Following his passion pays off for Bay footballer Leon Birnie
By Tony Weber
It’s got to be the ultimate situation when you can go to work every day and do the job you love. Following his passion has led to some big recent success for Hawke’s Bay’s Leon Birnie.
As a youngster Leon loved, lived and breathed the game of Football. He played for Western Rangers as a junior then after a few years in school competitions was picked up by Napier City Rovers as a year 13 at Karamu High School.
After playing a few games for their premier team, he moved to playing for the Central League team. This led to a place in the NZ under 17 team training camp. An offer he turned down. “I just didn't have that drive at the time,” Leon comments, “a move I now regret”.
It didn't seem to have too much effect on his career, though, as a few years later he was selected in the New Zealand under 20’s. He played in a World Cup qualifying match against Australia, which New Zealand losit in extra time.
When the Hawke’s Bay United franchise started, Leon made the move across, playing there for many years. At that stage he was starting to be noticed, and not only in New Zealand. He had offers to trial with the Kings in Wellington and a “crazy”’ – as he puts it – full time offer from the Prince of Brunei.
The day before flying out to take up this great offer Leon had a major injury to his cruciate ligament. The injury was effectively the turning point in his football life. Within a year he was back playing, but it was never the same.
“I lost my zip and my speed, which was my trump card,” he comments.
A change of direction into focusing more on his coaching was the obvious move after that injury – a move that he never looked back from. He was picked up by Central Football as a game development officer at the young age of 20, a role he is still in today after 16 years.
Through the years he has passed all his coaching education system levels. Now he has his Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) A license which allows Leon to coach at a national level.
A quiet achiever, he has gone about his business with a plan and aim to get the qualifications necessary to make it to the top in his job.
A big break came when he was asked to apply for the assistant coach role for the New Zealand under 17 women's team. After success in that job he later applied for, and got, the head coach role of the under 20s team.
As time went on, he made the move back to the women's under 17 team. This is where things really start to get interesting. This talented team was made up of girls from all over New Zealand, with six of the seven federations being represented. There were intensive training camps as they prepared for the 2018 U17 World cup in Uruguay. History was not with them as there had been just one win at this level before.
The team played a warm-up game against Canada five days before the tournament, winning that game 2-1. The win gave the girls some self-belief and the confidence they needed but they remained very grounded.
The goal was set to progress into the playoffs. The team achieved that in the first two games beating Finland 1-0, then home team Uruguay 2-1, before losing to Ghana 2-0 after resting eight top players.
The move to rest players proved a master stroke in the playoffs. They beat the powerhouse in women's age group football, Japan, after being locked 1-1 at full time. So to a penalty shootout where they triumphed with goalkeeper Anna Leat being the hero – saving two then nailing the winning penalty.
The semi-final was against Spain, yet another huge team in world football. After a top first half when they should have been ahead, they eventually lost 2-0. This meant they played Canada for the bronze. They had a dream start with Grace Wisnewski scoring in the first 16 seconds to set the fastest U17 goal ever. They eventually came out winners 2-1 after surviving a fightback from Canada in the second half.
Their impressive performance resulted in four nominations in the 2019 Halberg awards. As well as Leon for the Coach of the Year, they were nominated in the Team of the Year and Young Emerging Talent categories, plus Anna Leat won the Best Sporting Moment for New Zealand for all of 2018 category.
For Leon, now it’s the hope of another two years as the Under 17 coach after his recent interview.
He has future ambitions of progressing through to the senior level. But with his Fiancée, Michelle, and kids Harper (5½) and Grayson (6 months), it’s about balancing family life with his busy role in New Zealand Football.
Leon Birnie – a man Hawke’s Bay can be proud of.
