Small Whites
About Southern Small Whites
Drury Utd FC was initially part of a cluster league formed with Manurewa AFC, Clendon Utd AFC & Papakura City FC for their 5-8yo teams to follow the newly implemented NZ Football 'Whole of Football Plan'. When Drury became part of Franklin Utd, it became clear that our players would be best served by having a continuous development pathway aligned with the Franklin DNA and the other Franklin clubs with the same vision. To this end, from 2020 Drury joined with Pukekohe AFC & Tuakau SC in the Southern Small Whites cluster.
Teams are a mix of girls and boys and players are not graded on ability.
4, 5 & 6 year olds play in their own age groups with players from all clubs.
7 & 8 year olds play in Drury teams against other teams from the 3 clubs.
Note: 9 year olds can opt to play in Southern Small Whites or in Drury U9 teams in AFF competition leagues.
We accept 4yo who turn 4 by the end of April; we do not accept 3yo as they generally are not ready to participate in group training sessions.
UNIFORMS
Drury players wear a club shirt that will be loaned to them for the season. They will receive them at training before the first game day.
Players need to buy their own shorts, socks, boots & shin pads. Shin pads are to be worn inside the knee-high football socks. Shin pads & boots can be purchased from any sporting goods or shoe store.
We are transitioning from Lotto bottle green strip to Joma dark green & black strip. As we transition, players are welcome to wear football shorts in black or bottle/dark green, and bottle/dark green socks.
You can purchase club colour shorts and socks online via our Club Shop here: Club Shop
Joma will also be having a pop-up shop in the clubrooms, 5-6pm on Weds 22nd March & 5th April. You can buy shorts, socks, shin guards, skins & other items immediately, and order a variety of other items as well (jackets, hoodies, tracksuits, beanies, caps).
There are a small number of second hand shorts and boots in the clubrooms that players may help themselves too. These are on a table just inside the front door and are free, donated by players who have outgrown them. When you finish with them or outgrown your own gear, you may like to donate them here also. Please only take what you will use this season, don't stockpile!
TRAINING
Drury teams train in front of the clubrooms for 45 mins each Weds. Sessions are overseen by club coaches.
After their 45 min coach session, players will move to playing fields to have 15 mins of small sided games under parent supervision.
Session times for each age group are:
4:30-5:30pm 4-6 year olds in small groups
5:15-6:15pm 7-8 year olds in groups
GAME DAYS
All Southern Small Whites games are played Saturday morning at the Pukekohe A&P Showgrounds, 58 Station Road, Pukekohe.
Please turn up 15 mins before your session starts to help set up & to ensure players are settled by kick off time.
If game day has to be cancelled due to bad weather or ground closure, a notice will go up on the Facebook page by 7:45am and in Team Reach groups.
You can also call the ‘Southern Small Whites Wet Weather Line’ and listen to the message: 027 483 4078. Please do not leave a message on this phone as it is not monitored.
You can also join the Southern Small Whites Facebook page for updates: https://www.facebook.com/groups/514044011987454/about/
Teams play First Kicks (4-6yo) or Fun Football (7-8yo) format in line with the Whole of Football Plan created by NZ Football. This WoFP format has been adopted by all New Zealand clubs and all Auckland Football Federation clubs play the WoFP format. Most clubs play in cluster groups like us with other nearby clubs.
We tweak the format as player development demands so our players are ready for the traditional football format from U9 Grade.
Note: 9 year olds can opt to play in Southern Small Whites or in Drury U9 teams in NRF competition leagues.