Nix vs Heart, Dunedin, 3rd March 4.30pm SS1

I thought you would say that. But no, I wouldn't say the Phoenix are shit. I just think we shouldn't candy coat it. 

I seriously don't think we do bro. Having a crack at EVERY SINGLE AWAY GAME from Ricki managed teams though? You can support that? Not even counting the world cup, how about Aus   and Serbia in the lead up? Draw with El Salvador and win against Honduras in the states last year? #sackricki

Top day out for someone who came down from CHCH.  Good to meet other YF faithful, and made me jealous that you guys get to watch professional football every second week.

Big thanks to Ahmad for sorting my ticket, and all you did for the others. I saw you running round, txting, calling, organising etc and I didn't bother hassling you for my ticket thought I would wait until things died down.  Did it ever die down?

Highlight was joining in the YF, getting caught singing in the toilet when I thought there was noone in there, and getting to see Gareth Morgan half naked, having a laugh with fans, and choking the man in a cat-suit.  Where's the photo of that? That shit's gonna go viral!

Cheers everyone!

Now for the cricket, where's the cricket version of the YF?

Looked like a sunny day - you lot were lucky Dunedins summer fell on a Sunday this year

Brilliant weekend. I loved Dunedin. The Octagon was party central and it was easy to spot a Phoenix shirt there somewhere. Met some great Nix supporters who I will hopefully meet up with again at the Victory game. As someone mentioned earlier, we saw Nixie unmasked "Are you Daniel in disguise" Can confirm that the Heart do have the hottest physio in the league when she turned up at Craft bar on Sunday night "Is she really going out with him, is she really going to take him home tonight". Lots of great memories and photo's. Crowd number was disappointing but for a football inspired weekend away, I would certainly go back to Dunedin.

Barmy Army?

Top effort for those that came from 4.5 hours away for the match. Great effort repaid in spades by the result. Got to chill out last night thanks. Being too busy to eat and drink all day on Saturday was interesting but worthwhile. Sunday was only hectic because all the best planning in the world doesn't prepare you for a flight carrying 7+ Feverites to be cancelled. That's the only reason there was the running around and high-powered businessman impersonation on Sunday. It was all sorted out in the end though with rebooked Jags. 

Patrick - no mention of the Bolton chants at the start? Classy of him to acknowledge them - I bumped into him at the airport and thanked him for the engagement. And "he's off to get a haircut" drew a response too. Top stuff. 

If you had been around Patrick you might have also seem Dura lead a Melbourne B chant to the 2 Heart supporters leaving for the night. 

Too many happy memories. 

LOL there had been no rain for weeks and the first forecast rain threatened to dampen the Octagon Festival of Football. That rain came on  Friday night instead though - Saturday and Sunday were gorgeous save for morning showers on Sunday. 

Ah yes, I'm quite sure you were "engaged" ^_^

Were there morning showers on Sunday? Thats right, I was still in bed recovering from Saturday night. :)

Careful. Judging by recent Wellington crowds, we could be in doubt too.

If this game had been at Wellington the crowd could have been even smaller, cos quite a few of the 4,000 there midweek went home pretty unhappy.

had an absolute blast down in Dunedin. My only regret is that I had to leave quite early after the game as my dad wanted to come back early. Got a photo with Gareth Morgan, had the entire Nix squad walk passed me and got a wave and a hi from Dura, Ifill and Mossy. (doesn't sound that much to the average Wellingtonian but it was a massive buzz for me) and got my Nix top signed by the boys after. Met a lot of new people. Next step is to start making it to some Wellington games. 

Great to meet you down there Timmy! Would be great to see you up here for a game sometime, maybe next season? 

Yeah probably. I might even track my way up there for the last game of the season. Although I'm probably going back down for the All Whites game in a few weeks. 

Interesting result, hard to know what to make of it really.  Did we throw the shackles off because we were out of it, playing without pressure so to speak, or is it a genuine change due to greenie's influence?  Almost impossible to know after a single game, but some welcome respite for all involved that's for sure

The last time I saw these guys was on 22 and 27 December. They looked a different outfit. There was a little trepidation as they landed in Dunedin but by Friday night at the team function they were pretty chillaxed and a really happy unit. Friday night was a short but fun night and it's hard to describe but they definitely had a glint in the eye.

