolutely huge isn't it.
(01:03):
And New Zealand is air marked for about twenty two
million dollars. There's twenty two million New Zealand dollars. I
from the search I've done, I think forty percent of
that will go straight back to the players. So I
think most players will earn anything from about two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars for participating to probably largest sums
(01:26):
for the big name players, the professionals, and two hundred
and fifty thousand for many of those players is quite considerable.
It's probably more than their annual salary. So the question
mark will be what will New Zealand Football do with
that money? And at the moment there hasn't been any discussion.
I know at the end of the last World Cup
(01:47):
that New Zealand were in twenty ten. With the money
that New Zealand Football got, they putform million dollars into
a foundation which is a safe investment, so it means
every year they get a certain percentage of interest or
some dividends that funds each current year's expenditure. The other
thing that will come out of the FIFA World Cup sums,
(02:11):
and this is separate to the amount that New Zealand
Football will make is what's known as the Club Benefits Program,
so FIFA remunerates those clubs whose players participated in the
World Cup. And for example, the Wellington Phoenix, they had
three players which were Tim Payne, Alex Ruffer and Suparate
thing and I think they're going to get over nine
(02:33):
hundred thousand New Zealand dollars. Auckland FC, I think they
had five or six players, they're going to get close
to two million dollars. So that's a potentially more money
that could not just go to attracting more players to
those clubs, but hopefully there'll be some downstream benefits at
a local level at groceryes football as his clubs and
(02:53):
as New Zealand Football investment, infrastructure, training, etc.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Yeah, it will be interesting to see where that goes.
And speaking of these Hieland Football and I guess some
administration decisions, Joe, we've been waiting for a while. I
guess to find out exactly how the new look competition
with the National League will look next year across men's
and women's. I think the numbers of teams involved was
the latest and then the most recent set of issue
(03:19):
of contention, but they've finalized the numbers for next year,
haven't there? Haven't they for the new National League to
run in conjunction simultaneously with the likes of the Central
League and others around the country.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah. I looked at the information that they shared yesterday
and I would sort of call it more clarification rather
than confirmation. A lot of that information they shared yes
yesterday was sort of a lot of the information they
shared on Thursday was information already known by most people
heavenly involved or intricately involved in local football. What was
(03:54):
interesting maybe was two points. Was one was they picked
up on why the professional clubs, which is one of
things in Phoenix and Auckland FC, have guaranteed spots and
that is partly because ZID Football recognizes the importance of
their academies or their training systems to develop young players
here in New Zealand. The other thing I picked up
(04:15):
on was a little paragraph which was at this stage
geographical protections will be in place and may continue to
form part of the promotion and relegation mechanism. So as
we now know, in the men's National League there will
be two teams from the Southern League. That's caused a
(04:36):
bit of controversy with fans off the Southern from the
South Island. Y only two teams, but if you think
if one of them should finish bottom, they would only
leave one South Island team. That paragraph may suggest that
when they look at the promotion and relegation in future seasons,
(04:57):
so after the first season, they might be looking to
protect and ensure that we don't have one South Island
team left in the competition. They might sort of say, know,
we need a minimum of two to make sure that
the competition maintains a national identity.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yes, will be interesting and plenty of discussions still to
be had, isn't there. Right, Let's go to the local scene, Joe.
Obviously the Central League took a break last week for
the quarter finals of the Chatham Cup, and I guess
it's fair to say from a Wellington perspective, probably quite
a disappointing outcome approaching the semi finals.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yes, sadly that's it for Wellington teams so obviously went
into the Olympic. Are the reigning champions, they won the
final last year, but we have no Wellington teams in
the semi final. Disappointing. It was a tough draw for Miramar.
They went to Kashmir Tech, who are having a phenomenal
season this year, having a great season down in the
(05:53):
South Island, are unbeaten. The scoring goals at well and
unfortunately for Miramar they went down to one. Then Koshchitch.
Better news for the other Central League team, Napier City Rovers,
they played a Biscus Coast and enjoyed a good win there.
