R17 v Radelaide Sat 1st Feb 7:30pm SS2

on a bright note, tyler boyd can nearly finish now. That international duty did kenny and carlos a world of good. 

Also - Krishna, Pavlovich or brockie for the worst first touch in nix history?

Was at the match yesterday, and seated just to the left of the Fever Zone ( or part thereof). There were the usual grumbles from those around me about the Standing Up ,and had to explain to them that when buying tickets in that area, you would have been advised that folks would be standing by Ticketmaster (?). So all the complaining kind of spoilt the game for a while. But you can't blame the AKL public for that. Surely it was the 'organisation' that sold the tickets that were at fault.

But some of the comments in tis thread are a bit off the mark. It's a person's right to enjoy watching the footy as they wish. If you want to stand up and chant, great. If you want to sit-down and watch, and politely clap, great. If you want to sit down and complain about the crowd and every time a player makes a mistake, then well that's your choice. And for the few, that went to go to the match, drink s much as you can stomach of the crap beer, and try and 'evoke atmosphere' rather than actually watch the game, then , well...

I think NH Peter's suggestion of having the entire area behind the goal earmarked as the YF Zone would be the logical option. And I would be there like a shot. (Always try and get as close to the Zone when I get to Welly)

P.S. And should the day arise that an AKL team is created, I would still support the Nix. I certainly would go along and watch the games, but more often than not support the opposition ( would draw the line at Jests tho'). It would be great to see Live football every second week ( and if AKL had to do road trips for the business model, then so be it).

So be thankful for what you have.

Now are you ready to come down for tea, and play nicely  ??

Agree. An aweful lot of moaning after what was a pretty successful event as a whole. So many positives from a Phoenix and NZF point of view.

Pretty much guarantees another game next season too. Hopefully a better placed game schedule
-wise though. Im knackered!

I really enjoyed the game and so did my wife (her first one in NZ) and baby (although he did cry after we scored both times, because of the sudden burst of noise... tears of joy i believe).

The crowd was a good size, the fever to my left were vocal and the chant you gave to the presenter "is she really going home with him" was classic... and more importantly for the first 45 minutes the football was good to watch.

The second half was so so as we seemed to lose energy and intent.

Lia really does look like a different player, particularly in the first half. If at the start of the year someone had suggested a contract extension for him I would of laughed and called them Ricki. But now... I'd be quite happy with it.

And Kenny is finally showing some of the flair and pace we were promised when he was signed. A top goal and some really nice runs.

An Aussie take on the game.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/sport/?WT.svl=abcNavSport

Some good discussions on Radio Sport this morning about a second nz A League team.

The general consensus was yes, it could be done, so long as it gets the right people behind it.

Agree with C.T. and hope what I said earlier didn't come across as too moany or whatever. Respect everyone's right to watch the game how they want. And would rather move somewhere else than stubbornly stand in front of a family who just want to watch the game. I guess people are just pointing these things out so future games can hopefully accommodate everyone as best as possible.

Priceless!  :-) 

quite

https://twitter.com/Andrew_Mulligan/status/429738868229681152/photo/1/large?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=Andrew_Mulligan&utm_content=429738868229681152 also the sunday star times this morning

Good game, don't understand the whinging about the atmosphere. Believe me, if you've been to a (non-finals non-all-black) rugby match then the atmosphere was great by comparison.Most people at the match would have been pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere since that's all they would ever have experienced.. rugby games have dire atmospheres. 

Of course some details to sort out with the perenially shit ticketing people. and the security staff (like let people chant!!)

Thought the nix didn't actually play particularly well, but this may be because the best footy was being played in the first 30 when all I could see was a giant nuclear fireball in the sky. Kenny MOM.

Gareth was stating in the Dom Post how much the Stadium charges for a home game, which meant the Phoenix make no money .

Shouldn't the stadium (largely funded by the council) be doing whatever it can to support Wellingtons team? Its in everyones interest to have successful sports teams with large crowds

Chelski are behind the APFA Academy are they not. Gareth could offer them a word of encouragement to make a greater investment. 

They all seemed to be the same age i.e. about 16 - 18. Like a boys' school day out.

The FFA are greedy for success. You think they'd knock back a Chelski interest in establishing a new A-League team? All hypothetical of course.

FFA are not the problem. If they do not have to prop up a new team financially, they would allow it if the financial model was sound.

But FFA are not the decision makers here. The Middle-East based AFC is. Originally the NZ franchise was allowed in to make up the first eight teams because there weren't enough in Australia, and Lowy sold the franchise concept from other codes as normal to the Arabs. As a result they agreed reluctantly on a temporary basis, until enough Australian teams appear to make it a "proper" league. Well, we know what happened next. There still aren't enough franchises in Australia that can run it without FFA looking after them. As a result, the original NZ franchise will be given an ongoing nod of approval from FFA as we do not cost them more than other teams (ie salary cap, broadcast money etc, and they collect the gate takings in return). 

Establishing a second New Zealand team would lead to a justifiable query on Australian-run league financially assisting the development of quite a few NZ youngsters. This could be overcome by agreening on a quota of Australian players (and or Asian players as well). However, the NZ membership of Oceania federation will continue to be a stumbling block for any hopes of an Auckland HAL team, regardless of the potential long-term interest there.

We looked elsewhere on this forum (in A-League thread) at the fact that Auckland is the largest city in Australia/New Zealand without an A-League team, thus somehow making it "inevitable" that one will arise. I for one do not see the logic. Australian society had a massive influx of European migrants from late 1940s onwards which gave rise to the football culture along initially ethnic lines.  This was not the case in New Zealand to my best knowledge (correct me if I am wrong). Today's migrants to New Zealand come from countries where football is not played at any serious level (India, China, South Africa). As a result Auckland is a playground where football has no obvious advantage against the onslaught of the commercial rugby business and the wall-to-wall cricket coverage. It is not considered part of the "national identity" by the media (unlike netball or cricket games which, even when played in largely empty grounds, would still be given comprehensive coverage and interviews on TV).

It was temporary and conditional. It still is. It is not just a matter of playing in a competition of another country (as precedents existed in UK already I think) but in a competition of another federation (for which there were no precedents).

I feel bad for stein, felt like he got himself in good goalscoring positions, just really unlucky

Agree

Phoenix talkng about moving to Newtown or Petone. God I hope it's true. 

More for Petone, go the blues!

I'm not certain there would be a problem with Asia giving the nod to a 2nd NZ team. In the personality driven confederation world, the opposition (even then unsuccessful) was led by bin hamman and he's now gone. Doesnt auckland boast 4/10 of its demographic as asian? Another selling point in its favour (rightly or wrongly)

I don't. I wouldn't renew my season pass, and thousands of fans north of the city along SH1 would become alienated and not bother. Imagine taking public transport from Paraparaumu ... could take 2 hours to either location. 30mins on the train for me from Paremata could turn into 90mins. Sad because places like Tawa, northern Porirua and Kapiti are strong footballing communities. I just can't see all these people keen to travel for 3-4 hours.

Best chant was "Lemonade United" from an eight year old in our row.