.png)
Gould in Kiwiland
Johnathan Gould, the Hereford United goalkeeper, spent some time in New Zealand during 1989. He played several games for Napier City Rovers.
Bulls News has received an e-mail from Kiwiland about his time with the club and how he was sent off in one match.
From: Phil Holt
Subject: Re: Ex Napier City Rovers boy
Yes Jon played for Napier in 1989 when we won the National
League. From memory he only played 4 games in goal in the
early part of the season including a Chatham Cup exit
against Lower Hutt and Rovers never won any of those 4
games. He played mostly for the Reserves in Central League
Div 3 and in our game against Waterside in Karori he was
sent off basically on the word of a referee who was walking
his dog around the side of the pitch at the time of the
incident. The match official didn't see the incident and his
Linesman didn't have a clear veiw either. The man with the
dog was very vociferous in offering his veiw of the
incident. The Ref sent Jon off and awarded a penalty. I came
on in goal and narrowly failed to save the penalty and we
hammered Waterside for the remainder of the game but lost
2-1. Gary Parker played up front that day.
Jon got back in the first team at the business end of the
season and played as either a Central Defender or right back
as Rovers won the Championship on the last day of the
season. That was in the days when winning the round robin
meant you'd won the League.
I still keep in touch with Jon on an irregular basis and he
was over here last year for a holiday. Rumour has it that he
will looking to make a permanent move to Napier when his
career is over in the UK.