When veteran Queenstown Rovers coach Jamie Whitmarsh announced his retirement, it might have seemed he was pulling back
from football. In fact, he tells PHILIP CHANDLER, the move’s designed to free him up even more to pursue his grand ambitions for the sport both here and in the lower South Island
As Jamie Whitmarsh unemotionally watched his Queenstown Rovers footballers thrash Green Island at the Events Centre last Saturday, you wouldn’t know it was the end of an era for the London-raised gaffer.
Last month, the 54-year-old surprised many by announcing, after 15 years, and 300-plus games, this would be his last season coaching the resort’s top team.
Last weekend was his last home game, though the season has two more weekends to run.
Whitmarsh says he’s pulling pin to give ‘‘my full attention’’ to his fast-growing Whitmarsh Academy.
‘‘You can’t do anything for 15 years and enjoy it and it not be a difficult decision, but the reality is I had to make the decision for the wellbeing of my business.’’
It’s been an amazing innings, probably unmatched by any other local sports coach — though he did take a year off coaching a pro New York team.
Whitmarsh joined the Rovers, co-coaching with Steve Henderson, in 2007, shortly after moving to Queenstown.
He’d first visited two years earlier, after his best mate and his family emigrated.
‘‘I had a couple of years of coming back for a holiday, which was really enjoyable, and I thought, ‘you know what, I’ve had enough of being in IT, for 20 years, I’ll just come over here’, and it just sort of developed from there.’’
Though raised on football, he had no idea whether he’d be a good coach or not.
But importantly, besides gaining coaching qualifications, he’s also become ‘‘a bit of a local mentor in the junior and youth space’’.
‘‘I bring a sort of sense of ‘firm but fairness’ to try to help our people understand respect and integrity, and maybe ’cos I’m a different voice from most parents, even though I’m probably saying the same message, kids listen to me.’’
Whitmarsh says there’ve been ‘‘loads’’ of Rovers highlights, like winning the Southland league before rejoining the Dunedin premier comp, making the main South Island comp — ‘‘we did alright in that’’ — and making the final 16 of the Chatham Cup.
He estimates he’s driven 7000 kilometres a year to away games, mostly in Dunedin, and 100,000-plus km in 15 years.
Due to Covid, the past three seasons have been ‘‘really difficult, because there haven’t been people coming in, they’ve all being going the other way’’.
Speaking of migrants, his biggest battle was securing residency himself, after Immigration New Zealand rejected his bid due to his mild form of cystic fibrosis.
In 2016, he started an online petition which a ‘‘‘mind-blowing’’ 564 people signed — ‘‘I had to show my contribution here was ‘significant’’’.
After being in ‘‘that last-chance saloon’’, an independent judge overruled Immigration NZ and granted him residency on December 23, 2019.
‘‘That was probably one of the best days of my life, when you get the chance to live in a place like this when you never thought that was going to happen.
‘‘I had a lot of community support, and that’s part of what drives me now, still, with this business, to keep repaying it back.’’
Having the goal of ‘‘putting Queenstown on the football map’’, Whitmarsh formed his eponymous academy in 2018.
‘‘Prior to that, there wasn’t really an appetite for it, as [football] was just seasonal.
‘‘Coming from London, where you play every day for 11 months of the year, I thought it was strange.’’
The Whitmarsh Academy now provides coaching sessions throughout the year, while also delivering half of the local schools’ programmes.
He caters for a wide range of players, from elite academy students to those wanting a kick-around, like a social senior women’s team.
‘‘My vision is opportunities and experiences.
‘‘The opportunities are creating a chance for some of our players to go on and play at a better level.’’
Experiences include, for example, having NZ football legend Wynton Rufer coming to coach this Labour Weekend.
Having his academy partner up with Wellington Phoenix’s academy has been a coup.
His ultimate goal’s for his academy to become ‘‘the biggest [football coaching] provider in the lower South Island’’.
That’s why he’s reluctantly kicking his beloved Rovers side into touch, though he vows to be an avid sideline supporter.
Swansong for outgoing coach
Watched by teammate Tom Mills, Queenstown Rovers’ Henrique Wandarte Arrojo seeks to control the ball during his team’s
game against Green Island at the Events Centre last Saturday.
Rovers beat the Dunedin side 11-2 — Matt Cordelle netting five goals — to give their out going coach Jamie Whitmarsh, who’s taken the side for 15 seasons, a last home game to remember.
The Queenstown side, which has two away games to finish the season, will finish mid-table, or about fifth, in the ODT Southern
Premiership.
‘‘If we had the same crop of people we had on Saturday all season, we would probably have been in the higher echelons of the league, but we’ve had a lot of challenges with people not being available,’’ Whitmarsh says.
He adds Rovers’ history was likely also made on Saturday, when their goalkeeper, Danniel Bocatios, scored a penalty goal — a feat later performed by Green Island’s keeper.
‘‘The only reason I granted Daniel the opportunity to do it was because it was, like, 7-1 — the game was never in doubt.’’
