Go Media Stars Injury Update: Charlie Bell
Go Media Stars shooter Charlie Bell suffered a mild ankle and calf sprain during yesterday's ANZ Premiership season-opener with the Mystics.
Bell is tracking positively towards Sunday's game against the Tactix and will need to clear return to play protocols before returning to the court.
Defenders Kate Burley and Greer Sinclair will undergo scans tomorrow on their injuries, with an update to be provided once more is known.
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From Taupō To Tennessee: Bell's Ascent To Football's Global Stage
As Auckland City prepare to face German giants Bayern Munich at the FIFA Club World Cup, one player's journey to the world stage speaks to a deeper truth of quiet determination, ancestral pride, and the weight of dreams carried on humble shoulders. At just 21, defender Adam Bell is poised to confront some of the finest footballers on the planet. Serge Gnabry. Jamal Musiala. Names that belong in the rarefied air of European elite. Yet Bell's immediate reality lies not in celebrity, but in sacrifice. Just two days after taking the field against Bayern, he will sit a university business exam in a Tennessee hotel room—wedged between match analysis and recovery protocols. Bell's road to this moment did not begin in a Bundesliga academy or a European youth system. It began in a car, on Auckland's suburban streets, driven by his mother Heidi, a primary school teacher at Wesley Primary, who used her limited annual leave to attend her son's biggest match to date. 'No one in my family really played football,' Bell reflects. 'My brothers hated it. But I stuck with it. Mum backed me the whole way.' He has already exhausted the last of his three paid leave days from Bunnings, used during the Oceania Champions League. Every step since, travel, training, match day, is unpaid. His university studies in commerce are on hold. There is no lucrative contract waiting on the other side of the tunnel. But the chance to represent Aotearoa on football's biggest stage, he says, is 'worth every moment.' Bell hails from Ngāti Tūwharetoa, whose ancestral lands stretch across the central plateau of the North Island, encompassing Mount Tongariro and Lake Taupō. His whakapapa runs deep into these lands, and deeper still into the values they represent. 'It's a privilege to be here as a Māori football player,' he says. 'I know my ancestors would be proud.' His father, Philip Bell, better known to many in New Zealand as DJ Sir-Vere, is a pioneer of Aotearoa's hip hop scene. From Rip It Up magazine to MTV's Wrekognise, from the Aotearoa Hip Hop Summit to the Major Flavours compilations, Sir-Vere helped build the cultural scaffolding that shaped a generation. For his services to music and broadcasting, he received a Queen's Service son's honour may not come gilded in the same way, but it carries no less meaning. 'My mum and dad always told me that whatever you do in life, don't go in half-hearted. Give it everything.' Bell's early football memories are stitched into the grounds of Mount Roskill Intermediate, where he first played competitively. That same school is now part of Auckland City FC's social responsibility programme, home to coaching clinics and a project to build an all-weather pitch and floodlights. The school recently bestowed two sacred taonga to the club to express its aroha and support for City in America. Bell has been entrusted with keeping one of the taonga during the trip, the other is with skipper Mario Ilich. It is a full-circle moment not lost on the young full back. 'To know the club has formed a close relationship with Mount Roskill Intermediate School means a lot,' he says. 'It's where I started my journey and now we're giving something back in terms of coaching and infrastructure.' From those modest beginnings to this unlikely clash with Bayern Munich, Bell has walked a path marked not by glamour but by resilience. In New Zealand, he explains, Auckland City FC are more often the aggressors, pressing and dominating possession. Here, they must adapt, absorb pressure, and survive. 'Oddly, it suits us,' he says. 'Our objective is to ensure that we follow the game plan set out by the coaches and see where it takes us." Bell is under no illusions about the challenge ahead. 'This is a David versus Goliath moment,' he says. 'But once we get out onto the pitch you have to try and live in the moment to an extent." He has drawn confidence from recent performances, particularly in strong showings in friendly games with Al Ain FC (0-1) and Philadelphia Union II (2-0), where he played well. 'Those moments help,' he says. 'They remind you the other teams, while special, are human beings, too.' His admiration for Bayern's stars, Musiala, Olise, Gnabry, is tempered by perspective. 'I've looked up to them. But now it's about stepping onto the same field and backing yourself.' Bell will not define success by the scoreline alone. For him, the journey to this match is as meaningful as the match itself. Behind every run, every pass, every call to his team-mates lies a broader story, of whakapapa and sacrifice, of a mother's support and a father's legacy, of Māori identity carried into global arenas. 'Every kid dreams of playing teams like this,' he says. 'I'm lucky enough to live it.'
