The other thing about Rugby in Scotland is that its only professional at their equivalent of super rugby level (Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Italy joint competition).
I also wouldn't hold Scotland Football as a bastion of professionalism, they have severe financial problems, and are at a level where they have fewer Scottish national players in the entire league than the Phoenix has all whites, in fact most of their squad comes from the championship in the UK.
So despite it being the number one sport in an area with a similar (but denser) population, plenty of history, and and a dedicated fan base there are severe problems with finances and the quality of the football.
The best we can hope for football in NZ is to have another team or two in an expanded A-League in the distant future.
And once again, please outline the difference in 'money in the game' for rugby vs football in Scotland? When you contrast that with how it is in NZ...
You will never be able to compare football in this country to anywhere else because we are literally the only country in the world (next to the USA and Australia) where football means nothing. Find a country with the same population and a sporting mix where football sits behind rugby, league, cricket and netball or 4 other sports and then we can start comparing. Hell the national basketball league gets more bums in seats than our ASBP does. Why we keep going back to Scotland is beyond me... Football is their national sport for crying out loud and the 2nd one (rugby) is very distant. Pub fighting comes in 3rd so really, they have football that is so far ahead of the number 2 sport, and there is not a 3 or 4 sport. When you are funding, it all goes into football. All kids want to be are footballers and its in every single tabloid sheet with streams of article. Scotland is an incredibly bad comparison.
Businessmen will open their pockets to throw money at rugby in this country. That will never ever happen for football.
The other thing about Rugby in Scotland is that its only professional at their equivalent of super rugby level (Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Italy joint competition).
I also wouldn't hold Scotland Football as a bastion of professionalism, they have severe financial problems, and are at a level where they have fewer Scottish national players in the entire league than the Phoenix has all whites, in fact most of their squad comes from the championship in the UK.
So despite it being the number one sport in an area with a similar (but denser) population, plenty of history, and and a dedicated fan base there are severe problems with finances and the quality of the football.
The best we can hope for football in NZ is to have another team or two in an expanded A-League in the distant future.