when are we gonna know where we stand, can we collaborate with an aussie city and keep the nix but half the home games played here .. dont talk sharke .... why cant we just have a frakin footy team. ifeel sorry for the english, german etc fans who move over here , i wouldnt move to this non football lovin sharkehole..
I see where you're coming from, but have to disagree. I moved to NZ for non-footballing reasons twenty-odd years ago and I choose to support the Nix, the local club I have, rather than a club somewhere in Europe. Sure I enjoy seeing the odd game or two at the top level on telly, say the Champions League etc, but I watch it dispassionately. In contrast, nothing beats the sheer emotional rollercoaster of being a committed Phoenix supporter.
As a migrant you accept to take the bad with the good. So if you move here from Europe then you know that football is not the #1 sport here. Yes you can support a continental club instead, and just look down your nose at Phoenix, or Auckland City FC, or Ferrymead Bays for that matter, but all that means is that in your heart you're just a tourist.
100%
I feel lucky that my parents who were immigrants from Holland and England, took me to see the local matches in Nelson as a kid. This was from the mid-seventies on at a great time for football in Nelson with promotion to the national league, winning the Chatham Cup etc.
This got me hooked on following football, in conjunction with the All Whites run to the '82 World Cup with five of the NZ team having played for Nelson plus assistant coach Fallon.
My parents were both football fans before immigrating but didn't maintain much interest in football in their home countries compared to interest in football in NZ (apart from 'Big League soccer" on TV every Sunday and watching Holland on TV in the '74 and '78 World Cups).
We would walk as a family the twenty minutes down to Rutherford Park from our home to see Nelson United play.
My mum, a nurse and first aid instructor even eventually became the team's medical personnel. Once she had to rush on to the field to treat a broken leg with the broken bone sticking through the skin.
The immigrants continue to contribute in a big way to football in places like Nelson and Christchurch.
There's so much more football to follow now in NZ with the Phoenix as well as the national league and regional leagues.
My Dutch cousins have been here and seen the Phoenix play and thought the standard was pretty good and the games exciting (admittedly they did strike it lucky in the games they saw on TV and at Westpac).
It's also easy to meet the players and coaching staff here after national league or regional league games which you can't do at matches in the UK or Europe. I had a good chat with Auckland City coach Ramon Tribulietx this season after a game and Canterbury United coach Willy Gerdsen a few times, Aaron Spain yesterday at a Mainland Premier match, Ben Sigmund, Tom Schwarz previously at games. And I've met several former All Whites over the years at matches such as Wynton Rufer, Fred de Jong, Steve Sumner, Steve Wooddin, Bobby Almond, Richard Wilson, former All Whites coach Ian Marshall etc. All approachable and interesting to talk to.
your barkin up the wrong tree most of you self called imagrunts have experenced a atmosphere of a top class crowd , thats the experiance that i envy , singing laughing, cryin pissin in their bovril while they sh1te in our shoes "'billy connelly'". the closest ive got is having a glass smashed on my head by a man city cock in the maukau pub kapiti because i had a mufc scarf on. enjoyed every minute until the next day. my best pal was a kiwi pom and from 5 we played every day if it wasnt for his tribe id probably played darts