So the Chatham Cup semi finals will see Fencibles the
(06:14):
Auckland Club host Nelson Suburbs and Kashmir Tech will host
Napier City Rovers. And again let's go back to that,
sir WHI shall we say disappointment from South Island football fans.
Two South Island football teams remain in the competition, one
from the Northern League which is Fencibles and of course
(06:35):
Central League's Napier City Rovers.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yeah, I guess that means Joe, who do you think
the local club's hell support now the Napier City Rovers,
given they're part of the league here.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Maybe maybe, but there's just maybe one local identity that
local football fans will know. And in Kashmir Tech there's
a young man called Xander Edwards and he was he
went to one in college. He was actually part of
a team that won the Trevor Rigby Cup against Scott's
College in the final that was affected by COVID. He
(07:07):
scored a goal actually against Miramar. He played a bit
of Central League football I think for Low Hut City,
so there might be a few locals who remember them.
There might be wishing him well and continued success in
the Channam Cup.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Great, all right, well we look forward to that with
the semi finals in a few weeks time. Lord to
the Central League Joe, And of course the last time
we had action and that was a fortnight. It goes
the teams all returning this weekend from their break. Bring
us up to speed to where we got to though
it would have been just after we last spoke a
couple of saturdays ago, because there were some pretty interesting
results across the board went there.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, around fourteen was an interesting round, I think mainly
because all the games were close. So if I can,
I'll just quickly go remind people what happened in around fourteen.
So yeah, the Phoenix Reserves they just went down at
Fraser to Napi City two to one. They had Upperhart
City just go down to Western Suburbs at Maidstone to one.
(08:05):
They had Ireland Bay just go down to Wellington Olympic
to to one and FC Western just went down to
Waterside Crory three to two and the result I didn't
share and maybe it was two weeks of misery for
Miramar Rangers. They drew at Memorial Park with Petoni one.
All that means they've now slipped, They've lost two points.
(08:28):
They were going into the round fourteen, they were joint
leaders with Napier City Rovers, they were alive and Chantham Cup.
In the space of two weeks, things have sow we
say collapse, well, not collapse, it's probably too big a word,
but things have certainly taken a step backwards for poor
old Mirrama. And just to remind people what the tables
currently looking at, Napier City Rovers having a stous season,
(08:49):
like we said earlier, still alive in the Chatham Cup,
semi finalist Chatham Cup, but leading at the moment in
the Central League. They're on thirty five points, back down
to Miramar on thirty three, Olympic on thirty two. Then
there's a bit of a gap back down to Western.
Sobeer was on twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
All right, Well, let's say have a look at the
weekend's games across today and tomorrow. Joe, I guess should
we start at Island Bay. They've got WEFC Western.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, Island Bay coming into this game with five losses,
so the last five games have lost five or five
of them, so they'll really be looking at this as
an opportunity to get back on a more of a
positive ledger. I think they should take this. I think
anything less than a win would be very disappointing to
(09:37):
their fans. So I think Ireland Bay at home at
Wakefield should be the winners.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
All right, not too far from there. David Farrington Park
with the Mirramar Rangers, so you mentioned before back home
to meet what as like KRORI.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, what I Corory over the last few weeks have
really picked up the pace They've put string to get
a few nice results. But I expect to see a
bit of result from Miramar this week. They'll be, like
I say, looking at those last two weekends to draw
against POTTONI the loss in the CHANNELM Cup. When they
travel down to christ Church, I think they'll be looking
(10:10):
to immediately bounce back and scure a win at home.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Phoenix Academy hasn't been a great campaign for them. It's
fair to say. Has it possible chance for them though?
On the turf at Fraser Park against West this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, possible, Like you say, I mean, even if you
look at the Phoenix reserves the last six games, it's
been four losses, two draws. They even lost to shall
we say the salad dwellers of the Central League this season,
FC Western in New Plymouth. But I expect Western Suburbs,
like I said, they're on twenty eight points. Stay the
type of club, the managers there, they are not ones
(10:45):
to give in. They will still be wanting to accumulate points.
