Kevin Fallon

This. For every kid saying he's a great coach/guy now, there is at least a couple saying he's a cock. He regularly took kids out of Gisborne on scholarships and more often than not, soon after leaving Mags, gave up football or just played socially with mates - the most recent was a very talented kid who got the golden boot at U19s satellite. My point is basically echoing what others have said above, but I've seen it happen to people I know, some of whom regret going there at all. In little old Gisborne it's easy to get sucked in by 'the name' Kevin Fallon, most parents don't know many other names/football programs and shamefully, a lot of them think he actually did good things for Gisborne City in his last stint - he actually helped ruin the club. His ways may have worked in the 80s but it's a miracle his name has kept him going this long. /rant!

The reaction on here had been ridiculous. Players that Kevin has 'produced' during his time at MAGS include Michael Boxall, Storm Roux, Rory Fallon, Tony Lochhead, Jeremy Christie, Chris James. He has also helped a number of boys get to college in the USA. Just from last years team, 1 player is at Ipswich Town, 1 player (age 15) is a member of the Bidvest Wits team in South Africas top league and is likely to get game time for the first team this year, 1 player has got trials at a number of teams in England and 4 players are leaving for College in the states very soon. Thats 7 of the 11 starting places getting 'somewhere' in football thanks to Kev. Of the other 4, all four are still at school. 

I dont think anyone on here understands the time and effort Fallon put into MAGS. 5 days a week from 6:30 to 8:30 Kevin takes a training(February-November). He coaches academies during the day for junior students, and also runs a blog which is quite popular. Every Saturday, Kevin is at MAGS from 8am setting up fields and watching the young teams til around 3pm after the after match for the 1st team. His dedication and passion for MAGS football is incredible and the fact he has been doing this for 18 years and just dumped after a rumour is simply ridiculous. Kevin also got huge amounts of money from sponsors for his football program that he got by himself with 0 help from the school. Last year before the funding he received the fee to go to Taupo for nationals was around $1300, after funding that number went down to just over $300. That is huge for 16 players. This year the team has been told that it will cost over $1000 to go because the school has not attempted to get sponsorship. I am aware a large amount of the squad want nothing to do with nationals because of this.

To the football players at the school Kevin is a hug influence on there football and lives. He is always offering support to boys who he notices are upset or not enjoying football. I know of at least 3 or 4 incidents where boys have been crying in his office upset about stuff happening at home or at school and he has been counselling them. Even non football players will happily chat along with kevin and he is a very popular man around the school. He is hugely respected by everyone bar a small minority. This is shown with a 'Bring Back Kevin' facebook page which had over 700 likes 3 hours after it was created. 

The way it has been handled by the school is disgraceful. The first team was told 10 minutes before kick off against Sacred Heart about the sacking and as a result none of the players wanted to play and represent the school. This was shown in the 7-0 loss, bigger than any loss Kevin ever had when at MAGS. I know quite a few boys involved with football at the school and no one is happy with the so called 'support' there receiving. Dale Burden called the team for a meeting and spent the whole time making excuses. When asked if he considered that Kevin had been there for twice as long as him and achieved far more, and why he had been treated like this, Burden was speechless and making excuses. When asked what would happen if they didnt want to play he said he wouldnt care and the 2nd xi would step in. His attitude towards it all has been disgusting for a HM of a huge school. 

A huge mistake has been made at MAGS.

You haven't addressed the fact that Kevin Fallon has a disgraceful attitude and to any outsider is basically a violent thug. I accept he was probably a good coach. I just don't think being a good coach is enough when you are a fucken dick just like how I don't think a football club should accept Suarez because he scores a lot of goals.

It is about time we got Kevin on the forum.

Hahaha not quite mate. Just a disappointed old boy.

Also I am aware that Kevin in the past has had bad press before for his behaviour. There are 4 incidents that he has been reported to be a part of. 3 of them were cleared by the Auckland Schools football board, by the other involved schools and also by the referees association. The 4th one he has been sacked for..

Oh and the game that MAGS won 4-1 against Westlake where he reportedly abused an opposition coach is all wrong because he was suspended before this. The rumor is that Burden was calling boys in to his office and asking if Kevin was abusive towards them or used foul language in the changing room, the boys i am in contact with said that no one said he was and that it was algood. Also today a good friend of my mate was called into Burdens office to ask if Fallon was abusive two years ago to him and resulted in him quitinf morning training. He denied this. Looks like Burden is scrambling for answers.

That has to be balanced with the fact that MAGS has always tried to attract the best footballers from around the country to the school.  So there's a real element of self-selection here.  College scholarships are a dime a dozen and haven't lead to pro-football in recent years for many kiwis so I wouldn't put too much store in that as evidence of the success of his methods.

Yes and why does it attract the best footballers? Kevin. He helps to improve these players massively. I have heard that already 2 or 3 boys who he had lined up to come to MAGS for football next year are now highly unlikely to come.

