How parochialism works (in the mainland). 1. we hate Auckland and what you represent; 2. we have a long history of real and imagined wrongs due to our geographical fate; 3. how you win is more important than winning (these values are a key difference between any big smoke town and any regional town, anywhere in the world) - we may have a winning team with out of towners but whats the point in that if this competition is all about developing home grown players that little kids playing for a local club can look up to.
Also, there is a whiff that NZF is managing a national player base into top tier national league teams, which takes away an opportunity for a local. Young de Jong, per se, is not the issue.