Napier City Rovers is a football team based in Napier, New Zealand, as of 2024 competing in the Central League.

Napier City Rovers
Full nameNapier City Rovers
Nickname(s)The Blues
Founded1973; 51 years ago (1973)
GroundBluewater Stadium, Napier, New Zealand
Capacity4,000 (seated)
ChairmanGraeme Sole
ManagerBill Robertson
LeagueCentral League
National League
2024Central League, 3rd of 10

Club history

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Chart of yearly ladder positions for Napier City Rovers in NZ 1st division soccer

The team was founded in 1973 via a merger of Napier Rovers and Napier City.

Napier City Rovers have won New Zealand's premier knockout football competition (the Chatham Cup) five times, in 1985, 1993, 2000, 2002, and 2019 won the old New Zealand National Soccer League in 1989, 1993, 1998, and 2000. They represented New Zealand at the Oceania Club Championship in 2001, finishing third.

The Hawke's Bay region, of which Napier is a part, were represented by Napier City Soccer in the first year of New Zealand's new Football Championship in the summer of 2004, the only region that was not represented by an amalgamated franchise. That changed the following year with the change of name also to Hawke's Bay United. As with all teams making up the new franchises, they continue to compete in local winter football leagues, and also in the Chatham Cup.

Current squad

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Squad for the 2024 Central Premier League[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   DEN William Tønning
2 DF   NZL George Andrew
3 DF   NZL Adam Hewson
4 DF   NZL Kaeden Atkins
5 DF   NZL Jack Albertini
6 DF   NZL Matthew Jones
7 MF   ENG Liam Schofield
8 MF   NZL Sam Lack
9 MF   NZL Cameron Emerson
10 MF   ENG Kieran Richards
11 FW   ENG Jonathan McNamara
No. Pos. Nation Player
12 MF   NZL Alex Mort
13 FW   NZL Harry Mason
15 DF   ENG Jim Hoyle
16 FW   NZL Ethan Spencer
17 DF   NZL Fergus Neil
18 FW   SWE Oscar Faulds
19 FW   ENG Benjamin Stanley
20 MF   NZL Christian Leopard
21 GK   SCO Kyle Baxter
22 GK   NZL Ben Graney

Staff

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  • Head Coach:   Bill Robertson
  • Assistant Coach:   Stephen Hoyle
  • Goalkeeper Coach:   Kyle Baxter

Season by season record

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Season Qualifying league League New Zealand National League Chatham
Cup
Top scorer
P W D L F A GD Pts Pos P W D L F A GD Pts Pos Name Goals
2021 Central League 18 5 2 11 37 51 −14 17 7th Cancelled[n 1] 3R   Kailan Gould 11
2022 18 8 4 6 35 28 +7 28 4th 9 1 3 5 14 23 −9 6 8th 4R   Jonathan McNamara 9
2023 18 10 3 5 50 32 +18 33 3rd 9 2 1 6 13 26 −13 7 9th 4R   Deri Corfe 21

Honours

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Performance in OFC competitions

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2000–01 – 3rd Place – Won against AS Vénus   3 – 2 (stage 4 of 4)
Season Competition Round Club Home Away Position
2001 Oceania Club Championship Group A   Unitech 2–0 2nd
  Laugu United 1–1
  Lotoha'apai 9–0
  Foodtown Warriors Labasa 4–0
  Wollongong Wolves 0–1
Semi Final   Tafea 2–4
3rd play-off   Vénus 3–2

Notes

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  1. ^ 2021 National League season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Northern regions;.[2] Championship played as South Central Series, with the northern clubs missing in the first edition.

References

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  1. ^ "Competition".
  2. ^ "National League Championship cancelled, new interregional competition announced and Chatham Cup moved to 2022". New Zealand Football.
  3. ^ "Oceania Club Competitions 2000". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
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