Didn't see much of the training session on Saturday as I had to hand out flyers to the disappointingly small number that had turned up for this and then run off, but on Saturday afternoon when they entire squad walked past timmymadden and caused his heart to flutter, they again seemed in a really good space.

When the small but boisterous Fever group arrived en masse at the ground there was instant acknowledgement from the players. They acknowledged us on their way off the field, and then acknowledged us again on their way out. There was a look of determination in Dura and the rest of the team's eyes that I really don't recall seeing for some time, though admittedly I don't attend a lot of live games.

There was acknowledgement of the Zone again at halftime, and the look on Dura's face when the final whistle blew was gold. Everyone (fans, coaches, management, owners) has been talking about how happy the lads were after the game and they were still buzzing through into the early hours of the next morning. Siggy said they would have been up all night had Dunedin establishments not closed up. 

I noticed that there have been a lot of comments posted by Dunedin based people after the match (but interestingly little or nothing before it).

Could ANYONE from Dunedin or who travelled for the game with thoughts or comments please post them here or email me at dunedinphoenix (at) icloud (dot) com

Comments are also invited from Nix fans in Wellington - eg. timing of the match itself, or any other aspect (I can hear the call for more Wellington home games already!)

I have been asked to compile any and all feedback around this fixture as part of a comprehensive review. Anything at all to do with the game, the marketing around it, the players interaction with Dunedin fans, ticketing, etc. Just hit me with it today if possible. Cheers.

Edit: If you would prefer to feed back directly to those conducting the review, feel free to post in the following thread instead: http://forums.yellowfever.co.nz/categories/dangerous-liaisons/topics/dunedin-nix-v-heart-3-march-2013-forsyth-barr-stadium 

This is for the sake of transparency so that you have a way to feed back directly if you think this improves your chances of being heard by those conducting the review.

Ahmad - go to sleep mate. You have earned it!

 It is fantastic to have people like Ahmad putting so much time and effort into promoting football.Good luck for the All Whites game later this month.

Well done.

Channel 9 Local TV gave this some pretty awesome coverage. They focused entirely on the Yellow Fever and covered the Festival of Football, using all of their own footage rather than ripping it off Sky and matching a "match report". Well done on defeating the "Melbourne Heat".

Check it out here: http://www.ch9.co.nz/content/9-local-news-webcast 

Skip forward to 24:22 to catch this segment.

Poor turnout may keep 'Nix out of Dunedin

It remains to be seen whether the Wellington Phoenix will be welcomed back to Forsyth Barr Stadium after two men and a dog turned up to watch the A-League clash against Melbourne Heart in Dunedin on Sunday.

The official crowd figure was 3060, seemingly too humbling for the rudderless Phoenix to comment on yesterday.

Forsyth Barr Stadium chief executive Darren Burden fronted, but struggled to hide his disappointment at witnessing what is believed to be the lowest home attendance for a Phoenix game.

"David (Phoenix general manager David Dome) and I met in September and our expectation was in the order of 8000-10,000 would be great," Burden said.

"If it was around 7000-8000 we would have been pretty happy, but that is the way it goes."

Burden would not divulge what the break even figure was.

"In terms of the numbers we got I don't think we quite made it to the break even point and we are pretty disappointed with it," Burden said.

"The issue for us is clearly we have good run of events down here lately and they have been really successful and this is the one that sticks out for us, to date, which hasn't meet with the expectations we really wanted."

Burden put the poor turnout down to a combination of the Phoenix's poor form and the more attractive football option of the All Whites' World Cup qualifier against New Caledonia at Forsyth Barr Stadium on March 22.

As for hosting the Phoenix next season should the opportunity arise, Burden sat on the fence.

"We'll have a debrief over the next couple of months and see how things might improve and go from there," Burden said.

"If the team had been performing better, been in the hunt for a playoff place, who knows what that could have translated to in terms of additional people coming along.

"It's the nature of sport, people don't want to come along and watch a losing team."

Ticket prices were adult $25, child $10, student $15 and a family pass (two adults and two children) $60.

The Phoenix have made two previous visits to Forsyth Barr Stadium.

