Opening-round NPL triple-header postponed

The forecast extremely hot weather on Saturday has forced the postponement of the scheduled NPL Tasmania season opening triple-header at KGV Park.

Friday night’s opening game of Round 1 between Olympia Warriors and South Hobart at Warrior Park at 8pm will go ahead.

Temperatures of 37C are forecast and this would make playing conditions almost intolerable, especially on the artificial surface of KGV Park.

"This decision has not been taken lightly as we are aware of all the work and anticipation that has gone into this weekend however we have a duty of care for all players and officials and this must be paramount,” said Football Tasmania CEO, Matt Bulkeley.

"Football Tasmania has consulted with other states’ governing bodies in arriving at this decision, especially those where this kind of weather is a more common occurrence, and the action of postponing or changing the kick-off times of games is a consistent step that is taken when extreme hot weather is predicted.

“With this in mind, we believe this is the most prudent step for us to take."

Bulkeley said that whilst it was disappointing to have to postpone a marquee day, there were still plenty of big days coming up for the fans to enjoy.

"I would encourage everyone who was planning on attending on Saturday to get to Warrior Park on Friday night for the NPL season opener between South Hobart and Olympia,” he said.

“Then, next weekend, we have the Women's Summer Cup Final, and the week after that, there is a North Hobart double-header, so there is certainly no shortage of exciting footballing action coming up."

The NPL Tasmania triple header is likely to be rescheduled for Easter Monday, with other scheduled Summer Cup games on the Saturday to be moved to either before 11am, or after 6pm, or to a later date.

The postponed NPL Tasmania games are:  Clarence v Riverside Olympic, Hobart Zebras v Devonport City, and Kingborough Lions United v Launceston City.

These games had been scheduled to kick off at noon, 2.15pm and 4.30pm, respectively.

Summer Cup results, low-key NPL season launch, and first coaching casualty

Social Men’s Summer Cup, Conference 2

New Town Eagles 4-0 South East United

Taroona 4-3 Metro Yellow

University Dynamos 1-1 Hobart United (Ashenafi Ghebrehiwet)

(University won penalty shoot-out 6-5)

Kingborough Lions Blue 0-4 Southern FC White

Social Men's Summer Cup, Conference 1

Kingborough Lions Black 4 (Kai Hoddy 2, Sam Ash Williams, Will Aitken) beat South Hobart 2

Olympia Warriors 4-1 Southern FC Blue

Under-18s Summer Cup

Olympia Warriors 3-0 Beachside

South Hobart 12-1 Hobart United 

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Photo:  Club representatives at today's launch are:  Back row (L-R):  Nicky Edwards (Hobart Zebras), Lucas Hill (Olympia Warriors), Nathan Pitchford (Devonport City), Jarrod Hill (Riverside Olympic), Sam Cannamela (Clarence United).  Front row (L-R):  Danny Cowen (Kingborough Lions United), Nick Morton (South Hobart), Alex Bellini (Glenorchy Knights), Matthew Oh (Launceston City). [PlessPix]

Football Federation Tasmania held a low-key 2019 NPL Tasmania launch on the lawns beside the entrance to the Wrest Point Hotel Casino this afternoon.

Players representing the nine NPL Tasmania clubs  attended in their team's kit for 2019.

The media was given the opportunity to interview the players.

FFT CEO Matt Bulkeley was not in attendance.

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Launceston City's NPL Tasmania coach, peter Sawdon, has resigned before the season has begun.

His replacement is assistant coach, Lino Sciulli, who coached Northern Rangers last season.

Sciulli is a former Launceston City player and coach.

