2020 Women's Premiership (New Zealand)

The 2020 Women's Premiership (currently known as the ISPS Handa Women's Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eighteenth season of the league, New Zealand's top level women's football league since its establishment in 2002. Seven teams again were involved in the season representing the different regions in New Zealand. The league after consultation and feedback from stakeholders, was reverted to a single round-robin format, with the two highest-placed sides progressing to a one-off grand final.[1] Canterbury United Pride was again the team to beat, as they were looking at a threepeat, having played in every final since 2013, won five out of seven of those finals, including the last two years.[2]

ISPS Handa Women's Premiership
Season2020
ChampionsCanterbury United Pride
Matches played21
Goals scored79 (3.76 per match)
Top goalscorerRina Hirano and Kaley Ward (6)
Biggest home winCanterbury 6-0 Central
(21 November 2020)
Biggest away winCapital 0-4 Canterbury
(5 December 2020)
Highest scoringWaiBOP 4-4 Auckland
(13 December 2020)
2019
2021
All statistics correct as of 20 December 2020.

After an unbeaten regular season, Canterbury United Pride capped it off by completing the threepeat, beating 2nd place Capital Football 4–0 in the final.[3]

Teams

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Northern Lights
 
Auckland Football
 
WaiBOP
 
Central Football
 
Capital Football
 
Canterbury United Pride
 
Southern United
Locations of the 2020 National Women's League Teams
Team Location Ground Coach
Northern Lights North Shore Allen Hill Stadium Ben Bate[2]
Auckland Football Auckland McLennan Park Aaron McFarland[2][4]
WaiBOP Cambridge John Kerkhof Park Nico Girard and Tracy Wrigley[2][5]
Central Football Palmerston North Massey Uni Barry Scullion[2]
Capital Football Lower Hutt Petone Memorial Park Maia Vink[2][6]
Canterbury United Pride Christchurch English Park Alana Gunn[2][7]
Southern United Dunedin Logan Park Ignacio Sande[2][8]

Regular season

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League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Canterbury United Pride (C) 6 6 0 0 23 3 +20 18 Qualification to the Final
2 Capital 6 4 1 1 11 5 +6 13
3 Northern Lights 6 3 1 2 13 6 +7 10
4 Southern United 6 2 0 4 6 18 −12 6
5 WaiBOP 6 1 2 3 11 14 −3 5
6 Auckland[a] 6 1 1 4 8 17 −9 4
7 Central Football 6 1 1 4 7 16 −9 4
Source: NZ Football
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes:
  1. ^ Auckland Football forfeited three matches (losing 9 points) for fielding an ineligible player in their Round 1, 2 and 3 games against Central Football, Canterbury United Pride and Capital Football and the results recorded as 3–0 wins for the opposition.[9]

Positions by round

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Qualification to Final
Source: NZ Football

Fixtures and results

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New Zealand women's football league matches will take place from 31 October to 20 December with the draw reverting to a single-round robin competition with the top two teams progressing to the one-off final.[1]

On the 11 December New Zealand Football announced Auckland Football had been docked 9 points for fielding an ineligible player in three of their ISPS Handa Women's Premiership games. The results from Round 1, 2 and 3 against Central Football, Canterbury United Pride and Capital Football were forfeited and results recorded as 3–0 wins for the opposition.[9]

Round 1

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31 October 2020 Southern United 1–4 Canterbury United Pride Logan Park, Dunedin
11:30
  • Murrell   90+1'
Report
Referee: Lindsey Robinson
1 November 2020 Northern Lights 1–1 Capital McFetridge Park, Auckland
13:00
Report
Referee: Sarah Jones
1 November 2020 Auckland Football 0–3* Central Football Riverhills Park, Auckland
14:00
Report
Referee: Eric Yu

Bye: WaiBOP
*Auckland Football beat Central Football 9–1 however it was ruled by NZ Football that they had fielded an ineligible player so forfeited the result. This meant the win was awarded as a 3–0 result to Central[9]

Round 2

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7 November 2020 Central Football 2–2 WaiBOP Massey University, Palmerston North
12:00
Report
Referee: Sarah Jones
7 November 2020 Capital Football 5–0 Southern United Petone Memorial Park, Lower Hutt
13:00
Report Referee: Simon Morris

Bye: Northern Lights
*Auckland Football beat Canterbury United Pride 4–1 however it was ruled by NZ Football that they had fielded an ineligible player so forfeited the result. This meant the win was awarded as a 3–0 result to Canterbury[9]