The best parallel is in December 2011 when 4628 turned out for a game against Brisbane Roar. Close to 15,000 had come four months earlier for a pre-season game between the same two sides but that coincided with the opening of the indoor venue.

Junior82 wrote:

ahmad wrote:

Channel 9 Local TV gave this some pretty awesome coverage. 

"feh feh feh feh ... Chris Waddle"

Hahahaha, believe it or not J82, that was actually said at the game replied to with a Scorchio!!!!!!!! 

Where did that come from 2B? The real issue in attendance was the distinct lack of promotion that went into the match by the council. When we were handing out fliers on Saturday a lot of people had no idea who we were or what we were doing there. When the Nix came to Christchurch there were posters up all around the city, and we didn't even have anyone doing what Ahmad clearly did for the game the last few weeks. The fact that it was a Sunday evening didn't help either I suppose but I would have thought the discounted price for students would have got a few more in the gate. We walked through the university and there was nothing. 

Stilll very very tired, but still buzzing about an awesome weekend. Yes crowd was a bit of a disappointment, but hey those that were there had a fantastic time.

Some Highlights of the weekend for me:

-Meeting Greenie in the Octagon on Sarturday. It has probably been sad a million times but what a top bloke and I sure hope we can find space in the club for him next year.

-Gareth strangling Dave in the Catsuit in the Octagon.

-Velvet Burgers...nomnomnom

-March to the match, dragging a few Random Hippies / Hare Krishnas along with us.

-Singing Jingle Bells at the young bloke.

- Brockie pissing himself laughing at "you've got the Hottest Physio in the League" Chant during the match.

-Getting a laugh and thumbs up out of Heart Left Back Coyne after "Does the Council cut your hair"

- Sending him off when subbed with a "He is off to get a hair cut"

- I Think the zone actually nailed "stand up"

-Duras smile at full time and giving the Captains armband to Ahmad..... Priceless

-Chanting players songs as the filed past doing Autographs

- Cheering the Asian tourists off the bus in the Octagon.

-Dura leading a "Melbourne B" chant in the pub to send off a couple of Melbourne Heart supporters.

Fantastic Weekend thanks once again Ahmad you are a legend. That is all.

Ohh and I seem to have lost a large wad of cash over the weekend. I can not have spent that much!!! If anyone has found it, would love to have it back.

I wouldn't go round trumpeting about how shit crowds are elsewhere, especially when you say things like "that massive preseason game was a huge one off", if you haven't hosted a game yourself. Might just come back to bite you.

Agree with Jeff on the stadiums (stadia?). Dunedin is way better, but I do think Hamilton should get a shot, only because I actually think we'd have a chance of getting a decent crowd there and they haven't had their go on the Phoenix A League merry-go-round yet.

I'm in no way against Hamilton but do many from there drive up to Auckland for matches there? And would Aucklanders travel to Hamilton for their game?

Having done that drive recently I would attend any Nix/AWs match in Auckland if I was in Hamilton.  I would attend any Nix match in Dunedin from Christchurch (4.5 hours drive) south.  (Pre-season excepted - it would have been a logistical nightmare for me to have gone to Chch last year but would have made the effort if in-season. 

Images from the game

http://photosport.co.nz/search.php?searchField=HEADLINE&albumId=63490&searchstring=%22A-League,%20Wellington%20Phoenix%20v%20Melbourne%20Heart,%203%20March%202013%22

http://www.gettyimages.co.nz/Search/Search.aspx?EventId=148992541&EditorialProduct=Sport

Haha quality list of highlights.

I think I'd have to add a couple though:

- the tour book being signed by the physio as "Hottest Physio"

-Pete at the after match in general but especially the stuff the players drew on him

- bumping into Rob also buying a pie in the Octagon 24 at about 3 am

- Talking crap with a 'Heart fan' about the CCM vs WSW game only to discover it's Scott Munn

A fantastic weekend.

Well worth the trip from Timaru.

So many highlights for me, especially the march to the stadium(big"ups" to the dixieland jazz band)

The welcome to the Asian tourists was one magical moment that you cant describe. You really had to be there

 A big thanks to Deano for inviting me into his group. I met a lot of Yellow Fever faithful who promised to look after me if im ever in Wellington. You guys rock!

Oh, and a special thanks to Ahmad