New NZ A-League Team

New NZ A-League Team

Personally I'd love to see another NZ team in the A-League in a few years time.

If you put it in CHCH it will be a complete failure.

Theres only one other place outside of Wellington it could suceed, IMO

i cant see cantabs getting past rugby to be bluntly honest

firstly and im not being "cynical" phoenix have to assurt their place in the league with results on the field next season before we even start thinking about another new zealand team or the phoenix becoming traveling around the country for home games.

1st season we've build well - 2nd season needs it to happen on the park or im afraid 2 say new zealands chances could be up.

Bring back the Knights I say

I agree, I just can't see it flying in the current environment.

For starters, it requires someone with Terry's strengths to want to do it, and in 8 years, those people never existed in Auckland (well apart from Katzen who quite obviously had his own issues).  Chuck in the fact that the FFA must be terrified of the Auckland market and it seems it would need a very serious 5 years of the Phoenix before they even considered it.

However, a 1 million person market isn't easy to ignore, and if a stadium solution arose that was near the city (ie not Mt Smart of NHS) then I think it could fly with the right ownership model.  It would be a loooong way off though... and would need someone with some real vision for the sport in Auckland.

I think the other team in the a-league should be auckland city, they have the population factor up there, granted the knightz was a failure but can you imagine using eden park, wellington v auckland 2-3 times a season, now that would be awesome, think of the rivarly, think of the fans both home and away, that would be great. but i think they should use Eden park, after all they are spending millions on the place for the egg chasing world cup.

The population is 1 million.  Eden Park is a nightmare to get to, expensive and too large.

...and who is paying for it ?

the thing is though, i'd agree with you to an extent, and i'm not sure who represents central coast in league (probably really obvious, brain melting in heat up here in aucks..) but especially in the case of newcastle, their league team as obviously been stuggling, and went from a very high-ranking club to not soo great, the public would have been looking for something to get behind, however The Cantabs are till very high on the rugby pecking order here.. other than that, they just give me a more stubborn vibe, as most NZ sporting related things seem to have

I reckon a nother NZ franchise would work. Its just would take quite a few years. The |A-League will probably go to 10 with Gold Coast Galaxy and the Northern Thunder. I would imagine they would let this expansion bed in for a while. Next in line would be Woolongong, East Sydney and another Victorian team( Geelong perhaps) but this would be at least 5 years away.

Auckland have had their chance(s) and failed miserably. Give Christchurch a go. As I have said countless times we have proved we can get good crowds with 10 100 for the All Whites vs Malaysia and over 4 000 in the Phoenix vs Queensland match.

I know heaps of people down here who are really into their football, and I think what happened in Wellington would happen here: people coming along to a game to check it out, getting addicted and coming to more games.loyalgunner2008-01-30 19:42:08

Aucklanders will not travel across town to see a game of football (any code)

The Warriors have a good core of supporters (when they win), but then Mt Smart is close to the league heartland.

North harbour rugby have pathetic crowds - even for a game with Auckland

Eden park is rarely even close to full

If / when the A league expands, the only real option is Chch - the people down there are parochial, and ( I think) would get behind their team - Canterbury United would be a better name - that way there would be some ownership with other villages in Canterbury.

Having said that - it all needs someone with passion and the dosh.

failing Chch - hows about Porirua!

Not a chance for quite some time IMO, there are plenty of teams that would pop up in AUS first - GC, Townsville, Wollongong, 2nd Vic team, etc.

If Chch'ers are after some football, there's an NZFC team that could REALLY use your support...

yes this is true, to explain the knights poor crowds i could probably give a few reasons, 1 north harbour was a terrible idea, not close to anything really, even though about 10 mins from where i live.
2. The results never got there, and 3, there never really was much good publicity for them was there.
all stadiums in auckland are poorly placed, although most things seem to be, and in wellington, correct me if i'm wrong, but i'm fairly sure the the stadium is in the very good proximity with the city and would serve as a much easier night out than the mission provided by auckland?

The stadium's location should never really have made much difference. I drove to Ericsson to see the Kingz, and Albany to see the Kingz and Knights. Just to see football was my objective, that's why I also drive to Wellingon, even thougn its twice as far. Oi Oi Edgecumbe2008-01-30 22:15:12

Word that springs to mind after reading that post is - Deluded

The north island vs south island rivalry would be a good sales pitch in Canterbury. Maybe even an exhibition game against the 'nix to spark off interest?

Christchurch is the next choice, for an venue of a second franchise. I have played football across the country and believe me that after Wellington, Christchurch was the next best crowds I played under no matter what level it is. The support is very strong around the clubs as shown when they made a regional-based club for the old National Club League.

Auckland always had the player numbers and had their passion but supporter numbers were disappointing lacking.

The problem with Auckland is that most of the people from Auckland are not Auckland born and bred. they are from different parts of the country looking for the job security and are supporters of their own region outside of Auckland. Therefore population of Auckland is not the real local Aucklanders. The same thing happens in Sydney, most of the Sydney folks are not born and bred Sydney people. they are job seeking people from other parts of the country and won't support Sydney sport scene. both Auckland and Sydney are where country's "rat race" city and are the urban life are always estranged from the sporting scene. The sport at those centres were alway disappointing, The sport level are top knotch but the crowds not enough and rivial teams have great Auckland crowds on their side supporting against Auckland!!

