Football on a roll in 2007

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Photo : NZPA

The round ball game got on a roll again in New Zealand in 2007.

A quarter of a century after enjoying an international profile by reaching the 1982 World Cup finals, football is on the rise.

Wellington Phoenix entered the Australian A-league, out of the ashes of the New Zealand Knights, thanks to property investor Terry Serepisos.

Add the coincidental timing of the youth (under 17), junior (under 20) and women's World Cups and a fair bit to Australia's exit from the Oceania zone, and interested soared.

But while the Phoenix added colour, despite their lowly placing in the A-league, their efforts were helped along nicely by a visit from English superstar David Beckham.

The former England captain came, played and scored for LA Galaxy, bared his chest to squeals from women and left us bidding on the internet for the crumbs he left behind.

Becks was the second sporting celebrity, after golfer Tiger Woods, to visit the capital in the recent years and caused a stir unlike that seen before in the country.

While being husband to popstar Posh Spice has made him a world celebrity, Becks showed he could do a thing or two with the round ball.

Undoubtedly a cut above any other player on the field during a 4-1 win over the Phoenix, Becks was a class act and the result was irrelevant to the record 31,800 fans.

Only an All Whites' World Cup qualifying match against Kuwait back in 1981 drew a football crowd near that at Westpac Stadium on December 1.

"To realise that just six to seven months ago we didn't have a (A-League) licence and then putting a competitive team together and now this (Beckham's visit) -- it's just incredible," Serepisos said.

He was perhaps fortunate that coach Ricki Herbert was available to take charge of his club.

Herbert has performed the jobs of national coach and Phoenix coach admirably, signing up a bunch of players who put the club before their personal interest to ensure they not only survived in the A-League but flourished.

Where they finish in their first year will be known after New Year but they have shown the potential to be a top team, winning against the toughest opponents in the league.

"They play the best football in the competition," was the compliment from Aurelio Vidmar, coach of league leaders Central Coast after their win over the Phoenix.

Herbert signed players such as Ross Aloisi, a former Australian international and seasoned league campaigner, All Whites such as Shane Smeltz, Tim Brown, Mark Paston and Tony Lochhead, then mixed them with a few Brazilians, Australians and young New Zealanders.

Perhaps the most striking fact of their opening season was that they attracted between 8000 and 18,000 for home matches, figures that the Wellington rugby team had struggled to lure.

Australia's move to the Asian Football Confederation paved a smoother path to another World Cup finals (2010) for the All Whites.

They're already half way there after beating Vanuatu twice and Fiji once in the Oceania zone qualifying games, without the likes of Danny Hay and Vaughan Coveny (both retired from internationals) and their Blackburn Rovers defender Ryan Nelsen.

Herbert is hoping both Nelsen and Hibernian's Chris Killen will be available for their crunch game against the fifth-placed Asian side.

New Zealand have three games to complete their Oceania round -- two against New Caledonia and a home match against Fiji, which will be played at a neutral venue.

World football body Fifa took that game away from New Zealand after the Fijians had arrived without their top goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau, refused a visa by the New Zealand government.

The government had adopted a visa restriction policy for Fijian citizens with military connections in Fiji after Voreqe Bainimarama took over the country.

Though without success, the New Zealand men's under-17 and under-20 teams and the women's side played in their respective World Cups.

In 2007 New Zealand teams played 74 matches, 53 internationals, in 15 countries, including the All Whites' 2-2 draw against Wales at Wrexham where Smeltz scored both goals.