Rongotai College Football

One of the standout memories from this year has to be Charlie’s brilliant free kicks. Consistent, confident, and always exciting to watch.

Well done Charlie! Keep it up!

Online Fan Call & Q&A with All White, Auckland FC and Rongotai College Footballer Jesse Randall
🗓️ Sunday, 25 January at 7:00pm NZDT
💻 Live on Zoom + YouTube
🎟️ Free for all students, families, and educators

Jesse will be sharing his journey from grassroots football in New Zealand (playing for Miramar, Island Bay, North Wellington, Olympic and Rongotai College) to becoming an All White and signing professionally with Auckland FC in the A-League.

You will also have the chance to ask Jesse your own questions during the live session.

This online call and Q&A will offer practical insights into:
▪️ How Jesse progressed from junior football to Auckland FC
▪️ His pathway to becoming an All White
▪️ Lessons learned through setbacks, selections & pressure
▪️ Daily routines, training, recovery and mindset
▪️ Balancing school, sport, expectations & wellbeing
▪️ Live Q&A — students can ask Jesse their own questions!

📝 Register here:
https://shorturl.at/sbI1r Or email [email protected]

📺 Watch live on YouTube:
https://shorturl.at/WH14L

NICOLAS BALL – Rongotai to New York 🇺🇸

From Rongotai College to a scholarship at Dominican University, New York, Nicolas Ball is showing what hard work can achieve. A 2024 Prefect, Nicolas earned his place in the US through dedication both in the classroom and on the pitch.

Nicolas made his 1st XI debut in Year 10 and became a regular starter the following season, quickly proving himself against the best school footballers in Wellington.

He also shone at Wellington Olympic, contributing to title-winning Capital Premier and Hilton Petone squads. While now known as a reliable and tough right back at Dominican and previously Olympic, Nicolas had the odd run in the Rongotai midfield—bagging a few goals along the way, including that long-range screamer against Wellington College in the 2024 traditional. ⚽🔥

Well done, Nicolas! We look forward to following your journey in the US.

Congratulations to our Junior A Futsal team, who today won the College Sport Wellington Regional Junior Championship, beating Wellington College 2-0 in the final.

We done to the boys, and to our student coaches James, Alex and Will!

To top off a great season, the Rongotai Junior Yellow team faced their toughest (or at least most important) challenge yet: the parents.

The parents strode onto the pitch full of confidence, buoyed by superior numbers and the luxury of unlimited substitutions. The players, lacking their coach’s encouragement from the sideline, shaped up in an unconventional 4-0-4 formation—conceding the midfield entirely.

Early on, the parents took full advantage, racing out to a commanding 5–2 lead. But as the game wore on, more parents were standing than running, suggesting that enthusiasm had perhaps outpaced fitness and experience.

The players, meanwhile, grew stronger. With solid defending and incisive passes up front, they clawed it back to 5–5. The parents rallied once more, only for the juniors to equalise again just before the final whistle. Final score: 6–6. Honours even and bragging rights snatched from the parents for the car ride home.

A huge thanks to everyone who’s been part of the season—we can’t wait for next year!

And a special thank you to Duncan for his outstanding efforts as coach this year. It’s not often a junior third team is guided by someone so knowledgeable, encouraging, and generous with their time.

CONGRATULATIONS to Tawa for winning the inaugural Jnr RC Cup!

RC Cup expanded this year with a junior division aimed at teams in Jnr Division 2 and below who wouldn't normally get a tournament experience. The Junior RC Cup proved more popular than any RC Cup we've had in the past. We look forward to making this a permanent feature of our football programme.

The cup was a hard fought with both semi-finals going to spot kicks! Tawa and HVHS won their respective shootouts and met in the final where a cracking Tawa goal early in the second half was enough for a 1-0 win.

Newlands won the 3rd/4th play-off on spot kicks over Aotea. Well done, Newlands!

A special well done has to go to Aotea for competing with teams several divisions above them in CSW grades. Being on the wrong end of two shoot-outs is brutal, but that is tournament football.

A huge thanks goes to the Matt from Better Football for excellent officiating in the final. It was great to see a sincere round of applause from both teams for his work!

Congratulations to Onslow College on winning their first RC Cup!

Onslow prevented a Wellington college three-peat with a decisive 2-0 victory in the final.

RC Cup is a one-day tournament for teams/players aimed at giving players an opportunity to compete in tournament football who wouldn't ordinarily get an opportunity to participate in Winter Tournament Week.

A big thank you to Better Football for providing a referee for the final. Your support is appreciated!

A further thank you goes to all of the referees who volunteered for the event. In particular we'd like to recognise the students Leo, Alex B, Alex G, James and Matthew for their contributions.

We are also grateful to parents and past parents without sons in the competition who volunteered to help.

Photos from the Trident Tournament final

Photos from day 2 of Trident at Rongotai, including some photos of both of our boys' games.

HOFFMANN HEROICS!

Whanganui and Rongotai could not be separated in the semi-final so spot kicks were needed. Our captain and goalkeeper pulled off TWO saves in a 4-2 shootout win.

The shootout performance marks a third excellent tournament for Matthew. He was our MVP at the 2024 premier tournament and went nearly five consecutive hours without conceding in the 2023 Trident tournament.

The boys take on Christchurch Boys High School tomorrow (Friday 29th August) in the final. You can watch at Martin Luckie Park. It's a 1:30pm Kick off.

Photo: Hamish Black

1st XI are through to the semi-final of Trident against Whanganui Collegiate.

You can catch them in action on Thursday 28 August, 1pm at Martin Luckie Park.

Recent History:

Of the last three satellite tournaments 1st XI has participated in (2025, 2023, 2019), they've made the semifinals every time. The previous two iterations were a 4-1 win over Long Bay College (2023) at Wembly Park in Whanganui, and a 3-0 loss to Wellington College (2019) at Crown Park in Taupo.

The team last played Whanganui Collegiate in 2023. The result at Wembly Park that day was a hard fought 0-0 draw in pool play.

After finishing 2nd in their pool, 1st XI won their R16 game 1-0 vs a strong Francis Douglas Memorial College.

They now play Tauhara College at 11:25am at Martin Luckie Park on Wednesday in the QFs.