Round 3

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15 November 2020 Southern United 0–3 Northern Lights Logan Park, Dunedin
12:00 Report
Referee: Caleb Marsh
15 November 2020 WaiBOP 2–4 Canterbury United Pride John Kerkhof Park, Cambridge
12:00
Report
Referee: Robbie Maris
15 November 2020 Auckland Football 0–3* Capital Football Riverhills Park, Auckland
14:00
Report
Referee: Lindsey Robinson

Bye: Central Football
*Auckland Football beat Capital Football 3–1 however it was ruled by NZ Football that they had fielded an ineligible player so forfeited the result. This meant the win was awarded as a 3–0 result to Capital[9]

Round 4

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21 November 2020 Canterbury United Pride 6–0 Central Football English Park, Christchurch
14:00
Report Referee: Sarah Jones
22 November 2020 Northern Lights 4–1 Auckland Football McFetridge Park, Auckland
13:00
Report
Referee: Eric Yu

Bye: Southern United

Round 5

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29 November 2020 Auckland Football 3–0 Southern United Riverhills Park, Auckland
12:30
Report Referee: Sarah Jones
29 November 2020 WaiBOP 2–1 Northern Lights John Kerkhof Park, Cambridge
14:00
Report
Referee: Robbie Maris

Bye: Canterbury United Pride

Round 6

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6 December 2020 Southern United 2–1 WaiBOP Logan Park, Dunedin
11:00
Report
Referee: Caleb Marsh
6 December 2020 Northern Lights 4–0 Central Football McFetridge Park, Auckland
13:00
Report Referee: Lindsey Robinson

Bye: Auckland Football

Round 7

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13 December 2020 Central Football 2–3 Southern United Massey University, Palmerston North
12:00
Referee: Max Lauridsen
13 December 2020 Canterbury United Pride 2–0 Northern Lights English Park, Christchurch
13:00
Referee: Sarah Jones
13 December 2020 WaiBOP 4–4 Auckland Football John Kerkhof Park, Cambridge
14:00
Referee: Robbie Maris

Bye: Capital Football

Final

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Canterbury United Pride4–0Capital Football
Report
Referee: Sarah Jones

Statistics

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As of 15 December 2020

Top scorers

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Rank Player Club Goals
1 Rina Hirano Auckland Football 6
Kaley Ward Capital Football
3 Tayla O'Brien Auckland Football 5
Gabi Rennie Canterbury United Pride
5 Rebecca Lake Canterbury United Pride 4
Britney-Lee Nicholson Canterbury United Pride
7 Daisy Cleverley Auckland Football 3
Amy Hislop Southern United
Arabella Maynard Northern Lights
10 Mikaela Boxall Central Football 2
Kelli Brown WaiBOP
Chelsea Elliott WaiBOP
Michaela Foster WaiBOP
Chloe Knott Northern Lights
Ava Pritchard Northern Lights
Liz Savage Northern Lights
Arisa Takeda Auckland Football
Lara Wall Canterbury United Pride
Grace Wisnewski WaiBOP

Hat-tricks

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Player For Against Result Date Ref
Kaley Ward Capital Football Southern United 5–0 7 November 2020 [10]
Gabi Rennie Canterbury United Pride Central Football 6–0 22 November 2020 [11]

Own goals

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Player Club Against Round
Tahlia Roome Southern United Canterbury United Pride 1
Renee Bacon Southern United WaiBOP 6[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b "2020 ISPS Handa Women's Premiership launches". New Zealand Football. 9 October 2020. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Voerman, Andrew (30 October 2020). "Questions hang over national women's football league as three-peat quest begins". Stuff. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  3. ^ Rollo, Phillip (20 December 2020). "Canterbury United Pride win third straight national women's league final". Stuff.
  4. ^ "NRF-Club Partnerships Set for 2020 NWL Season". Northern Region Football. Retrieved 9 October 2020.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "2020 National Women's League". WaiBOP Football.
  6. ^ "Staff Changes for 2020". Capital Football. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  7. ^ "2019 Pride Staff". Mainland Football. Archived from the original on 3 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Big pre-season needed for Southern United women". Otago Daily Times. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d e f "Statement on ISPS Handa Women's Premiership". New Zealand Football. Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  10. ^ @CapFootball (7 November 2020). "79'" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ "From the Dugout - Matchweek 4, 2020 ISPS Handa Women's Premiership". New Zealand Football. Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  12. ^ "From the Dugout - ISPS Handa Men's and Women's Premierships Matchweeks 4 and 6". www.nzfootball.co.nz. Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
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