On the afternoon of Monday May 12, 2014, the Matamata Domain hosted a special visitor – the FIFA U-20 World Cup trophy.
The trophy visit was one stop on a month long journey around New Zealand as the country gears up for the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2015, which kicks off in our country on May 30 next year.
We were pleased to welcome Matamata Piako District Mayor, Jan Barnes, who was photographed with the trophy and reserved some special words of praise for the work the club is doing here in Matamata.
Ex-All White goalie, James Bannatyne, in his role as Sales and Marketing Manager for the Hamilton venue, was on hand to MC the event. He also jumped in the massive inflatable goal and attempted to save some spot kicks from some of Matamata’s finest young footballers. Will Bennefield won the shoot-out and with it an Adidas football.
As the pictures show, local kids young and old made the most of the opportunity to be photographed with the trophy as well as play on the variety of ‘toys’ that came along with it.
Earlier in the day, the trophy visited the Hobbiton Movie Set to be photographed at this iconic New Zealand tourist destination.
