New Zealand: football is back to North Island as NRFL starts

After the start of Central League season in Wellington region, football is finally totally back to North Island in New Zealand as the Northern Regional Football League is back to action. The three top-divisions had a very good start in the past weekened as the current season is likely to be one of the best ever in terms of football quality in the competition.

In the top-league, the Lotto NRFL Premier League, five matches kicked-off the season; Manukau was smashed at home against the newly promoted Forrest Hill Milford by 5-1 – match that marked the official debut of the Fijian international Kishan Sami for Manukau. In a very entertaining match, Bay Olympic was behind the scoreboard twice in the match, but managed to recover and beat Hamilton Wanderers by 5-4 despite the braces of Derek Tieku and Tommy Semmy for the visitors.

Waitakere City did not have any chance against the new club in the league – Auckland United – as the newly formed team celebrated their first ever win by 3-0 thanks to a hattrick of Andrew Milne. Melville United gave a lot of fight for a very good side of Central United – at the end of the day the brace of Angus Kilkolly helped Central to win by 4-3.

The current champions of the league, North Shore United, were surprised by a good team of Birkenhead United as the title holders were defeated by 2-0. Nicolas Zambrano and Alexander Greive scored one each for the visitors. To finish the round, Western Springs stunned the stellar squad of Eastern Suburbs as they smashed the Lilywhites by 3-0.

In the Lotto NRFL Division 1, the most interesting match was the 3-3 draw between Ellerslie and Bucklands Beach; East Coast Bays took the top of the table after the first round as they smashed Takapuna by 6-1. In the Lotto NRFL Division 2, the debut of Solomon Islands’ Charles Mani for Hibiscus Coast was positive as his team won by 3-0 against Greenhithe Catimba. Fencibles United recorded the biggest win of the divison as they smashed Uni-Mount Bohemian by 6-0.

You can check the full standings and results of all divisions of the NRFL by visiting our sessions of New Zealand national tournaments.