Page 521 - NUAFC EBook

1969. Northern League with Claudelands Rovers from He has played for Melville and has attended
1966 to 1974 came along with a stint in the NZ Canterbury University, gaining a degree in
International Tournament squad in '69 at the something or other. He then played one season for
Merderka Tournament (luckily Mike caught laryngitis Huntly and became an original member of the Green
and had to stay home!). Machine when it was just a Dinky Toy. He has played
He played around with AFFCo Rangers at all levels and, as he does not have a left foot, he has spent
for four years before arriving at Narra on a Lend/ most of his playing days at left fullback.
Lease arrangement - AFFCo lent him, Narra There was a time when he was moved into
leashed him! the strikers role. He had a point-blank shot at goal from
Mike compliments his soccer with other sports 2 meters out and creamed the corner flag.
such as cricket, golf, snooker and darts with equal
skills. He kicks over the cricket stumps, strikes the golf
ball with the outside of his foot, can't get the ball into any
of the pockets in snooker, and needs a long run-up in 1982-84
darts! Known affectionately as Old Knobbly Knees Jim
An electrician by trade he did a lot of work on the was born in the Emerald Isles in a hitherto unknown
clubrooms. His legacy is still with us. When we open village called Limerick. Once this became known Glen
the fridge door the stove turns on or the club alarm Gray made up a poem ..
goes off when the telephone is answered.. There was a young fellow called Jim
He is a two-footed player (both of them the Whose legs were uncommonly thin.
wrong ones) and was often seen clearing the tops of the
pines when shooting at the southern goal. Now, one shouldn't sneeze
At his knobbly knees
Cause the fault doesn't ly just with him!
He played his early football in England at
Elsmere Port before travelling to NZ as the
1977, 1982-83 principal ballerina for the Bolshoi ballet. He kept goal
Known as Snapper, Fish-head and The Flying for Hamilton and Courier Rangers before joining Narra in
Ferret Keith didn't kick a ball seriously until he was 15 1982.
having been a rugby adherent.
Playing for Ngaruawahia High School he He was a plasterer by trade and was called upon to
contract for work on McSporran's (John McDermid's)
top scored with 37 goals from 9 matches followed the jaw. It can be revealed that the author James Barrie used Jim
next year with 16 goals in the Waikato 2nd Division. Known upon which to model his Peter Pan character.
for his electrifying speed he was often approached to be the
hare at greyhound meetings. Jim met Bernadette at the Waikato Hospital
With a desire to succeed Keith trained four following a double knees operation which left a
permanent smile on each patella.
nights a week, twice with the seniors and twice with
the women's side. He supplemented his training by trying The operations were a success and it was not long
to date Dave Hall's daughter and had to spend the early before Jim was giving flying lessons between uprights
parts of his visits dodging bricks thrown by Dave! on the AFFCo soccer pitch on Tuesdays and Thursdays
while trying to pick off the back passes from Steve

Williams and John Mohn.

1972-85
Mike played League at Glen Afton until
becoming 13 then changed to soccer under Paddy JOHN STEWART
Murphy at Huntly. At 16 he reverted for two years 1981-84
back to League and then signed on for the AFFCo Defender of the Faithless John started his career
Rangers 2nd Division side. During these formative years with East Coast Bays moving from Juniors to Seniors
he was in the Waikato Reps with Les Vuletich. faster than it takes to break a leg.
He was nicknamed Sunshine by Dave Hall (who An electrical supervisor by trade he travelled
called e ver ybod y Sunshine!) and was known to be extensively overseas and played in Libya where he was
a regular battler. He had more lumps on his legs that a made an honorary Sheik, presented with a caravan of
poor liposuction patient and had a neon-light beard (off camels and a harem of goats.
-on-off-on). He claimed he learned all his skills from He moved on to Northern Ireland where he put
the Beano and the Dandy comics especially from the his skills to use dodging grenades from the IRA and
character desperate Dan. Mike had a powerful shot in plastic bullets from the army. He used this ability when
both feet (but not at the same time) and loved breaking playing for Huntly Thistle against Narra between 1976
crossbars, nets and keepers' fingers. and 1980.
He moved to Narra for the transfer fee of a bag
1969-93 of nutty slack where he immediately commenced a series
Bertie (obviously) was born in Upper Hutt but as of enviable self-destruct activities, breaking various
his parents loved in the Lower one they sent his food up legs three times and various knees five times. It came to
to him on a rope. the time where Narra had a vet standing by during
games in case John needed putting down!
Bertie has played for many teams, not always
successfully. He spent some time in Fiji with his
father where he used to dribble coconuts amongst the
tree. He tried heading one once, that's why he now
wears glasses!

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