The girls’ team dubbed the Diamonds headed the Auckland Football challenge at the 2007 Weir Rose Bowl Youth Tournament held at King’s College.
The Auckland Football Diamonds representative side reached the final of the girls’ event of the Weir Rose Bowl – a 20-team tournament which brought together the best under-12 football talent from Hawke’s Bay to Northland.
In all, the Auckland Football Federation region had seven teams at the tournament – four boys’ sides and three girls’ teams – with players selected from the federation’s Centre of Excellence training programme.
The Diamonds team of 12, coached by former All White Keith Mackay and Kerry Douglas, drew players from six clubs from across the Auckland-Manukau region.
The side won four of their six matches with their only defeat coming in a 1-0 loss in the tournament final against United Soccer 1’s Harbour/Waitakere team.
But the Auckland Football Federation success didn’t end with the terrific effort by the Diamonds.
The two other girls’ teams also turned in some wonderful performances with the Sapphires almost tipping out the eventual winners in the quarter-finals before losing on penalties while the Rubies held the same team to a 1-1 draw in pool play and were the only team to score against champions in normal time.
Raima Harding was Auckland Football’s leading goalscorer with two for the Diamonds, a number made more impressive considering the Buckland’s Beach striker was injured on day two of the tournament and could only cheer on her team from the sidelines on the final day.
Meanwhile, on the boys’ side, the Auckland Football Spurs finished in third place after winning four of their six matches.
The team, coached by Ross Blankenaar and Darren Soroka, finished second in their group behind tournament runners-up Waikato/Bay of Plenty B before accounting for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty A side 2-1 in the third-fourth playoff match.
Harbour A won the boys tournament after the United Soccer1 side were 3-0 winners over Waikato/Bay of Plenty B in the final.
Elsewhere in the boys section, the three other Auckland Football Federation sides each took at least one victory from their six matches during the intense three-day competition. 
Of the 67 goals scored in the boys’ tournament, Auckland Football Federation players were responsible for 25 of them with eight of this region’s representatives scoring twice.
Auckland Football Federation's Director of Football Sean Douglas, who organised this year's event and oversees the representative programme for his federation, is more than happy with the results this year.
"I'm extremely pleased with the way our teams played during the tournament," Douglas said.
"Some of their play was the best I have seen from Auckland Football teams at this age group.
"All of the coaches focused on development with the teams trying to play the ball on the deck and keep possession. While this may not win the tournament at this age, it will pay dividends in the long run."
The Weir Rose Bowl is the first tournament in the Auckland Football Federation representative calendar with the national age-group tournaments at under-13 to under-16 level to follow in Napier in December.
Click here for the full list of results, group standings and tournament goalscorers (Excel).
Related links:
- HARBOUR A BOYS COMPLETE THREE-PEAT
- HARBOUR/WAITAKERE CLAIM GIRLS' TITLE
- YOUNGSTERS SET FOR WEIR ROSE BOWL