Lots of people are forced to travel to Auckland to find jobs, they don't want to be in Auckland but they don't have much choice because they get educated in an area and the jobs opportunties for that area are in Auckland or overseas. In turn, that just backfires on Auckland when it comes to regional support because they are even more passion for their hometown and will admit it to Aucklanders that home was better and if they retired, they would go back "home".

In fact, in Christchurch, its has the most growth out of the main cities centres as the former christchurch people are coming back home since there are more job security than before.

Yes I would think that Christchurch have the knack of supporting their sporting teams whatever the code is. Players would have to shift from Auckland if they want to play at the higher level in the A-League. This will happen if they get the right coach and set up.

I heard backroom chat of having a team at a greater football level like the NSL, years ago, but a united team at national club league was the result. No doubt, there will be those who would be willing to make applications for the A-League in the future. The players in the NZFC Canterbury Dragons are at the disadvantage because the coaching is not up to A-League quality. Some of the players are decent and will be better with some higher level coaching add some of the Auckland players and others around the country NZFC. The team become fairly competitive.

Although the onus is on the Wellington Phoenix to show A-league suitability, the model they create for the other NZ interest groups looking to follow would assist in their application. However it also means that NZF is involved because the A-League licence is grant to NZF and the NZF sub-licence to the best bidder. So the application must be done along side with NZF and then NZF has to apply to the FFA for a second licence.

I hope that Phoenix will fly high and allow this to happen. It would help convincing the NZF and then FFA that it is possible.

As for the name :

Canterbury . . .

cannoneers
carabineer
Cavaliers
Celtics
charioteers
Chaucerian
cheetah
Chevaliers
chieftains
cosmos
cyclones

. . .are the alliterations names that I could come up with.

Cavaliers
Celtics
cosmos
cyclones

. . . are my top four.

Lets face it. Auckland blew their chances and failing a waterfront stadium. It's a sporting disaster area. Stadium location is important to Joe Public. You have to appeal to non-football public that football has a future. location is very important to promote especially if you happen to be losing.

I won't mind them being a third bid, after Wellington and Christchurch being competitively solid in the A-League.

It all makes sense to have Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland, when the International Airlines leave directly to Australia and each of the main centres are representatives of the old Central, Southern and Northern Leagues.

However, remember rugby is played in winter and so if you are a Rugby Fan, you are likely to be a sport team supporter. So in summer, football is likely to get more fan action in a couple of hours than an all day watching Canterbury cricket IMHO.

As for the cash, there are plenty of businessmen that own Queen Street, Auckland, that are from Otago and Canterbury with some dosh, plus a couple in the region. I sure that a consortium can do the job.

Hey I like that!! If there is a small group that will look for a profitable day with a Canterbury invitation team (shadow NZFC XI). The sell would be excellent sound base for any A-League licence. It would be a nice warm-up match, before the A-league Preseason Cup and a type of club trial as well. A great sell if you ask me. Terry would warm to the idea and help organised a bit of profit for all. A win-win situation.AllWhitebelievr2008-01-31 00:52:31

Christchurch could easily support a team in a competition that gets decent media coverage...as previously mentioned, decent crowds at the last AWs game hosted AND the pre season phoenix clash had a respectable crowd considering it wasnt very well advertisied IMO.

theres only one thing that puts me off slightly. QE2 is not a footballing stadium and is not up to HAL standards although it is more than ok for preseason fixtures (HINT HINT), english park is too small and AMI/jade/lancaster would cost an arm and a leg (although would be perfect at the moment with half the stadium missing)


give it 10 years and i'll hopefully have the money for it...

Canterbury Rams....coz we all know how much they like their sheep down there !!!!!!!!!

the canterbury planes..

get it?


hahahahah..

I'm going to be great at marketing.

Whats the problem with QE2 park?       How many people does it hold?

20,000

Lights, corporate facilities, Television facilities.  The requirements for an A-League venue are very high.

I'm sure there's more than that within one hour of Newcastle...

Porirua Predators?
Kannons Kreek Kracka Killaz?
Whitby Wasps?

get real Chch is the only way!

Well we need $2 million at initial star with the forecast being at a capitization of $8 million by 12-18 months time. Although it is best to come up with $5 million like the foundation clubs had as iniital cash in bank.

Need a strong coach of considerable influence.

A stadium capacity? well QEII is still better than Perth Glory's Members Equity Stadium of 17,288     Adelaide United's Hindmarsh Stadium of 16,500. So QEII is a good starter stadium and it could be expanded if needed. However Jade Stadium could be negotiable, if crowds are big enough at QEII.

It wouldnt work in Chch. End of.

imo a second nz a-league team would be over a decade off. for a second nz team to enter they need to present bids that will be more attractive then;

lets not forget that the playing surface isnt as nice as the ring of fire...and then theres the running track

Whangarei is the word