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Wānaka FC will farewell two club legends this Sunday, as Thomas van Hees and Alan Carmichael are set to play their final games for the club.
The pair’s departure represents the end of a remarkable chapter in the town’s football history. The club’s membership double in size and it now provides a pathway for young players from Wānaka to play at the highest level of domestic football in New Zealand without leaving home.
Carmichael, who left school to sign for Scottish professional side Partick Thistle, stopped playing football in 1995 after the side’s youth team collapsed, before stumbling across football in Wānaka in 2010 by accident.
“My wife and I were in a backpackers trying to decide whether to stay in Wānaka or go to Queenstown, and I went for a jog through Pembroke Park and there was a football session going on.”
“I played in a match the week after, scored a couple of goals and have watched it grow from a single social team to a club which is now playing in the highest level in the country with 600 members from under five up to the first team.”
Carmichael managed the team from 2013 to 2018, before stepping aside while expecting his first child, but has remained involved, playing 16 seasons for the club and becoming its record goalscorer.
Van Hees, the club’s current director of football and first team manager, will also play his last game for the club this weekend, having played a significant role in the integration of the club’s youth and senior set-ups, and the development of year-round football for kids in Wānaka.
Van Hees arrived in Wānaka in 2017 from the Netherlands, arguably the epicentre of football coaching globally, first joining the senior team before deciding he wanted to volunteer his time and get back into coaching through youth football.
Alongside other members of the community, van Hees worked to develop youth football in Wānaka, integrating the junior and senior clubs to create an pathway for young people to play senior football in the town.
When a group of talented players emerged from the Wānaka youth set-up, it was decided that the senior team would leave the Central Otago league to join the Dunedin-based Southern Premier League, Hees said.
Five seasons later, Wānaka won promotion to the Dettol Southern League, New Zealand’s highest level of domestic football, meaning that young players in Wānaka — who would previously have to leave town to play high level football — can play football at the highest level in New Zealand for their hometown club.
Wānaka FC vice-president Ben Wiseby said that van Hees’ contribution to the club was so significant it was difficult to describe.
Wiseby said that when van Hees showed up, the club had around 200 members playing football for about 10 weeks a year, with the club doubling in size to 500 junior members with year-round football available through the club’s academy during van Hees’ tenure.
“It’s not a job you do for money and I think for me the biggest impact is when you talk to the current players and the ex-players, whether they’re senior or junior, the huge impact that he’s had on them.
“A parent told us the other day that their 10-year-old had to write something at school about someone they admire and they chose Thomas to write about, and that was a very heartwarming highlight of the appreciation that the players across the club have for Thomas and the impact that he has on them individually.”
Van Hees and Carmichael will make their final appearances for the club this Sunday against Coastal Spirit at 1pm at Wānaka Recreation Centre.