THC MASTERS TEAM (LAHURE SOUTH) 2025 Invercargill, 1st and 2nd February 2025
Finally, the wait was over, and we were on the road to the Invercargill to participate in the Tenzing Hillary Cup 2025!! It took us 10hrs to travel from Christchurch to Invercargill. Ang Kazi Sherpa, Jigar Pun, Narayan Shrestha and I travelled in one car. We stopped at Timaru for lunch then filled up the car in Dunedin. It was a fun journey, and we had a lot of laughs, and got to share a bit of our lives with each other. In Invercargill we stayed at Tuatara Lodge with other Nepal United FC boys. The Southland Nepalese Society and the THC Committee organised a meet and greet programme Friday night and a free dinner at a hall for all the players. We really appreciated this, especially after our long trip! There were about 150 or more Nepalese players and officials in the hall. It was packed! I was asked to give a speech on the programme on the spot. It was unexpected, so the first thing I said was ‘Lau aba k vanne hola? !’ (What am I going to say?!) There was a roar of laughter! But I managed to give a short speech. I felt very honour to be asked to talk.
This year a total of 10 teams participated, plus our Masters team and the Masters team from the Southland Nepalese Society.
On the first night (the Friday), we couldn’t sleep. It was so noisy all night as the lodge was in the middle of the city and all the boy races were hooning around the street.
On the Saturday, all players met at the ground early - and blurry eyed at 9am at the ground! We had 13 players and only two subs. Our game was at 3pm at the turf ground. It was so hot then; it felt like the turf was 40 degrees! The Southland team were very good, but they were unable to score goals. It was a tough game but luckily, we had a good goalie and we had been training hard together for a long time, and persevered! And we managed to win 3-0!
On the Sunday, we played our second game with the same Southland Nepalese team again. This time they had some new players, so they played even better than on Saturday. We played on the natural grass which was much better- and cooler! We were able to convince Kirti, Padam Shrestha’s 15 years old daughter, to play in our team. It was awesome to see a young Nepali girl playing football! (Hopefully it will inspire other Nepali girls to play football as well!). Amazingly, we won this game 4-0! Afterwards, we watched the final game between Nepal United FC & Lhotsampa FC. It was very exciting until the last minute. Nepal United FC won by 2 -1. After the game, there was a prize giving celebration. Unfortunately, not all Masters players could stay back to celebrate our success, but a few of us were able to stay on, so on Sunday evening, all of the Nepal United players and a handful of Masters players gathered at Sameer Shrestha’s garage and celebrated until 1 am! Everyone was in great spirits from win.
On Monday morning, all our players checked out of the lodge, and we all went to Bluff (half an hour drive down from Invercargill), to celebrate our success by taking team photos with the trophies. It was a great memory with all the boys. After that we all travelled back in our own cars (some boys travelled through Queenstown, or through Dunedin). On the way back our carload stopped at Palmerston for ice cream, Moeraki Boulders for a short break, Timaru to visit a friend and lastly, Ang Kazi’s house in Ashburton for dinner. We finally arrived home to Christchurch, tired but elated, at 10:30pm!
Our THC trip to Invercargill was not just about playing football. It was so nice to reconnect with so many Nepalese and met new people with whom we shared the same passion of football. I especially valued getting to know more about my car mates, Jigar Pun, Ang Kazi and Narayan, on a deeper level.
I would like to thank the THC Committee. Also, I would like to say a big thank you to the Southland Nepalese Society for their great hospitality. A special thank you also goes to Sameer Shrestha and Ujwal for organising the Southlands Masters team. This year the North Veteran (Masters) team were unable to participate but Sameer and Ujwal promised us to put a Masters team together so we can play a game on the Saturday and Sunday and of course have a have bit of fun as well. Thank you to the participant’s teams, our amazing volunteers and supporters (some of whom travelled a long way to support us!) and of course our sponsors. It was a very successful event, and I am already looking forward to next year’s event, and to seeing more Masters players and teams. If you want to join us and have a bit of fun getting to know each other, and of course to stay fit, please reach out to us. We would welcome you in! Looking forward to seeing more of you playing - or supporting in the 2026 THC Cup!
Players name list: Jigar Pun, Ang Kazi Sherpa, Padam Shrestha, Narayan Shrestha, Amit Bhandari, Dharma Poudel, Himamsu Dhungel, Jaya Karki, Nabin Gautam, Ram Chhetri, Subodh Dhakal, Rajiv Maharjan, Deepak Thapa & Kirti Shretha.