Expect good things from Western Suburbs.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And I like this one because a lot to play
for for both these teams really, isn't There are Wellington
Olympic hosting Upper Hut City at Wakefield from three forty five.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Probably you go back a season, you go back last
year when these two teams met at Wakefield Park. It
was actually a goal with Straw. They expect a lot
of fight from Upperhart. They've last year played two of
their best games against Winnington Olympic. But I think the
need for points, the need to stay in the race.
The whole thing with teams like Merrimoy Olympic is they'll
(11:21):
know at some point Napier City Rovers should falter that
they need to make sure that they're still earning the points.
So I really can't look beyond winning an Olympic, all.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Right, And speaking of will Napi City Rovers falster tomorrow?
They've got Patony making the trip up to Blue Water.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, and normally this is a good game PA Tony
one team. They had a bit of a fawn on
the side of Napier City Rovers. But I think given
where Napier City Rivers are and the type of season
they're having and the quality of players have gone on
the squad, they should be a little bit too strong
for Patoni. I think it was a home fixture for
patonybe but I think Napor City Rovers should get all
(12:02):
the points. But I think all roads lead to the
big game that will come up on Sunday, twenty third August,
when Napior City Rovers will host Miramar, and I think
that will ultimately decide who will be this year's Central
League champions.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, looking forward to that. Nice to still have the
race well and truly alive. Joe Thanks for your time,
as always, appreciate you analysis and thoughts on all things football.
Have a great weekend and we'll chat agin in a
couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, and hopefully in a couple of weeks time we
can start talking about the secondary school finals that will
be happening in round mid August. For more from News
TALKS'B listen live on air or online, and keep our
shows with you wherever you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
The local football scene now heading into the weekend. Our
rotation this week sees us talking the men's Central League
and Joe Cercy is back with us out of the
Tackled podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Looking to you, Joe, Yeah, very good morning to you, Adam,
and I hope you're will very well.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Thanks up. Lot's happening in the world of sport at
the moment, and I know you will be very busy.
I'm on the sidelines of the courts and fields of
Wellington as many of those window sports are draw to
a close in their respective seasons, and Joe well quickly
zero back into the World's Cup. We last spoke a
couple of weeks ago, right before the final, and I
guess the question now here in New Zealand is at
(00:35):
a local level of football. Are we far away from
seeing maybe some financial benefits from his zell of being
part of the World Cup. What do you reckon?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
There should be some cash back flowing down. The question
mark is how will money be spent? And let's just
talk about some of the numbers. So estimates I've seen
suggest that in total the World Cup generated about fifteen
billion dollars in red you, which is absolutely huge isn't it.
(01:03):
And New Zealand is air marked for about twenty two
million dollars. There's twenty two million New Zealand dollars. I
from the search I've done, I think forty percent of
that will go straight back to the players. So I
think most players will earn anything from about two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars for participating to probably largest sums
(01:26):
for the big name players, the professionals, and two hundred
and fifty thousand for many of those players is quite considerable.
It's probably more than their annual salary. So the question
mark will be what will New Zealand Football do with
that money? And at the moment there hasn't been any discussion.
I know at the end of the last World Cup
(01:47):
that New Zealand were in twenty ten. With the money
that New Zealand Football got, they putform million dollars into
a foundation which is a safe investment, so it means
every year they get a certain percentage of interest or
some dividends that funds each current year's expenditure. The other
thing that will come out of the FIFA World Cup sums,
(02:11):
and this is separate to the amount that New Zealand
Football will make is what's known as the Club Benefits Program,
so FIFA remunerates those clubs whose players participated in the
World Cup. And for example, the Wellington Phoenix, they had
three players which were Tim Payne, Alex Ruffer and Suparate
thing and I think they're going to get over nine
(02:33):
hundred thousand New Zealand dollars. Auckland FC, I think they
had five or six players, they're going to get close
to two million dollars. So that's a potentially more money
that could not just go to attracting more players to
those clubs, but hopefully there'll be some downstream benefits at
a local level at groceryes football as his clubs and
(02:53):
as New Zealand Football investment, infrastructure, training, etc.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Yeah, it will be interesting to see where that goes.
