Welcome!

Welcome to the 14 April update from Christchurch Football Club, keeping you connected with everything happening in and around the club.

First games of the senior season done and dusted with an outstanding display put on by all teams that played on Saturday being the Premier Men’s and Women’s, Premier Development & our Choppers  – we are so extremely proud of you all and it was amazing to see our new Major Sponsor, Pak n Save Papanui, on all our gear front & centre!! To all our other sponsors who appeared on our gear, Abbott Insurance, Mortgage Link, The Elmwood, Hydraulink, DevCorp, Burger King, Kirk Roberts, Stirling Sports, Speights, and The Axemen we thank you so very much for your support in making sure our players have been looked after and that as teams we look connected & united throughout out all the grades we play 😊

To our Premier Men’s team well done on a great victory against HSOB and to our Premier Development team who performed so extremely well since only coming together over the past two weeks. To our wonderful Choppers, we appreciate that it is difficult in getting players and we as club are looking to help so to everyone out there who is looking to play socially please either look to put the boots on (again!) or talk to anyone you know about playing for this fantastic team!!

Congratulations to Tom Sexton on his Blazer game and all the Premier Men’s players that made their debuts on the weekend.  We are so super proud to have you with us!

To our Premier Women’s team (there were 14 debutants) who played exceptionally well against a quality Linwood team and even though the team lost all the players should be extremely proud on how they played, and the 22 points that were scored by the team was due to fantastic teamwork!! Well done to Lucy Jenkins and Angie Sisifa for leading this team on the field and to Joe & Emma for their debuts as Premier Women’s coaches 😊

I saw a great acronym for F.E.A.R:  Forget Everything And Run or Face Everything And Rise

This young team faced everything and rose to the challenge by overcoming “fear” through courage, belief and having fun – so proud of all the players, coaches, and management!

How awesome was it to see Charley Campbell and her Mum, Vicki, playing Premier Women’s rugby together!! A special mention to Angie Sisifa for playing what was her 43rd Premier Women’s game for the club – only 7 more to go Angie!!!

This weekend sees a big weekend of rugby here at the club as it is our Senior Club Day in action so look out for the draw regarding Pak n Save Papanui Friday Night footy, all our home games on Saturday afternoon and we will see our Colts team in action with a pre-season game at 5-30pm against New Brighton. Then on Sunday morning we are running a Small Blacks Course for all our Junior Coaches followed by “Have a Go Day” and a Tackle Coaching Clinic 😊

Lastly I want to acknowledge the following:

Morne and Edward for their fantastic work on Saturday with the operation of the Bar and Restaurant. There has been a lot of change over the past few months, and we are still learning and growing as a team to ensure we offer the best service possible. To Zoe and Nicola (our newest team member) well done behind the bar! To Jacson Edie, great start to the Co Club Captain role and we appreciate you stepping into the position and look forward to having a lot of fun on a Saturday night with you!!

Throughout 2026 I ask that we R.E.S.P.E.C.T one another, our guests in the clubrooms & in the motel units, the staff who work here during the week as well as on the weekend and what has been provided inside & outside the clubrooms. As you will have seen we have upgraded the bar leaner tops to a matte black top so we ask that dancing be limited to the dance floor not on top of the bar leaners, that crates are placed on the floor and only bottles/glasses/food are put on the bar leaner tops, that glasses/bottles/cans aren’t left or thrown out onto the playing field and that no alcohol is brought on site as this contravenes our Liquor Licence and will see us as a club in serious trouble if a Liquor Licensing Inspector appears on site. If you bring alcohol on site or into the clubrooms when purchased elsewhere it will be confiscated!!

Regards

Shu

Well, what a weekend to be a coach!

Getting back into the Premier Women’s space was a hell of a job and I take my hat off to the coaches’ managers and support that the group have had

Jono, Vicki, Alison, Joe, Angie, Shu, Derms, Lucy and our New Black Fern Maddie, have all played a massive part in getting this off the ground. We have ticked the CRFU boxes and jumped through all their hoops to ensure this has happened

The result, who cares really, it’s great to see these women back playing in the Red and Black of Christchurch!!

The skills that these young and not so young players have are amazing. Their run, catch, pass skill set is a tribute to the hours put in by their coaches from when they were young

As a coach working at Premier Reserve (Development level) you prepare that your original starting team, named on Thursday, will not be the one that takes the field on Saturday.

Sure, enough as it did for Shu and I back in 1998, the same thing happened this Saturday. I was happy to see the team out there running around as we had only one real connection at training. I was also happy to have the support of the coaching Group from 2025, Matt, Kyle and Grayson helping guide me into the nuances of this grade

Down 22 to 5 it looked bleak but with tenacity and an injection of Polynesian power we came home with a wet sail. With a line out catch and drive on the cards to win the game and with the ball secure in Trav’s hands I thought it was very doable, but the ref ruled otherwise!!

It was such a great set up for the Prems match to follow

Passion/Determination/Commitment three words that were on display at Bob Deans and on the dance floor later in the evening! There was a reason to dance, as for the first time in 6 years the Premier team secured a great win, 21-10, over HSOB. It was great to see the care players had for their defensive line and each other throughout the game. If a player missed a tackle, another was there to back his mate up. It was gutsy, determined and so good to watch. Listening to the plans of the coaches in preparation and then seeing them appear in front of me on the field was just fantastic. Our Crusaders added so much to the game and having professional players on your bench to bring on is exactly what we needed. The third try was straight off the practice field and part of our daily warmups

Such a great way to start the season but it’s just a single step on the ladder!

We have “Coaching Development” session on this weekend with all our Small Blacks coaches expected to attend training on Sunday. This is compulsory for all coaches from Year 8 down to Year 1. Get along and get some learning on board, then join us outside for the “Have a Go” session where we will be doing several skills rotations and a tackle clinic. Come on down and tick all the boxes to start your season off in one hit.