ALL WHITES V BAHRAIN - Official 2nd Leg T

Lads, I am keen to stick some youtube crowd stuff up on the hand of god blog.

yes it was Rory or Obafemi Martins for performer of the day for sure.

it was way cool to walk to the stadium against the incoming trains a fair chocker with loyal punters
would have made top film footage
maybe it was the part of the city we stayed in but it seemed all focus on the football. maybe it was just my own pre-occupation

the cats going to town on the balcony just off Featherstone St looked well ready for the game.

SBS probably have adequate reasons too be bitter over the splitting of A-League spoils surely?

Hey Wayne! what a weekend! Lots of Coastal in the Capital! We got to shape up now fro the hosting ear;y-mid Jan now , I guess. I'll call Bob Parker forthwith.

yeh mostly on the far side from the zone...

Poll in the Melbourne Age right now "Do you wish the All Whites Well For the World Cup" 

Yeah I have noticed a real cynical and overly critical attitude  amongst certain factions ,they  don't seem to be able to enjoy the moment for what it is ,everyone knows were not going to win  the world cup, so what its a f****n party!
I'm originally from Scotland so know more than most about the exuberant joy of qualification and ridiculously over amped expectations regarding arrival at the biggest sporting event on the planet ,its never stopped me enjoying the ride !
Maybe this attitude is  born out of watching All Black teams choking at rugby world cup finals ,a feeling of on going dread and acceptance of future  failure !
This is different everything that happens from now on is a bonus and great fun !
Live it for now and love it,this team may not win a single game on their African adventure but they will do us proud whatever happens !



1

Tall poppy syndrome'd

Must have been a misunderstanding there. I'm nowhere near good enough for freestyle footie We did look out for you there but to no avail.

What a great night! Thank you Phoenix/Yellow Fever for playing such a big part in making the night what it was. I was there, in the White Noise area, with my family - a night of great emotions, and - at a personal level - many of them mixed.

There is no doubt that the All Whites would not be on their way to South Africa without the A-League franchise being as succesful as it is - and that includes it being in Wellington and having the great fans it has.

And as for those critics who said Ricki should not have both jobs - I wouldn't mind betting they have now forgotten that they said that. TO hos credit Marty Devlin acknowledged yesterday that he was wrong on that count. And there were so many who criticised Ricki having either job! He has silenced his critics in the best possible way.

And finally, credit to the board of NZ Football who endorsed an expanionist approach four years ago - a great investment in the future that is paying back bigtime! They agreed to spend "ahead of the curve" - risky but ultimately spectacularly successful. After 6 Olympics/World/Confederation Cups in our history, we now on the verge of 13 (out of 14) in five years.

Thank you Phoenix fans and Yellow Fever - I hope your gates increase significantly and the club and you get the returns you deserve.

And make sure you get that tour to South Africa established - it would be the only way to go!

without wanting to re-hash comments already made - thank you yellow fever for driving that support 'bandwagon' - as an aucklander who's antipathy contributed towards us  losing A league football here you guys have shown the way - i firmly believe your leadership started the ball rolling that culminated in the crowd on saturday night (with the sensible pricing contribution from NZ Football)

Well done to NZ. The only thing I'm slightly peeved at is that we got teams like Scotland (when they were good), Argentina, Iran (when they were good) and Uruguay and the instant we leave Oceania they give you Bahrain.

It was the perfect game in terms of setting up national pride, etc. A real showcase. And the All-Whites *did* play well. Is the game out on DVD yet. I may well buy it!

It will be interesting to see who you get in the draw. Are Australia seeded as one of the best in Asia?

Oh yeah, and "All Whites" in South Africa? Lol.
For_FCs_Sake2009-11-16 14:39:51

Just spoke to head of security and apparently there were 14 arrests (mostly for pitch invations) and 6 or so kick-outs (drunk and dissorderly). For a crowd size that big he said it was one of the best behaved crowds he'd ever seen there. NPC semi had 12 arrests and 16 kick-outs with a croud of about 15 thousand. One guy jumped the barrier, broke his ankle, got arrested and got a trespass notice all in one dumb/funny act.Toffeeman2009-11-16 15:42:38

haha yea saw lots of people run on to the pictch, their emotion got the better of them and i dont blame them. Downey262009-11-16 16:10:59

Just out of interest have they released the viewing audience for the game??

We had that Mother Goose looking guy in the white tutu invade the pitch in front of us. It was quiote funny to watch, he was smashed off his face and was putting in some nice side-step/jinky moves before he ran out of steam and threw himself spread eagled on the turf.

superb atmosphere guys. Im still buzzing!

There was a bit of argie bargie in the rows below us in Aisle 25 with one lad being dragged out by the cops early in the first half. Quite distracting for the rest of us.

The guy in the tutu on the pitch at the end was a hoot! Nice turn of speed to evade the first attempted tackle.

People were singing all sorts of rubbish at the Kings.

I sang ...

 

My little turdish 6th graders are going to get an education tmr.   Stevo2009-11-16 20:09:56

The future of our nation is in your hands?..what 6th grade these days..year 6?

I didn't scream when Mark My New Boyfriend Paston saved the penalty, because I couldn't believe what I'd seen. I sank into my seat in a dazed stupor muttering "he saved it... Mark Paston saved a penalty..." while everyone went nuts around me.

nice Steptoe  edit: though i'm guessing it's from English media  tigers2009-11-16 21:10:23

I actually heard someone around my area say "Now just watch him save this penalty" when it was awarded.

I didn't believe him/her of course, but I guess he/she told me so!!

Brilliant

Forgive me for going over old ground, but what were the prices for your WC qualifier? I know in Australia, all final round games cost something like $122 for cat A, $90 for cat B and $65 for cat C (adult prices). From memory, the Uruguay game four years ago (anniversary is actually today!) was even more expensive.  

They were $39

29 for the cheap seats. 

There was a question asked on Radio Sport tonight - would Westpac have been filled at "All Black ticket pricing".

I am not sure about that one. I probably would have been put off by $80-90 ticket pricing and could have missed a great night.

Of course it might not have been so great if only 10,000 had turned up.

1. Sorry I was "upstanding" and not recording. If you hadn't heard, there was only one verse of the anthem played (instrumental of course), and some confusion as to which verse was to be sung. Myself, I sang the Maori expecting a reprise that didn't come.

2. Didn't hear it at all and I stayed for quite a while after the final whistle/victory lap. I did however hear the "Westpac Stadium" song and advertisement played - I was like WTF? Why are there scenes of Super 14 Rugby on the big screen when we've just qualified for the FIFA World Cup??

We wouldn't have been there at prices much higher than $39.

Congratulations to NZF for pitching the price at the right end to get a full house. As has been posted in several other threads NZF took a bigger view than how much money it could screw from the one event and went for a calculated risk of filling the stadium and getting the 12th man to help bring in $10 mill and a trip to SA.

Maybe a lesson for other sporting codes who want to see full stadia for important games in the future?

Part of the problem with All Black games is that they are essentially meaningless.  This was a huge match because it mattered, people were willing to part with cash (including flgihts, accomodation, merhandise) because they wanted to be part of something.  Another test against an understrength Northern Hemisphere side, or tri-nations game, is fairly tedious.  This game mattered and people realised that, I think you could have sold it out at higher prices (but setting the prices at the level they did was a very smart move - early ticket sales started the momentum around the match).

Its pretty bad that question was even posed,as it gives the hint at an answer of 'no' and gives negativity and makes rugby look good. Kind of annoyed at that. I actually am with JD in that it would have been soldout. Perhaps more people would have waited until after the 1st leg however.