And speaking of these Hieland Football and I guess some
administration decisions, Joe, we've been waiting for a while. I
guess to find out exactly how the new look competition
with the National League will look next year across men's
and women's. I think the numbers of teams involved was
the latest and then the most recent set of issue
(03:19):
of contention, but they've finalized the numbers for next year,
haven't there? Haven't they for the new National League to
run in conjunction simultaneously with the likes of the Central
League and others around the country.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah. I looked at the information that they shared yesterday
and I would sort of call it more clarification rather
than confirmation. A lot of that information they shared yes
yesterday was sort of a lot of the information they
shared on Thursday was information already known by most people
heavenly involved or intricately involved in local football. What was
(03:54):
interesting maybe was two points. Was one was they picked
up on why the professional clubs, which is one of
things in Phoenix and Auckland FC, have guaranteed spots and
that is partly because ZID Football recognizes the importance of
their academies or their training systems to develop young players
here in New Zealand. The other thing I picked up
(04:15):
on was a little paragraph which was at this stage
geographical protections will be in place and may continue to
form part of the promotion and relegation mechanism. So as
we now know, in the men's National League there will
be two teams from the Southern League. That's caused a
(04:36):
bit of controversy with fans off the Southern from the
South Island. Y only two teams, but if you think
if one of them should finish bottom, they would only
leave one South Island team. That paragraph may suggest that
when they look at the promotion and relegation in future seasons,
(04:57):
so after the first season, they might be looking to
protect and ensure that we don't have one South Island
team left in the competition. They might sort of say, know,
we need a minimum of two to make sure that
the competition maintains a national identity.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yes, will be interesting and plenty of discussions still to
be had, isn't there. Right, Let's go to the local scene, Joe.
Obviously the Central League took a break last week for
the quarter finals of the Chatham Cup, and I guess
it's fair to say from a Wellington perspective, probably quite
a disappointing outcome approaching the semi finals.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yes, sadly that's it for Wellington teams so obviously went
into the Olympic. Are the reigning champions, they won the
final last year, but we have no Wellington teams in
the semi final. Disappointing. It was a tough draw for Miramar.
They went to Kashmir Tech, who are having a phenomenal
season this year, having a great season down in the
(05:53):
South Island, are unbeaten. The scoring goals at well and
unfortunately for Miramar they went down to one. Then Koshchitch.
Better news for the other Central League team, Napier City Rovers,
they played a Biscus Coast and enjoyed a good win there.
So the Chatham Cup semi finals will see Fencibles the
(06:14):
Auckland Club host Nelson Suburbs and Kashmir Tech will host
Napier City Rovers. And again let's go back to that,
sir WHI shall we say disappointment from South Island football fans.
Two South Island football teams remain in the competition, one
from the Northern League which is Fencibles and of course
(06:35):
Central League's Napier City Rovers.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yeah, I guess that means Joe, who do you think
the local club's hell support now the Napier City Rovers,
given they're part of the league here.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Maybe maybe, but there's just maybe one local identity that
local football fans will know. And in Kashmir Tech there's
a young man called Xander Edwards and he was he
went to one in college. He was actually part of
a team that won the Trevor Rigby Cup against Scott's
College in the final that was affected by COVID. He
(07:07):
scored a goal actually against Miramar. He played a bit
of Central League football I think for Low Hut City,
so there might be a few locals who remember them.
There might be wishing him well and continued success in
the Channam Cup.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Great, all right, well we look forward to that with
the semi finals in a few weeks time. Lord to
the Central League Joe, And of course the last time
we had action and that was a fortnight. It goes
the teams all returning this weekend from their break. Bring
us up to speed to where we got to though
it would have been just after we last spoke a
couple of saturdays ago, because there were some pretty interesting
results across the board went there.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, around fourteen was an interesting round, I think mainly
because all the games were close. So if I can,
I'll just quickly go remind people what happened in around fourteen.
So yeah, the Phoenix Reserves they just went down at
Fraser to Napi City two to one. They had Upperhart
City just go down to Western Suburbs at Maidstone to one.