I would still consider it something to be proud of as the boys are effectively getting educated and 3 or so years of there lives paid for as well as the chance to push on further in football. Also its about as much as he can do when the boys are high school age

I think the second part in bold answers your first question in bold, and in fact Kevin has nothing to do with attracting the best footballers.

RealTalk I respect you are in a privileged position there but do you also think your nose is too close to the grind stone (and I guess that would apply to anyone that is directly affected by anything where they are close)

As JD says above. Those players are selective. In 18 years of picking kids to a football specific school and I think probably the first in the country, you would expect that he would average 6 new students per year across 18 years taking into account players that stay/go and the squad size, I would expect he would have come into contact with somewhere around 150 kids across the years (and thats being conservative) Thats not many names that have kicked on 

The names that Traveller listed. I think that was at a time when he had pretty much all those boys involved in that 99 WC in NZ in the school. Players like Sanjay Singh etc all transferred in and he was coaching them in the morning 4 days a week and it was the national team for that WC. Granted its a slight bias but those players Traveller pointed out are fair. Interesting that Christie, Pearce and Mulligan all went to Barnsley....

Still his reputation does stand out above all and regardless whether he got off or not (and you failed to mention his year touchline ban) he has that reputation. I have it on decent authority that he is a very strong advocate of kids in his program so its natural they talk highly of him. I also understand he has threatened to 'step out' a couple of teachers as well. Not exactly a guy that is 'unfairly tarnished'

Um actually i think youll find MAGS only allows for one football scholarship a year and this year its not being used. He definitely attracts the best footballers. MAGS were not even close to being the footballing school they are now before Kevin started. I have had a lot to do with kevin and in fact the amount of emails he has shown me of parents asking him to look for his son at tournament or so on is huge. Kev is huge in attracting the best players because of his track record with results and also his constant 'scouting' for the top players at tournaments such as Napier u19s and School nationals

I wasn't saying he hasn't achieved anything, just that there are plenty of players he has effected negatively as well. 

Also, he goes off his head in the changing sheds a lot. That is fact. 

Like I said...for every 'RealTalk' there's an ex student who thinks he's a plonker. 

If were talking numbers then we have to be realistic about the number of players in New Zealand that have actually kicked on. Very few reach professional football and when you look at the squad from the world cup qualifying games, 5 players are from MAGS and have been under Kevin. That is a big number in context.

I do agree that Kevin is often outspoken and a bit too passionate but when I played under him it encourages you to perform as a result of the respect he deservedly earns from his team.

Also from my understanding JV the teachers at the school that aren't senior management are supportive of Kevin. MAGS right now is full of rumors and Burden has not came out and told anybody the true story.

Yeah he truly either makes you or breaks you and i do respect that there are others who are not fond of him. The respect he is shown from his team is huge, i heard that the entire team went over to his house to just be with him and talk things over today. Hes hugely influential on them.

Yes he does, but there are no complaints from the players

There is no doubt that his results vindicate the approach at school level, they've been the dominant side at school boy level over the past 15 years.  Partly that's because the MAGS approach takes school football a lot more seriously than other schools and recruits widely across the country as you say above.  I'm not sure why that is required at school level but hey, that's up to kids and their parents to make that decision.  I would point out though that recruitment isn't coaching...

But that's school boy football.  The point is though has his programme produced a disproportionate number of players who have gone on to professional football?  I think the answer is no.  The '99 team did indeed all have to relocate to Auckland to be considered for that team (a number of guys I know moved there from Wellington) and the majority (although not all) ended up at MAGS where he was coaching so you have to be careful judging him on that group.  

Anyway, there will always be differing views on divisive figures like Fallon, it will be interesting to see where he ends up.  

Yep. I, along with the majority of people i have spoken to, am quite upset about the way he has been treated and the lack of respect Burden has shown him. We all wish him the best and look forward to seeing where he ends up

That's fair enough, and I have no real understanding of the detail of why he was let go.  It does seem like it's been coming however

I respect that. Cheers for sharing your perspective

From Mags website:

Objectives

At Mount Albert Grammar School the programme is geared to produce competitive and successful First XI boys and girls football teams.

As per most schools, there's no intention in their objectives to produce international players, they are only interested in themselves (the school). That kids go on and be decent senior players is an unintended byproduct of schools football. They are into a burn and churn mentality.

Fallon did produce what the school wanted over the years.

First XI Boys - New Zealand Champions 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012
Auckland Champions 2001, 2003-09, 2011, 2013

and thats why he lasted so long. 

With Paul Marshall at the school they may feel they can get the results without Fallon?

Final point from me, do you think it's ok to have a "make or break" attitude to footballers at 16/17/18 years old?  I guarantee you that coaches at Man City, or Ajax or Liverpool don't set out to make or break youth footballers they are in charge of.

