The Matamata Domain will be a hive of footballing activity over the weekend of March 7 and 8 as Matamata Swifts AFC hosts one of Auckland’s largest senior clubs along with a youth tournament involving some of the best young players in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty region.
To top things off, the club’s Junior Open Day is also set for Sunday March 8.
In late 2014 Ellerslie AFC, one of Auckland’s strongest senior clubs, asked if Matamata would be willing to host their senior pre-season training camp. Naturally, we agreed as it will not only be a chance for our senior players to test themselves against difficult opposition ahead of the 2015 season, but also a great opportunity to build our relationship with Ellerslie.
Ellerslie will be sending their Northern Region Football League 1st and 2nd team squad and will combine training sessions with games against the Swifts 1st and 2nd teams. The clubs will play two games on Saturday (at 2pm and 4pm) and one on Sunday (at 2pm).
Sunday March 8 sees the club hold its Junior Open Day, where junior players can come along and sign up for the 2015 season as well as have a bit of a kick-around.
Junior registrations will be taken at the club between 1pm and 3pm (as well as between 5.30pm and 6.30pm on Tuesday evening).
A big draw card on Sunday will be the Waikato Bay of Plenty Football Federation Talent Centre (FTC) game day, which kicks off at the Domain at 10am. We hosted an FTC game day at the end of 2014 and it’s great to know that WaiBOP Football felt we did such a great job they want to come back.
The game day will involve some of the best junior and youth players from across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions representing their sub-regions, including several players from Matamata. We’ll have five fields running and plenty of games throughout the day so there will be a lot of football for local fans to watch!
Note: more information regarding Matamata Swifts’ junior registration can be found here.