Gregory Alexander Draper (born 13 August 1989) is an English-born New Zealand

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

for

Cymru North The Cymru North is a regional association football, football league in Wales, covering the northern half of the country. It initially had clubs with semi-professional status. Together with the Cymru South, it forms the second tier of the Welsh fo ...

club Newtown. He is also a coach with

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, commonly known as The New Saints () or TNS FC, are an English professional football club that play in the , but are based completely within England, in Oswestry, Shropshire. They a ...

under-21s.

Early life

Draper was born and raised in

Chard, Somerset Chard is a town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It lies on the A30 road near the Devon and Dorset borders, south west of Yeovil. The parish has a population of approximately 14,000 and, at an el ...

, before his parents decided to emigrate to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

in New Zealand when he was 12 years old.

Club career

Having begun playing youth football at the age of ten, Draper joined

Canterbury United Canterbury United Dragons was a semi-professional Association football, football club from Christchurch, New Zealand. The team plays most of its matches at English Park in Christchurch, though they occasionally play in Nelson, New Zealand, Nels ...

shortly after moving to New Zealand. Having played for a number of clubs in Australia and New Zealand, Draper joined English non-league club Basingstoke Town in August 2010 and made his competitive debut for the club on 17 August against St. Albans. In June 2011 he joined

making his debut for the club on 18 June in a pre-season friendly against

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

. His competitive debut came on 30 June against the same team in a

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

first qualifying round match, where he was a 74th-minute substitute. He scored his first competitive goal for his new club on 3 September in a

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

game against Llanelli where he scored the only goal of the game. His rich vein of form led to him being awarded the Welsh Premier League player of the month for February 2012. He finished the season as the club's top scorer and was awarded the club's player of the season award. In the 2017–18 season, Draper won the Welsh Premier League golden boot for finishing as the league's top goalscorer with 22 goals. He repeated the feat the following year, scoring a career high 27 goals. In May 2019 he signed a two-year contract extension with the club. Draper was released by the club at the end of the 2020–21 season. In June 2021, Draper dropped down a division to join

side

Guilsfield Guilsfield (, "Apiaceae, Hemlock-field") is a village and community (Wales), community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. It lies beside Guilsfield Brook about three miles north of Welshpool. It is located on the B4392 road and a disused b ...

International career

He represented

New Zealand national football team The New Zealand men's national football team () represents New Zealand in men's international Association football, football competitions. The team is governed by the governing body for football in New Zealand, New Zealand Football (NZF), whic ...

in the

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the scor ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Draper was included in the New Zealand squad for the football tournament at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. He played in New Zealand's group matches against Brazil (0–5) and Belgium (0–1). His senior international debut for the

All Whites The New Zealand men's national football team () represents New Zealand in men's international football competitions. The team is governed by the governing body for football in New Zealand, New Zealand Football (NZF), which is currently a memb ...

came in 2008 in a

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

qualifier against Fiji. He was called up March 2012 for the 2012 Olympic qualifiers and scored his first international goal in New Zealand's second group match against Tonga. Draper scored the only goal in the final to qualify New Zealand for the 2012 Olympic Games in Great Britain. He finished the qualifying tournament with three goals in four games. He was shortlisted for the final squad for the tournament.

Honours

;The New Saints *

(9): 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

(5): 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2018–19 *

Welsh League Cup The Cymru League Cup, currently known as the Nathaniel MG Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a cup competition in Welsh association football, football organised by the Football Association of Wales. The competition was established in 1992 and is c ...

(4): 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 ;Individual *

Team of the Year: 2011–12, 2017–18 *

Golden Boot (2): 2017–18, 2018–19

References

External links

*
Wellington Phoenix profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Draper, Greg Living people 1989 births Men's association football forwards New Zealand men's association footballers New Zealand men's international footballers New Zealand people of English descent A-League Men players Olympic association footballers for New Zealand Wellington Phoenix FC players Melbourne Knights FC players Footballers from Somerset Canterbury United Dragons players Basingstoke Town F.C. players The New Saints F.C. players Cymru Premier players 2008 OFC Nations Cup players OFC Nations Cup–winning players Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Expatriate men's footballers in Wales New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Wales Cymru North players The New Saints F.C. non-playing staff Guilsfield F.C. players 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Newtown A.F.C. players