Central Football have announced some minor changes to their structure and some roles within their organisation to improve support for clubs and provide consistency across the delivery of competitions and programmes.
In its announcement of the restructure, the federation says the first change will centralise five regional competition management roles into two competition manager roles.
These will be filled by Dana Herbison (Hawkes Bay, Tairāwhiti/Gisborne) and Matt Wallace (Manawatu/Whanganui/Taranaki).
Herbison and Wallace will manage all competitions within their respective regions while considering possible improvements to existing and opportunities for new competitions and events.
A new role of community engagement manager has been created to support clubs and help them provide a great experience to their members, be supported where needed around governance and strategy and ultimately become more sustainable entities.
“Part of this new role will be designed to help the pending changes to the Incorporated Societies Act and embed pathways for players, coaches, and administrators,” the federation says.
Experienced current Hawkes Bay operations manager Shane McKenzie took up this federation-wide role on June 4, 2024.
“In Taranaki, the recently-announced appointment of Michael Reive to the newly formed community operations manager – Taranaki, was an opportunity to provide additional resource to that region, given the membership, geographical size and location and obvious potential for growth,” the announcement said.
READ MORE: Central Football appoint Michael Reive to Taranaki community operations role >>>>
The current regional-based community development officers have had a title change, becoming regional community managers and being the focal point for each of the regions in terms of player development, community programmes and coach education.
The regional community managers are Steve Hoyle (Hawkes Bay), Mikaela Bouwmeester (Manawatu), Cathy Norris (Whanganui) and John Gray (Taranaki) while an appointment to the vacant position in Tairawhiti Gisborne is due soon.
Donald Piper will lead the operations team, including the competition and community engagement managers while Leon Birnie will lead the regional community managers’ team.
Central Football chief executive Darren Mason said: “Whilst the structure changes were relatively minor, the plan is that they will have a significant impact on our efficiency and effectiveness and enable us to be more available and accessible to our clubs and other stakeholders.
“There are a number of our clubs that are either in the process of developing medium to long-term strategies for their futures or are at least considering how they will evolve, and we want to have resource and expertise available to assist with this where we can.”
More football stories
