Bays No 1 Joins the Bays 100 Club
On Saturday’s Round 20 Dettol Northern League 6-0 win for East Coast Bays over Manurewa FC, Louie Caunter reached the milestone of playing 100 games for the East Coast Bays First team.
Louie Caunter was born on the 24th of April 1993 in Milton Keynes, England. Louie was educated at Browns Bay Primary School, Northcross Intermediate School & Westlake Boys High School.
Over the years Louie has played for Northern League Clubs East Coast Bays, Forrest Hill AFC, Bay Olympic FC & Manurewa FC as well as National League Clubs Auckland City, Waitakere Utd, WaiBop FC, Eastern Suburbs and Napier City Rovers. Louie’s Debut game for Bays was against Waitemata at Crum Park on 27th March 2021 in a 2-0 Bays win. His debut as captain was the first game of the 2022 season on the 26th of March 2022 at Bay City Park against Waitemata where he admits he had a shocker in a 4-3 loss. Particularly memorable was Louie driving a ball into one of the Waitemata strikers that went straight back past him into the net after only two minutes gone. But it wasn’t as bad as Daewok Kim, who was sent off after only eleven minutes of that game. Louie’s only goal for Bays was a memorable one as he scored a 99th minute equaliser against Hamilton Wanderers at Bay City Park last season to earn Bays a 2-2 draw. Louie went up for a corner and after the ball bounced off a few heads it dropped down for him to calmly side foot a very composed finish into the net and then carried Junior on his back down the other end of the field in one of the most over the top celebrations you will ever see.
Louie’s favourite football teams are of course East Coast Bays as well as Liverpool (Top Bloke) and Luton Town. Outside of football Louie gets paid to play football for a living Coaching + Teaching + inspiring at @NZGKU. He enjoys Japanese cuisine and a Heineken directly out of the Chatham Cup! His other hobbies are holding his own in most other sports (just ask Jack Caunter about the cricket bat, broom, or scooter incident from 2012). Louie seems to have quite an array of nicknames including Lou, Loulou, Daddy, Captain., Strider and TOPG. His favourite movies are The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Extended Edition, his favourite music is The Lord of the Rings Soundtrack, and favourite book is Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He doesn’t watch much TV but amuses himself watching back NZGKU reels.
Louie has a number of favourite memories including Tauranga away, Mt Drury incident, Liam Andersen at Onehunga Mangere away, SIU celebration, playing alongside brother Jack every week, a few penalty saves, being voted captain in 2022 by 29 of 30 of the team and being coached by his Dad when they first arrived from the UK in 2002. Louie enjoys playing for Bays because the clubhouse is full after home games, the culture is great amongst the players, the coaches are great, the backroom staff, all the volunteers, the looks on the kids faces when they are ball boys at our games, and the sunsets before evening trainings. He has played in multiple teams across his time and East Coast Bays is a true family & community club. In his own words he says it is a privilege and an honour to play for this club and wear the armband. Memories that he will value forever.
I’m certain I was at Louie’s first Bays game, and it will be and honour to be present at the game at Manurewa to see him bring up the milestone of 100 games. My favourite memories of Louie are seeing him score his goal last season against Hamilton and after the never-ending celebration the game finally came to a close. Also, an amazing fingertip save at Manurewa a couple of seasons ago when Bays were leading 1-0 and under the cosh, Rewa winger James Hoyt curled a left footer that was heading for the top corner until Louie palmed the ball over the post. This was crucial as Bays went on to score a second goal to take a crucial away win 2-0. And last but not least for the past four seasons we have been treated to the dulcet tones of Louie yelling Shape, Shape, Shape from the sanctity of his goal. Thanks for your support and feedback on what I do for the club and congratulations, mate & all the best for your next 100 or so games.
Ian Overton – ECB Reporter