In a way. I certainly think a certain amount of aggression is needed, i do, however, feel that Kev over steps this line sometimes which is where he 'breaks' footballers. To be honest if you don't have any mental toughness and your off to university and hopeful of becomming a professional footballer then you need to be able to handle an aggressive coach. I dont think kev intends to break footballers its just his nature of coaching. I imagine this would be similar to coaches at academies in the UK. In fact a former mags student currently over there told me that the coaches are far more aggressive than Kevin

Thats so naive of you. Players at clubs are a long term investment, kids at schools are a very short term investment.

Says it all really - this is high school football FFS!!!

hang on a minute, you were assessing this whole thing in a football development sense by asking 'what has he achieved' and 'who has he developed'.  and in a football development sense the ages 16-18 ARE make or break.  and then you turn around and say that it's only high school football!?  

fallon is often called a bully, but i would suggest that many of the best coaches in all sports are bullies.  certainly some of my better coaches were and i learnt a lot and respected them despite the fact that they seemed to lack many of life's basic functions.

but that was the thing, i wasn't there to learn about life from them, i was there to learn about footy and that's what these kids are there for.  if they wanted a nicer coach, they could go elsewhere and despite the negative opinions expressed here, he remains a popular and sought after source of coaching.

JD, i liked your story about fallon wanting to take you in the car park.  i'd suggest that he isn't the only person currently employed in football who walks around with that level of aggression or intent.

Most of those that have that level of 'aggression or intent' match Fallon's age and relevance.

The point is, for those that are saying "poor Fallon its only school football and and he his hard done by" then please, tell me why this is front page news? He is not the some fucking saviour of football in a national or regional sense. He coaches a school team. Yeah they are not bad but really? If this happened at Birko, Miramar or Cashmere, would it get the same amount of press?

Its petty politics from the sounds of it over schoolboy coaching bullshit and it just does not deserve the press it is getting.

ask yourself why you are posting in this thread; it's probably the same reason as why this is getting coverage

the man is well known, has achieved a lot, is controversial and he polarises opinion

it certainly qualifies as 'news' if you ask me

Ok. So if he is 'controversial' as you say then why are people surprised or defending him. Its not like this is out of the blue despite some conspiracy theories about.

i'm not sure that anyone's said they are surprised.  

in fact personally i'm surprised he's been in a job for 18 years if he's a bad as some people on here say he is ;-).  i'm just comically envisioning big kev's typical day: wake up, kick cat, assault milkman, abuse schoolkid footballers, swear at boss, head for home, initiate road rage, sleep tight.  and he's been getting away with it for 18 years! 

 

I lol'd.

Touche.

Sorry Vader, this is newsworthy; Fallon is more than a highschool coach - he helped take us to the World Cup in 1982 and has a very colourful history - this is totally newsworthy, if the story was about Joe Brown coach of Ohope Highschool first IX - then no story.

Front page though? Please.

"ALLEGEDLY" He had just come back this season from a 1 year sideline ban (imposed by his employer MAGS) for a rather unsavoury incident with an opposition player then he has "allegedly" got into another incident at a U15 game whats the school supposed to do.

Results only let you get away with so much for so long. At the end of the day the school has to set an acceptable level of behaviour from their employees especially in front of young students.

 As for only having one football scholarship per year get real they have 2 imports this year (cook islands U17) plus players boarding from all over NZ.  The school boarding house can house 5+ full football teams I'm sure they aren't all academic scholars from out of town Sport is a business at these schools not just football but all sports that attract sponsors and Kudos.

Actually buddy one of my mates is at the hostel and in terms of players in the first xi there is 1 player at the Hostel from Northland and hes not on a scholarship. Yes there are 2 boys from Cook Islands but neither are first xi and the scholarship they are on is run by CIFA not MAGS. Also  ive heard the hostel is dominated by rugby players actually with only about 8 players who are seniors (aged 15-18) spread among u15's to 1st xi, with only one in 1st xi

Sounds like an easy life when you put it that way.

Actually Buddy if you read the post i said not just football but all sports.  The two Cook Island boys were selected straight from the U17 WC qualifying tournament and both have dropped the 1st XI because they couldn't handle the pressure.  I'm not knocking MAGS recruiting and getting the best players etc good on them I'm just saying get real and admit it that its being done as it is by all Schools.  Don't hide saying we just attract players there is a systematic strategy around recruiting at high school sports they can't come out and say it as it's against the rules to "Recruit" but it is happening.  For example this season 2 boys that were playing for AGS XI in 2013 just happen to be playing at Sacred Heart XI in 2014 (who were very poor last year). In fact last time Fallon "Allegedly" got into strife (which led to a 1 year ban) he "Allegedly" had some not nice things to say to a boy who had just left his program and moved to another top Auckland school.  Recuiting happens just deal with it

Can I just point out that putting the word "allegedly" in front of a thing that you say about someone does not stop it being actionable in defamation.

"Allegedly" Smithy is a Twat.

"Allegedly"    ?

I scarcely know the man ....