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Pulse Re-Set For Big Clash
A quick bounce-back is front and centre for Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse when they square off against the table-topping Tactix in a key ANZ Premiership netball league match-up in Christchurch on Sunday. Effectively dismantled to the tune of 13 goals in their most recent outing by the Mystics, the Pulse have slipped to third in the pecking order and with time marching on, the importance of the trip to Christchurch cannot be under-stated. With just the one loss, the Tactix have been bubbling along nicely to set the pace in the first half of the season, the pressure now on all teams to rise a notch or two with five rounds remaining in the race to the Finals Series (top three teams). ``In the whole scheme of our season this game is really important,'' Pulse coach Anna Andrews-Tasola said. ``Every game's a must-win for us and we haven't played them yet, so we're going there with fresh eyes and making sure that we're ready to compete. ``They're (Tactix) doing a really good job, sitting top of the table at the moment and they've earnt that, so it's a really important one for us. They're going to bring their best game as well at home, so it's vital that we go out there and do the hard work towards winning.'' Failing to respond to what the Mystics threw at them left the Pulse in damage control mode, always chasing the game and disjointed. With a perfect 38 from 38, shooter Amelia Walmsley showed what she can do with ball in hand for the Pulse but lacked the consistent volume needed to make a decent dent. At the defensive end, the Pulse struggled to tame a slick and fluid Mystics attack line and paid the price. ``Full credit to the Mystics, they really brough it to us and we were really disappointed with our performance and the way that we showed up,'' Andrews-Tasola said. ``We're all very disappointed, especially in front of an amazing sold-out home crowd to play the way we did. But Mystics put us in that situation and highlighted some gaps for us and we've been working hard to address those this week. ``We all just got disconnected in that game. They played an aggressive but skilful game, competed really hard and we didn't respond quick enough. ``We didn't get the strong start we've enjoyed over the last couple of weeks. They targeted that factor as well, so we need to make sure we respond to those situations a lot quicker. We responded in the second half but by then the score had already blown out.'' Prior to the Mystics, the Pulse had enjoyed profitable returns from scoring off their own possession and applying strong defensive pressure throughout the court, the focus now being a quick return to that way of play. Tweaks and attitude as opposed to a massive dissection of the game plan remain at the forefront. ``We've had a look at everything and it was really important we executed what we had planned to do and stuck to that,'' Andrews-Tasola said. ``So, it's really important that we are disciplined with that and stay connected. Staying connected is what we want to make sure we bring this week, as units and as a team. ``It's a big game for both teams. Over the last couple of years we've had some close games with the Tactix so we're looking forward to making this a competitive spectacle.''
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Malesala And Simpson Extend Their Time With Pulse
Shooter Amorangi Malesala and Australian midcourter Gabi Simpson will remain with Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse for the rest of the ANZ Premiership netball league. With Malesala drafted in as a temporary replacement for Khiarna Williams, who is still rehabbing a shoulder injury, and Simpson adding cover for Maddy Gordon and Whitney Souness, the Pulse have opted to retain the 12 players allowed per squad. ``After injury-restricted build-ups Maddy and Whitney have only recently returned to playing at this level and more recently playing full minutes, so there's still uncertainty there,'' Netball Central Director of High Performance Waimarama Taumaunu said. ``And, it's a very short season, so if anything should go amiss, we have the cover rather than facing a last-minute search. ``Amorangi and Gabi are seasoned players, they're very professional in everything they do, very positive team members and have added enormous value.'' Starting her season as a training partner with the Magic, talented shooter Malesala, is now living the dream while re-launching her elite level career. ``I'm super blessed to be able to stay here permanently for the rest of the season,'' she said. ``I guess that was not really part of the plan and it was a matter of just taking each week as it came but to be able to be here and for Anna (Andrews-Tasola, coach) to have the belief in me to be here and to be a part of the Pulse, I'm super grateful. ``I've loved every minute of it. It was definitely an eye-opener coming in because from the outside looking in, the Pulse are a tight-knit team so being able to be here and to experience that week-in week-out has been awesome for me. ``In order to grow my game and coming to a new environment, a clean slate gives me that ability to learn more about myself and to also immerse myself in this high intensity environment and it's been pretty good so far.'' Former Australian Diamond and Queensland Firebirds centurion, Simpson has put her physiotherapist clients and fledgling Australian Rules football career in Brisbane on hold to extend her stay in Wellington. ``I definitely didn't expect to be here for the whole season but I've felt so welcomed and it's such an enjoyable place to play netball,'' she said ``Now I just really want to contribute to this group to see how good we can be, and I'm really excited to be able to be here for a little bit longer. ``I think the newness about it all has been super refreshing and for me as well, being able to play without much expectation and not a huge amount of ambition other than to make this group great is a really refreshing and freeing way to play. ``They're a great bunch of girls and a great bunch of coaches. They've really taken me in and taught me a lot about the New Zealand way and their style of playing netball. And I really love the depth of culture in this team, it's a special thing to be a part of.'' After traversing the length of the country, Simpson had to wait until halfway through the season before playing her first game in Wellington at the Pulse's spiritual home of TSB Arena. While that resulted in a disappointing loss to the Mystics, the passionate crowd left a lasting impression. ``Walking out in front of that crowd was unreal…..it's loud, it's yellow, there's so much energy that you can feel it, so it's really special to walk out in front of something like that and I guess create a new home,'' she said.
