Heremaia "Harry" Ngata (born 24 August 1971) is a former

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Ngata began his career with Hull City in

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, and may have been the first Maori footballer to play in the English league. Ngata won 1998 New Zealand Players' Player of the Year award, whilst playing with North Shore United, where he won the club's Player of the Year award twice. One of the most successful parts of his career was the five years that he spent playing for the Kingz in the Australian NSL. where he became very popular.

International career

Ngata scored New Zealand's goal in his full

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 ...

debut, a 1–3 loss against

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on 28 April 1993. He was included in the New Zealand side for the 1999 Confederations Cup finals tournament and he ended his international playing career with 28 A-international caps and 3 goals to his credit, his final cap a substitute appearance in a 7–0 win over

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

on 13 June 2001.

Post-retirement

Ngata works occasionally as a football commentator for SKY TV in New Zealand. He has worked in the role of Sports Ambassador for the SPARC organisation (Sport & Recreation New Zealand).Profile of Harry Ngata on the NZPFA website

References

External links

Harry Ngata Interview
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ngata, Heremaia 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Whanganui New Zealand men's association footballers New Zealand men's international footballers League of Ireland players Bohemian F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players North Shore United AFC players National Soccer League (Australia) players Football Kingz FC players New Zealand Māori sportspeople Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti people English Football League players 1998 OFC Nations Cup players 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2000 OFC Nations Cup players Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Ireland