Local footballer selected for national tournament
Golden Bay AFC footballer Willow Milligan achieved a first for his club when he was recently selected in the Mainland 14’s football team to travel to the national tournament.
Willow was nominated by Nelson Bays to attend the Mainland trials in Christchurch. He attended two selection camps in December and February and, after five days of exhaustive trials involving about 30 players, he was thrilled to be named in the final 16-man squad to attend the national tournament.
Mainland is one of six nationwide football regions, including Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough and the West Coast. The other South Island region is made up of South Canterbury, North Otago, Otago and Southland. There are four regions in the North Island. A team from each of these regions will be at the tournament which will be held in Napier in April.
Willow’s father, Martin Milligan explained that this level of regional representative football, called Federation Level, is a step up from provincial representative status. “Willow has been in the Nelson Bays reps for four years but his selection for the Mainland team puts him into a new level. This is the level that New Zealand teams are selected from.”
The team is based in Christchurch so Willow will be travelling south each weekend this term for pre-tournament training.
“All the travel is just a part of the extra commitment that players from places like Golden Bay have to show,” said Martin. “In Nelson, players can be part of development squads that train together all the time but Willow has to do a lot on his own. I think it helps to make players from places like this more dedicated and determined.”
Neil Wilson