Latest results - Friday, 22 Feb 2019 and Saturday, 23 Feb 2019

Photo: Kingborough Lions United women's team [Photo by Matthew Rhodes]

Women’s Summer Cup

Kingborough Lions United 2 (Laura Davis 42’, 62’) beat Clarence United 0

Beachside 1 (Nina Daniels 47’) drew with Taroona 1 (Hannah Parish 18’)

[Beachside won penalty shoot-out 3-1]

Olympia Warriors 8-1 South Hobart

Hobart Zebras 2-1 Ulverstone

Photo:  Taroona women's team [Photo by Matthew Rhodes]

Southern Championship Men’s Summer Cup

Beachside 3 (Hickey 32’ pen, Browning 85’, McDonald 89’) beat Taroona 1 (Darling 46’)

New Town Eagles 5-0 Nelson

South East United 1-6 Hobart United Francis Kenyi 4, Jal David, Ajak Ngor)

University 3-2 Metro

NPL Tasmania Friendlies

Kingborough Lions United 0-5 Glenorchy Knights

Launceston City 1 (N Mies pen) lost to Hobart Zebras 2 (T Little 2)

Photo:  Clarence United's women's team [Photo by Matthew Rhodes] 

Social Men's Summer Cup Conference 2

New Town Eagles 4-0 South East United 

Social Men's Summer Cup Conference 1

Metro Blue 0-3 Hobart Zebras

Olympia receive half-a-million dollar government grant

Photo:  Olympia president George Mamacas (fourth from left) with FFT officials, Minister Jacquie Petrusma MHA (fourth from right), and coach Alistair Russell (extreme right) and players at yesterday's announcement [Photo courtesy of Olympia Warrior FC]

Santa Claus has come again.  Whether he’s early or late is a moot point.

Suffice it to say that Olympia Warriors are the latest beneficiary of government largesse.

The club has been given a ‘Levelling the Playing Field’ grant of $500,000, which is not to be sneezed at.

“These funds will be designated towards the upgrading of the Warrior Park facility,” said Olympia president, George Mamacas.

“Specifically, we intend to improve the existing change rooms and add more change rooms designed for females.

“Also envisaged will be a new media room and seating for the viewing public.

“Construction is likely to take place towards the end of the 2019 winter football season.

“The club thanks the State Government for their consideration of the grant.

“A big thank you to our club’s General Manager, Sarah Black, for the tireless work she put towards the final draft of the grant application.

“I also recognise the efforts of the FFT board in assisting us and would like to thank FFT Board member, Jim Lange, for his personal help with this project.

“Olympia FC are proud to be the leaders in women’s football in the State of Tasmania.

“Olympia FC look forward to a successful Super League campaign in 2019.”

Photo:  Olympia Warriors women's squad and coach Michael Moschogiannis in their new Puma gear [Photo courtesy of Olympia Warriors FC]

Hobart Zebras to travel north to play sister club Launceston City

Hobart Zebras travel to Launceston tomorrow for a pre-season friendly against sister NPL Tasmania club Launceston City.

The game will be played at St Patrick’s College ground at 2pm.

Zebras will be without Jordan Muller, Jan Charuza, Dwayne Walsh, Matthew Pace and Henry Fagg.

They are either injured or are being rested.

On the positive front, Mathew Sanders and Nicky Edwards will fly into Launceston from Melbourne to join the team.

“This game is a very good opportunity for a number of players who have had interrupted pre-seasons and or not had good playing minutes in the last few weeks to stake a claim for the Devonport game next week,” said Zebras coach, David Smith.

“We have had a pretty hard week on the track since the Riverside game, a game in which we were poor and lacked a lot of the intensity from previous games and I and the players were disappointed with our outcomes.

“This week, we need to see much quicker ball movement in transition, more patience on the ball, especially in the defensive-third, and much improved distances between the lines, which are all things we have worked on in pre-season.

“We are taking 15 players up and all will get good minutes against a Launceston City team that I know very little about.

“They obviously have new coach in Sawdie [Peter Sawdon] and lots of changes in personnel and are no doubt looking to gel these players together as they prepare for game one of the NPL next week.”

The Hobart Zebras squad will be:  Sam Whatman, Thomas Little, Ryu Yonezawa, Riley Dillon, Jayden Hey, Lachie Burt, Adam Lapolla, Luke Huigsloot, Nicky Edwards, Adam McKeown, Luke Bighin, Jimmy Ackerley, Chase Clark, Nathan Reid, Mathew Sanders.