A celebration of football in south Auckland

New Zealand sports equipment provider Packaworld International provided Junior Football Packagoals for a community education programme and junior football tournament held for the children of south Auckland at Mangere East Primary School. 
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The Youth Forum included special training from former All White David Mulligan and New Zealand Football’s Fit4Football programme. It was held as was part of the New Zealand Communities Football Cup – an annual competition that aims to connect diverse communities through sport. 

​Developed by New Zealand Federation of Multicultural Councils in conjunction with New Zealand Police, this year’s event saw 16 11-a-side men’s teams, 10 women’s five-a-side teams and 10 youth five-a-side teams compete in three separate competitions.

SportZone Managing Director Tony Morrison helped organise the Communities Football Cup, junior tournament and Youth Forum. He said the inflatable and highly portable Packagoals enabled him to deliver a junior tournament for 50 children in “next to no time”.

“For the past two years, we have offered a Youth Forum as part of the New Zealand Communities Football Cup. It’s an opportunity for us to give something back to the region hosting the event, and get football out there in front of the kids.
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“Seeing the goals go up was a new experience for some of the kids. They thought they were fantastic, and we even had kids wanting to pump them up and swing on them.”

The Packagoals were donated to Mangere East Primary School by the Communities Football Cup organisation after the event, much to the delight of the children and teachers. The school’s girls football team are current regional champions in their division, while the boys team were runner-up.

​Auckland teams also flourished in this year’s New Zealand Communities Football Cup, with South Auckland crowned youth champions and Auckland’s Refugee Youth Action Network (RYAN) and Ruru teams taking the men’s and women’s divisions respectively.

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Images provided courtesy of the New Zealand Communities Football Cup