Hamish John Sanders Watson (born 17 April 1993) is a 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 ...

who plays as a centre forward for

National Premier Leagues Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer lea ...

side

Dandenong Thunder Dandenong Thunder SC is a soccer club from Dandenong, a suburb in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They are an Albanian Australian-backed club. Thunder compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. In 2012, Dandenon ...

. He has previously played for

Lower Hutt City Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most ...

Hawke's Bay United Hawke's Bay United was a professional Association football club based in Napier, New Zealand. HB United most recently played in the ISPS Handa Premiership – a semi-professional franchise based league, which ran independently of the winte ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

and

Team Wellington Team Wellington Football Club was a New Zealand semi-professional football club based in the suburb of Miramar in Wellington, New Zealand. They competed in the ISPS Handa Premiership. Team Wellington had traditionally been one of the most succe ...

. He has also been capped by the New Zealand U-20 side.

Career

Watson started his footballing career at

at the age of 4 before moving onto the Phoenix school of excellence and making 13 appearances with

. On 10 October 2013 he signed a one-week deal with

as a loan cover for the internationals. On 5 February 2014 he signed for A-league side

for the remainder on the 2013–14 season. On 23 April 2014 he made his debut in the

Central Premier League The Central League is an amateur status league competition run by Capital Football for Association football clubs located in the southern and central parts of the North Island, New Zealand. From 2021 it is at the second level of New Zealand Footb ...

with Wairarapa United. On 25 October 2014 Watson moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, training with

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professi ...

side

to try earn a contract with the club. On 20 November 2014 Watson received international clearance, and on the verge of signing for

, he signed a short-term contract until January with the club later on that day. On 26 February 2015, having made 4 brief substitute appearances, Watson joined

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

side

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

on a one-month loan deal, to help him develop. On 20 May 2015, Watson was released by Grimsby Town. On 30 June 2015, Watson rejoined

side Wairarapa United. In February 2016, Watson joined Wellington Phoenix as an injury replacement for

Roy Krishna Roy Krishna (born 30 August 1987) is a Fijian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Indian Super League club Bengaluru FC and the Fiji national team. Club career Early career Krishna joined the New Zealand Football Championship ...

. Following a successful spell, at the end of the season Watson signed a year long professional contract with the club. On 24 January 2018, Watson agreed to part ways with Wellington Phoenix after seeing limited game time with the team. After another spell with Team Wellington, Watson moved to Australia, signing for

side

Melbourne Knights Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league ...

. On 12 June 2019 Watson scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against rivals

South Melbourne FC South Melbourne Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in suburb of Albert Park, in Melbourne, Victoria. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, with matches played at Lakeside Stadium ...

in the last round of the Victorian 2019 FFA Cup preliminary rounds, sending his side through to the national stage of the cup.

International career

Watson has represented New Zealand at the Under-20 level. They performed in the

OFC U-20 Championship The OFC U-19 Championship is a tournament held once every two years to decide the under-19 champions of Oceania and also decides who will represent Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) at the biennial FIFA U-20 World Cup. Between 1974 and 2012, ...

Tournament in Lautoka, Fiji in 2013, with every game being played at the Churchull Park Stadium, eventually finishing champions in the tournament that also featured Fiji the hosts, New Caledonia under 21,

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

. On 21 March 2013, he scored in New Zealand's 5—0 win over

. On 27 March 2013, Watson scored again in the final game, beating the hosts Fiji 4–0. The team qualifying as Oceania's representative at the

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

which Watson attended. He played in two games at the World Cup in Turkey, first in the 0—2 lost to Uruguay, getting 12mins. Then in the 0—3 lost to Uzbekistan getting his first start.

Career statistics

Personal life

Watson is a keen supporter of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

football club, his favorite players are

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Uruguayan Primera División club Nacional and the Uruguay national team. Nicknamed ''El Pistolero'' ('The Gunman'), he is ...

and Steven Gerrard.

Honours

Club

;

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are 2022 winners Auck ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

(runners up)

International

; New Zealand *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

(group stage)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Hamish 1993 births Living people Association football forwards New Zealand association footballers Hawke's Bay United FC players Team Wellington players Wellington Phoenix FC players Grimsby Town F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players A-League Men players National League (English football) players National Premier Leagues players New Zealand under-20 international footballers New Zealand Football Championship players