(08:05):
They had Ireland Bay just go down to Wellington Olympic
to to one and FC Western just went down to
Waterside Crory three to two and the result I didn't
share and maybe it was two weeks of misery for
Miramar Rangers. They drew at Memorial Park with Petoni one.
All that means they've now slipped, They've lost two points.
(08:28):
They were going into the round fourteen, they were joint
leaders with Napier City Rovers, they were alive and Chantham Cup.
In the space of two weeks, things have sow we
say collapse, well, not collapse, it's probably too big a word,
but things have certainly taken a step backwards for poor
old Mirrama. And just to remind people what the tables
currently looking at, Napier City Rovers having a stous season,
(08:49):
like we said earlier, still alive in the Chatham Cup,
semi finalist Chatham Cup, but leading at the moment in
the Central League. They're on thirty five points, back down
to Miramar on thirty three, Olympic on thirty two. Then
there's a bit of a gap back down to Western.
Sobeer was on twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
All right, Well, let's say have a look at the
weekend's games across today and tomorrow. Joe, I guess should
we start at Island Bay. They've got WEFC Western.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, Island Bay coming into this game with five losses,
so the last five games have lost five or five
of them, so they'll really be looking at this as
an opportunity to get back on a more of a
positive ledger. I think they should take this. I think
anything less than a win would be very disappointing to
(09:37):
their fans. So I think Ireland Bay at home at
Wakefield should be the winners.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
All right, not too far from there. David Farrington Park
with the Mirramar Rangers, so you mentioned before back home
to meet what as like KRORI.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, what I Corory over the last few weeks have
really picked up the pace They've put string to get
a few nice results. But I expect to see a
bit of result from Miramar this week. They'll be, like
I say, looking at those last two weekends to draw
against POTTONI the loss in the CHANNELM Cup. When they
travel down to christ Church, I think they'll be looking
(10:10):
to immediately bounce back and scure a win at home.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Phoenix Academy hasn't been a great campaign for them. It's
fair to say. Has it possible chance for them though?
On the turf at Fraser Park against West this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, possible, Like you say, I mean, even if you
look at the Phoenix reserves the last six games, it's
been four losses, two draws. They even lost to shall
we say the salad dwellers of the Central League this season,
FC Western in New Plymouth. But I expect Western Suburbs,
like I said, they're on twenty eight points. Stay the
type of club, the managers there, they are not ones
(10:45):
to give in. They will still be wanting to accumulate points.
Expect good things from Western Suburbs.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And I like this one because a lot to play
for for both these teams really, isn't There are Wellington
Olympic hosting Upper Hut City at Wakefield from three forty five.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Probably you go back a season, you go back last
year when these two teams met at Wakefield Park. It
was actually a goal with Straw. They expect a lot
of fight from Upperhart. They've last year played two of
their best games against Winnington Olympic. But I think the
need for points, the need to stay in the race.
The whole thing with teams like Merrimoy Olympic is they'll
(11:21):
know at some point Napier City Rovers should falter that
they need to make sure that they're still earning the points.
So I really can't look beyond winning an Olympic, all.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Right, And speaking of will Napi City Rovers falster tomorrow?
They've got Patony making the trip up to Blue Water.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, and normally this is a good game PA Tony
one team. They had a bit of a fawn on
the side of Napier City Rovers. But I think given
where Napier City Rivers are and the type of season
they're having and the quality of players have gone on
the squad, they should be a little bit too strong
for Patoni. I think it was a home fixture for
patonybe but I think Napor City Rovers should get all
(12:02):
the points. But I think all roads lead to the
big game that will come up on Sunday, twenty third August,
when Napior City Rovers will host Miramar, and I think
that will ultimately decide who will be this year's Central
League champions.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, looking forward to that. Nice to still have the
race well and truly alive. Joe Thanks for your time,
as always, appreciate you analysis and thoughts on all things football.
Have a great weekend and we'll chat agin in a
couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, and hopefully in a couple of weeks time we
can start talking about the secondary school finals that will
be happening in round mid August. For more from News
TALKS'B listen live on air or online, and keep our
shows with you wherever you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
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