It was a quiet week now that Mercantile Squash, Junior Rugby, Senior Netball and Senior Rugby have finished their main seasons. Unfortunately, due to the weather, the JAB Wairoa Rep games scheduled for Sunday, were called off as well. This left us with the football semi final on Saturday as the only bit of action on the weekend.

Senior Football
Saturday's Semi-Final match vs Pro Roofing Thistle was going to be nothing short of entertainment between two sides looking to book a spot in the Chris Moore Knockout Cup Final. The game started off with both teams slowly building themselves into the game, Thistle managing to score first and catch Athletic off guard, Thistle 1 Athletic 0. Athletic's never give up mentality proved to be one of our strengths as the boys fought back putting pressure on Thistle, causing them to be on the backfoot and scrambling in defence. Having beaten the keeper, Harry Champion found himself with an open goal, he took a shot but a Thistle defender threw everything he had to defend it, unfortunately giving away a penalty by hand ball. Out came the red card as he was the last defender. Captain Ben Blake stepped up to take the penalty only to have it saved. Thistle was able to continue playing as a tight unit and from all the years of experience, managed to score again: Thistle 2 Athletic 0. The second half began and Athletic looked more determined and more calm to get themselves back into the game managing to do so, Josh Cowan making a play found Harry Champion who curled it in to get Athletic on the board, Thistle 2 Athletic 1. Game back on! Unfortunately for the men in black, Thistle were able to score another 3 goals taking a 5-1 victory when the final whistle blew. There were plenty of standout performances from the Athletic men, it just wasn't to be our day. That's the 2025 season wrapped up! QRS Athletic Football would like to thank the supporters, our sponsors and everyone that helped make this season happen, the boys will be back stronger for 2026!  Player of the day: Mike Hardie, Ryan O'Sullivan, Josh Cowan

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With football now having played their last game of the season as well, we look ahead to more fun activities we have lined up! This Thursday is JAB Prizegiving at Bayleys Athletic Park, bring a plate if you're joining us for that (more details can be found on our Facebook page). And if you haven't yet, make sure to enter the Squash Club Championships, email us or message Mike. Finally, Senior Prizegiving will be held on Saturday, 20 September, more details will follow soon.

Mercantile Squash Finals
We have our 2025 champions! Congratulations to Pickering Cabinet Makers for taking out the 2025 Mercantile Squash Championship title for the second year running. It was a great final with some good squash. Slort Sports were in it till the end. Our Wooden Spoon champions this year are newcomers PGG Wrightsons Livestock. They will be back bigger and stronger next year. The Kevin Vette Trophy for the Most Dedicated to Mercantile Squash went to Joanne Reynolds. Check out the photos below.

Thanks to Mionny Enterprises and Hardie & Son Engraving for being the main sponsors for the competition, and the following for donating prizes: Farmlands, Oslers Bakery, Fulton Hogan, QRS, LAD Design, Tim Howard Building, L. Graves Decorators, Wines & Spirits, Smithy Motorcycles, Pickering Cabinet Makers, Hammer Hardware, Ecko and Affco.

We now turn our attention to the Club Championships 2025. These will be held over two weeks: 18-22nd and  25-29th August. Keep an eye out for more details!

Junior Rugby - Final Round
All our junior teams participated in the final round of this year's junior rugby season. It was such a blast to finish off the season strong with some fun games (sorry, no scores this week!). The morning concluded with the Wairoa JAB prizegiving. We'd like to extend a huge thank you to all our awesome players and parents for joining us this season, and especially to our amazing coaches for all your efforts! And finally, to our sponsor Tuhara Harvest for supporting our young ones as they find their way into the sport!

We're now looking ahead to this Sunday's Wairoa rep games against Ngatapa at Lambton Square, we have a number of Athletic players representing! Check out the Wairoa JAB Rugby Facebook page for the latest updates. Also mark your calendars for Athletic JAB Prizegiving, Thursday 14 August from 4pm. More details can be found on our Facebook page.

Senior Netball Finals
Oslers Bakery Athletic White's first game of the finals weekend was a fiercely contested clash against Tapuae Ruataumata. Neck and neck for most of the match, we trailed by just one goal at the end of each of the first three quarters. But the girls dug deep in the final stretch, pushing through with grit and determination to take the win 26–23. It was fast-paced, action-packed netball at its best! That win earned us a spot in a second game against a fresh and fierce YMP Raupunga side. Their strong defence and shooting made things tough for us, and despite giving it our all, the game finished with a 37–13 win to YMP. Players of the Day: Teri, Becky, Clare. We’re incredibly proud of our Athletic White girls, who’ve loved their first season in the Gold Division! The level of competition has definitely stepped up, and the team has risen to the challenge—learning loads and improving every game. While the results haven’t always gone our way, we’ve kept our heads up and held onto the fun, social vibe that defines our team. We’re now looking ahead to the Kurangaituku Tournament in Rotorua later this month, where we’ll be joined by a few extras from team Athletic Black.

Oslers Bakery Athletic Black had Nuhaka up first for the Wairoa Netball Finals. Nuhaka came out so strong and despite a huge effort from the whole team, Black went down in a 28-9 defeat. Players of the Day - 3 - Georgia Wood 2 - Josie Mulgrew 1 - Paige Bentley. Second up, Black had another tough battle against a really strong Mahia side. A very skilful game with a lot of end to end plays, some good penalties won and some serious heart shown from both sides. Mahia took the win 32-14. Players of the day - 3 - Georgia Wood 2 - Suzy Chrystal 1 - Claire Little. Although the defeats Athletic Black still ended the season in such high spirits.

As a club we're incredibly proud of both teams, showing true Athletic spirit throughout the season in both the gold and silver divisions. Thank you to Wairoa Netball for another great season, we look forward to doing it again next year! And to our new Netball sponsor, Oslers Bakery, we truly appreciate your support and we're excited to partner up again next season.

Senior Football
Saturday's final Tairawhiti Division Two game saw QRS Athletic Football travel up to Patutahi for the first time in years to take on Ngatapa Silkies. Ngatapa started the game off strongly, finding an early opener catching Athletic napping Ngatapa, 1 Athletic 0. Athletic began to string up a few good phases of play but wasn't able to equalize. Ngatapa holding on to a 1 nil lead into halftime. The second half began and Ngatapa continued with their hot form of attack and managed to score twice to take a dominant 3-0 lead. There was about 10 mins left to play before Athletic got off the bus and started playing, managing to get on the scoreboard 3-1 through the boot of Tom Rowley-Westwood from a cross from captain Ben Blake. Athletic kept the pressure on by pressing straight after kickoff, managed to force an error and gain the ball back, the captain crossing it in to find Tom Rowley-Westwood once again for his second of the day, 3 - 2. Game on and all momentum was with QRS Athletic but it was too little too late. Ngatapa held on to take the final 3 points on offer for the 2025 season and Athletic finished 4th on this year's table. Player of the day: Tom Rowley-Westwood and Harry Champion. Athletic now turn the focus to next weekend's Chris Moore Knockout Cup semi-final at home vs Pro Roofing Thistle.