Glossary
Football in NZ can be at times a little confusing for the first timers, so we have created a football glossary to help explain some of the terms you might hear during your football experience. We hope this helps and please feel free to contact us if you have a question about some terminology, or an acronym and we can explain it's meaning and then add it to this list.
U - commonly confused - this is simply short for Under, for example if you saw "U10 Grade" the U10 part simply means players who were under 10 on the 1st of Jan for that year.
Grade - meaning a collection of teams all from the same age or age range - IE U9 Grade would be all the teams of players who were under 9 on the 1st of Jan
NRF - Northern Region Football, the federation governing football in the Auckland and Northland areas
Federation - A body setup to administer and delivery football to it's region, there are 6 regional federations who ultimately report to NZF (the national body)
NZF - New Zealand Football, the national body governing football in New Zealand, ultimately they report to OFC (the Confederation)
OFC - Oceania Football Confederation, the confederation governing all football in Oceania (excluding Australia), ultimately they report to FIFA
Session - A singular training event, can also be used to describe a singular course event
Friendly Manager - Our membership database, members can sign up via Friendly Manager for season membership or join courses etc. All season members will have their data passed from Friendly Manager to COMET (the NZF national database) to be eligible to play
COMET - The national database, used to administer the game, it contains all a clubs registered players. COMET also does all* of the competition management, but is outputted via a third party called Sporty
Sporty - A third party website/app which allows members to see fixtures, and results/tables (if available) for their competition - you will be able to see these quickly on our website by clicking on Fixtures on the main menu. *PLEASE NOTE: Tamaki League fixtures are not done via COMET and instead can be found here.
CR - means Community Referee - this is someone who has done an entry level course and has been accredited as a Community Referee, one step up from a volunteer referee
Run a line - you might hear this term from a teammate asking you to "run a line" this means they would like you to be an assistant referee (or linesman)
Player Pathway - This refers to the progression path a player can take to develop their game, if you would like more info on this please contact Fred de Jong
Pitch - another name for field
Mini Goal - a goal that is used in the Tamaki League - the size is.....
Medium Goal - a goal that is used for Junior Football in quarter and half field games - the size is.....
Goal - a goal that is used for youth and senior football for full field games - the size is......
Manager - a person who helps organise the team but isn't the coach (it's the opposite in the UK and some of Europe)
Coach - a person (normally a volunteer) that runs trainings and games for the team, sometimes coaches will have managers to help them organise their team but they are ultimately in charge of their team
Coach Pathway - this refers to the progression path a coach can take to develop their game, if you would like more info on this please check this page or this page
PDP - Player Development Programme - this is Ellerslie AFC's accredited skill centre and refers to programmes put in place for U9 to U12 players to develop their skills - please check this page for more info - this will be referred to as our Junior Development Pathway going forward
TDP - Talent Development Programme - this is NZF's programme that Ellerslie AFC have gained access to for 2023, this is for U13 to U17 players and you can see more info on this page - this will be referred to as our Youth Development Pathway going forward
ES - Ellerslie School - one of the schools involved in the Tamaki League
RPS - Remuera Primary School - one of the schools involved in the Tamaki League