Clarke at the wrong end of soccer competition

Press, 23 September 1988, Page 40

Clarke at the wrong end of soccer competition

By

GARY BIRKETT

Most Christchurch national league soccer players are looking forward to the Chatham Cup and league title double but one player, Paul Clarke, faces a different kind of finish to the season. There will be no league or Cup winners medal for Clarke, who is sweating it out with the rest of his Nelson United team mates as the Sunshine City club tries to lift itself from the bottom of the Air New Zealand league. Clarke, aged 21, a fourth year law and commerce student at the University of Canterbury, commutes to play for his home town club each week-end. He trains with the champion Christchurch side during the week and admits he takes a ribbing from his training partners after each Sunday’s game.

Nelson has been firmly anchored to the foot of the table for the second half of the season while Christchurch is equal first.

“Losing every week-end means there is a different atmosphere between the two sides. I get a hard time about losing so much but there is still good team spirit in the Nelson side and we think we will get off the bottom before the end of the season.”

Nelson is two points behind Manawatu and finishes its programme with matches against Hutt Valley (home), Waikato

(away), Papatoetoe (h) and North Shore (a) while Manawatu has a slightly harder run in against Papatoetoe (a), Manurewa (h), North Shore (a) and Mount Wellington (a). Clarke, who is Nelson born and bred, played for Shamrock in the southern league for the last two seasons and was going to join Technical in the travelling league this year.

But Nelson had a player shortage and after discussions with the player coach, Peter Simonsen, Clarke signed up with the national league side on a commuting basis v It makes for a busy week-end for the young midfielder. If Nelson is at home he flies north at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning, trains the same day with the

side, and returns to Christchurch on Sunday evenings after the match. If Nelson is away he flies direct to the venue on Sunday mornings. Clarke said he has not done much socialising on Friday nights because of his early starts on Saturdays but he is enjoying his football.

The New Zealaiid Universities and Canterbury C representative has learnt a lot, especially from the Christchurch players at training.

"At the start of the season I was in awe of players like Steve Sumner and Garry Lund but now I can go out onto the park and know I can match them. With six players in the All Whites I can’t help but learn from Christchurch.”

If Nelson does finish bottom the New Zealand Football Association will no doubt consider relegating the club but Clarke said political and geographical arguments could affect any decision.

“Look at Miramar last year, they finished bottom and were not relegated but look at University, they were. Obviously we want to get away from the bottom and make sure of staying in.”

Clarke, son of the Nelson United stalwart, Ralph Clarke, said other Christchurch players should consider playing national league football on a commuting basis. He said it

had not affected his studies and his game had improved markedly. As a neutral observer he rates Mount Wellington as a slight favourite to hold out Christchurch in the race for the national league title. “Mount Wellington may have the better strike force with Noel Barkley and Billy Wright if he keeps his mouth shut. At full strength they might just have the edge at home over Christchurch but I would still like to see Christchurch win it.” While the big boys are fighting it out at the top Clarke will be sweating it out with the rest of his Nelson team mates in the final four rounds. “I don’t think we deserve to be relegated. We have had lapses in defence which have cost us and pur strikers have not been scoring, making it an uphill battle this season.”' Among Nelson’s best results have been a 2-0 victory over Gisborne City and a 1-1 draw with Christchurch. It is that kind of form that Clarke, who has played as a sweeper in the last two matches, will be hoping Nelson can produce in the next four weeks.

Getting enough points to avoid the wooden spoon would certainly make all the training and commuting worthwhile, and give him some ammunition to fire back at those Christchurch players who good naturedly rib him about Nelson’s lowly position.