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

Season	2020
Champions	Canterbury United Pride
Matches played	21
Goals scored	79 (3.76 per match)
Top goalscorer	Rina Hirano and Kaley Ward (6)
Biggest home win	Canterbury 6-0 Central (21 November 2020)
Biggest away win	Capital 0-4 Canterbury (5 December 2020)
Highest scoring	WaiBOP 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

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

League table

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

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Auckland Football	1	1	1	1	1	6*	6
Canterbury United Pride	2	3	2	2	3	1	1
Capital Football	3	2	3	4	2	2	2
Central Football	7	6	6	6	6	5	7
Northern Lights	3	5	4	3	4	3	3
Southern United	6	7	7	7	7	7	4
WaiBOP	5	4	5	5	5	4	5

	Qualification to Final

Source: NZ Football

• Auckland Football docked 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]

Fixtures and results

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

Southern United v Canterbury United Pride

31 October 2020	Southern United	1–4	Canterbury United Pride	Logan Park, Dunedin
11:30	Murrell 90+1'	Report	Roome 21' (o.g.) Wall 61' Nicholson 71', 83'	Referee: Lindsey Robinson

Northern Lights v Capital

1 November 2020	Northern Lights	1–1	Capital	McFetridge Park, Auckland
13:00	Knott 41'	Report	Ward 89'	Referee: Sarah Jones

Auckland Football v Central Football

1 November 2020	Auckland Football	0–3*	Central Football	Riverhills Park, Auckland
14:00	Hirano 4', 21' Takeda 11' Berrier 12' Anton 89' Satchell 40' Collins 45+2' Dewell 62' Russ 90+2'	Report	Furnell 90+1'	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

Central Football v WaiBOP

7 November 2020	Central Football	2–2	WaiBOP	Massey University, Palmerston North
12:00	Lancaster 9' Boxall 41'	Report	Wisnewski 30' Brown 42'	Referee: Sarah Jones

Capital Football v Southern United

7 November 2020	Capital Football	5–0	Southern United	Petone Memorial Park, Lower Hutt
13:00	Robertson 33' Ward 38', 76', 80' (pen.) Brown 87'	Report		Referee: Simon Morris

Canterbury United Pride v Auckland Football

7 November 2020	Canterbury United Pride	3–0*	Auckland Football	English Park, Christchurch
13:00	Lake 65' (pen.)	Report	O'Brien 6' Cleverley 19', 21' Hirano 37'	Referee: Lindsey Robinson

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

Southern United v Northern Lights

15 November 2020	Southern United	0–3	Northern Lights	Logan Park, Dunedin
12:00		Report	Pritchard 58', 89' Savage 84'	Referee: Caleb Marsh

WaiBOP v Canterbury United Pride

15 November 2020	WaiBOP	2–4	Canterbury United Pride	John Kerkhof Park, Cambridge
12:00	Foster 2' Elliott 56'	Report	Hepburn 25' Nicholson 41' Rennie 47' Lake 90'	Referee: Robbie Maris

Auckland Football v Capital Football

15 November 2020	Auckland Football	0–3*	Capital Football	Riverhills Park, Auckland
14:00	O’Brien 14' Philpot 34' Takeda 38'	Report	Ward 90+3'	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

Capital Football v WaiBOP

21 November 2020	Capital Football	1–0	WaiBOP	Petone Memorial Park, Lower Hutt
11:30	Ward 74'	Report		Referee: Lindsey Robinson

Canterbury United Pride v Central Football

21 November 2020	Canterbury United Pride	6–0	Central Football	English Park, Christchurch
14:00	Rennie 40', 43', 59' Lake 84' (pen.) Wall 85' Clarke 90+2'	Report		Referee: Sarah Jones

Northern Lights v Auckland Football

22 November 2020	Northern Lights	4–1	Auckland Football	McFetridge Park, Auckland
13:00	Maynard 16' Knott 27' (pen.) Savage 70' (pen.) Mittendorff 88'	Report	O’Brien 7'	Referee: Eric Yu

Bye: Southern United

Round 5

Central Football v Capital Football

29 November 2020	Central Football	0–1	Capital Football	Massey University, Palmerston North
12:00		Report	Errington 11'	Referee: Andrew Turner

Auckland Football v Southern United

29 November 2020	Auckland Football	3–0	Southern United	Riverhills Park, Auckland
12:30	Hirano 36', 43' Cunningham-Lee 51'	Report		Referee: Sarah Jones

WaiBOP v Northern Lights

29 November 2020	WaiBOP	2–1	Northern Lights	John Kerkhof Park, Cambridge
14:00	Brown 45' Cawte 47'	Report	Green 51'	Referee: Robbie Maris

Bye: Canterbury United Pride

Round 6

Capital Football v Canterbury United Pride

5 December 2020	Capital Football	0–4	Canterbury United Pride	Petone Memorial Park, Lower Hutt
11:00		Report	Nicholson 15' Lake 26' Whinham 44' Rennie 46'	Referee: Harrison Cook

Southern United v WaiBOP

6 December 2020	Southern United	2–1	WaiBOP	Logan Park, Dunedin
11:00	Hislop 14', 54'	Report	Bacon 24' (o.g.)	Referee: Caleb Marsh

Northern Lights v Central Football

6 December 2020	Northern Lights	4–0	Central Football	McFetridge Park, Auckland
13:00	Maynard 33', 90+4' Stratford 43' Tawharu 90+3'	Report		Referee: Lindsey Robinson

Bye: Auckland Football

Round 7

Central Football v Southern United

13 December 2020	Central Football	2–3	Southern United	Massey University, Palmerston North
12:00	Boxall 45+11' Jensen 56'		Bacon 45+9' Hislop 58' Fraser 68'	Referee: Max Lauridsen

Canterbury United Pride v Northern Lights

13 December 2020	Canterbury United Pride	2–0	Northern Lights	English Park, Christchurch
13:00	Bray 79' Longo 86'			Referee: Sarah Jones

WaiBOP v Auckland Football

13 December 2020	WaiBOP	4–4	Auckland Football	John Kerkhof Park, Cambridge
14:00	Wisnewski 18' Foster 81' Elliott 88' Neems 90+4'		Cleverley 35' O'Brien 42', 61' Hirano 57'	Referee: Robbie Maris

Bye: Capital Football

Final

20 December 2020

14:00

Canterbury United Pride	4–0	Capital Football
Rennie 53', 71' Nicholson 79' Dominikovich 85'	Report

English Park, Christchurch

Referee: Sarah Jones

Statistics

As of 15 December 2020

Top scorers

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

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

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