Waterside Karori have appointed former New Zealand international Rory Fallon as their Central League men’s head coach for next season.
Fallon (41) has been head of youth development at the Wellington Phoenix academy for the past two years and has coached age group teams and been part of the All Whites coaching staff.
Main photo: Rory Fallon … will continue to work with the Wellington Phoenix as well as lead Waterside Karori’s Central League campaign.
Announcing Fallon’s appointment, Waterside Karori say: “He will continue to work within the Phoenix in a different role as well as with us at the Wharf.”
Fallon won 24 caps for the All-Whites, scoring six international goals including his most famous, the header against Bahrain in November 2009 that sent New Zealand to the FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa.
Fallon, who had a long professional playing career in the United Kingdom, replaces Sam Morrissey as Waterside Karori’s men’s head coach.
READ MORE: Waterside Karori’s Sam Morrissey moves to Central League rivals Petone >>>>
Morrissey will coach Petone next year, replacing Ryan Edwards who has joined Christchurch United.
READ MORE: Petone’s Ryan Edwards to replace Paul Ifill as Christchurch United head coach >>>>
Waterside Karori and Phoenix announce partnership
The appointment of Fallon at Waterside Karori was part of a combined announcement by the club and the Wellington Phoenix in which they revealed a partnership to grow the A-League club’s pre-academy centre.
Waterside Karori are one of Wellington’s biggest clubs, with close to 1000 players, of which more than 650 are juniors, and 80 teams.
They join Lower Hutt City, Queen Margaret College and Whitby Collegiate as PAC partners in the Wellington region and the Phoenix are looking to build relationships with other Capital Football clubs.
Twelve clubs in other parts of Aotearoa, from Whangarei to Dunedin, have adopted the pre-academy centre programmes in the past two seasons.
The PAC programme is targeted at players in the skill acquisition phase (ages 9-12) and looks to build on their key skills and confidence to help them take the next step in their football journey.
PAC clubs are able to utilise the Phoenix’s pre-academy training programme and development centre, which is an online platform to develop players, coaches and parents.
Waterside Karori said: “We see this as a fantastic opportunity to build linkages between our community club and our professional neighbours, and to give our best-performing boys and girls a clear pathway into the Phoenix youth academies and beyond.
“We will continue to run our Swifts, girls-only and junior social programmes, with the PAC overlay for players, coaches and parents to be introduced next season.”
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