He might be 93, and has had a lifetime of football, but Noel Hopgood can still be seen on the sidelines every Saturday when his beloved Halswell United is playing.
His weekly routine starts at Scotts Park, just down the road from his Checketts Ave home.
“I watch the second half of the early game, and first half of the next game,” he said.
Hopgood then makes his way to Westlake Reserve and watches part of a game, if there’s one on. Next, he heads past the motorway to Te Kahu Park in Wigram, where Halswell United’s junior programme is based.
Then it’s off Warren Park, where most of Halswell’s home intermediate (ninth to 12th grade) matches are played.
He spends a couple of hours watching games before travelling back to Halswell Domain’s senior pitches to catch the action there from noon onwards.
“That’s my Saturday routine in the winter time,” he said.
As a youngster in England, Hopgood played for Swindon Town’s reserves in the Western League before joining the Merchant Navy and moving to New Zealand in 1956.
His first stop was Wellington where he joined Miramar Rangers, before settling in Halswell in 1958, and he’s been there ever since.
Halswell’s first few years featured a senior team, with Hopgood and Welch both playing, and two junior teams – an under 11 side and a team for 11 to 13-year-olds.
Welch, who died in 2014, was secretary of the club and ran the senior space while Hopgood was president and in charge of the juniors.
Hopgood served 10 years as president across two terms and coached countless junior teams up until 2018.
“You’ve got to get the kids doing the basics. Every week, do the same thing for a quarter of an hour, 20 minutes, half an hour, doing the same as you did last week,” he said.
“They have to control a ball. Half the seniors, you kick a ball to them and they try and trap it. Well, it hits them like hitting a brick wall and bounces off, no control.”
These days, Hopgood has taken a step back from running the club, although he remains involved.
He gets to as many games as he can, and is officially Halswell’s ‘club patron’.
President Ian Ebbs said it was fantastic to still have him around.
“It’s amazing really, it just gives the players and the members of today a connection to where the club came from,” he said.
“Everybody knows Noel, he’s kind of ever-present. He’ll come up to the clubrooms after games and see the players there as well and have a chat.
“He’s done his hard yards and (now) he just gets to be present, which is awesome.”
Hopgood said it was special to see where the club is now.
“It’s very satisfying to see it still existing.
“Clubs younger than us have had a change in name, Woolston Technical and Cashmere have joined together (to create Cashmere Technical), and Rangers and New Brighton have gone into Coastal Spirit. Shamrock have gone, Riccarton have gone, but we’ve managed to survive.”
