Hamilton Nadi won the Inter-District soccer Championship against Hamilton Babasiga Labasa by two goals to nil in Hamilton last weekend.
It was a moment of joy and fun for soccer lovers, players and organisers as the team won the championship title for the fourth year in a row.
Nadi players made quick moves and scored two goals in first half against the Babasiga team.
Coach, Shiva Reddy said, “Hamilton Nadi FC is a family-orientated team. We have players from 17 years of age to late 40s. We are a self-financing team and do not have any sponsors to date,” he said.
Reddy said the secret of the team’s success was discipline, dedication and pride.
“There are no stars in this team but together we make a star team. All players are treated equally. Win or lose, we stick together and this closeness makes us very strong. We were the Runner up in the Battle of Giants 2010 tournament.”
Babasiga Labasa team also played a classic game with their young side and had lost in finals but is confident of winning the next tournament.
Captain Mukesh Deo said it was a tough battle against the Nadi team, since they had experienced players.
“We did our best. Our young side played well in the tournament like our home team in Labasa, Fiji. The Lions will be ready for the next battle,” he said.
Shivam Raju was awarded best and young goalkeeper of the tournament. He showed a stunning game and won the heart of the public.
The Waikato Bay of Plenty Fiji Football Association organised the IDC tournament for the fourth year in succession. The matches were played in the State of Origin format, meaning that teams had to belong to the district that they represented.
The Waikato association is affiliated to Eastern City AFC, which in turn is affiliated to New Zealand Football.
Eastern City was formed 17 years ago by a group of students from Fiji.
I was the founding member and President since its formation.
Eastern City comprises mainly players from Fiji and competes in the Waikato Football Federation Saturday League, which is the main soccer competition in the region. We have two teams in the League, one each in the A and D divisions. Our A Division team is very competitive and was second on the table last season.
The Eastern City boys came up with the idea of having State of Origin IDC and BOG. We had eight teams this year with one team from Rotorua and the others from Hamilton.
There would be at least ten teams from next year.
This year we had Labasa, Navua, Lautoka, Ba, Nadi, Suva, Nadroga, and Northern.
