Fanzine 🔥

Hi everyone! We're Playing With Fire 🔥 - a fanzine supporting the Wellington Phoenix women's team. We started working on it during the school holidays and we've learned heaps along the way. We hope to get some copies printed for the match next week at Porirua Park.. but we're too excited for the new season not to share with you what we've been up to - it's going to be AMAZING!!! We hope that others will be able to contribute with ideas, food reviews and fan art if and when we find the time to write issue two. Thanks to Macey, Daisy and Brooke N who all took time out to meet up with us to be interviewed for issue one.

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PlayingWithFire

Hi everyone! We're Playing With Fire 🔥 - a fanzine supporting the Wellington Phoenix women's team. We started working on it during the school holidays and we've learned heaps along the way. We hope to get some copies printed for the match next week at Porirua Park.. but we're too excited for the new season not to share with you what we've been up to - it's going to be AMAZING!!! We hope that others will be able to contribute with ideas, food reviews and fan art if and when we find the time to write issue two. Thanks to Macey, Daisy and Brooke N who all took time out to meet up with us to be interviewed for issue one.

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That looks really cool! 

I really love this. Well done all involved. 

Outstanding effort. Well done.

That’s very cool! Well done team, love to see this passion for the nix from the next generation. 
Hope to see these printed! 

That looks so cool! I'm definitely up for buying a copy at Porirua Park if/when you're able to get them printed.

Awesome. Thank you for the positive feedback, we managed to print 25 copies at home this morning. Then we stapled and folded it. Then mum found some typos on the back page 🤔.

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Don’t worry, that just makes them more collectible!

Sell em as limited edition for extra

Nelfoos

Sell em as limited edition for extra

Yeh absolutely. Keep a few copies from each edition back and sell them in a few years time as a set! Famous typo and all…

Wouldn't be a proper fanzine without some typos!

This is awesome to see, Fanzines were a massive part of football culture before the internet came along, great to see you getting into it

Any chance a Facebook page where we can download it? Typos and all! I have some photos from back in the day I can send you if you have an email address. Could lead to an interview 

Caught a glimpse of the Playing with Fire sign on the broadcast yesterday 🙂
Love the punny posters!

BEST NEWS EVER 🔥🔥🔥

The club have given us a thumbs up 👍 to sell at the gate for Sunday's match at Porirua Park.

We're aiming to have 50 copies available. Each copy costs $10 and money raised will help kids in Porirua attend jamboree next year.

Great news! I hope I get there early enough to purchase one 

Also - we will have some colouring in sheets to give away. 🙀🔥

You can colour them in at the "colour in Nixie" table that the club are planning to run (as long as it isn't too windy).

These started out as page numbers in the fanzine and we thought they would be cool to colour in.

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Unused sub

Any chance a Facebook page where we can download it? Typos and all! I have some photos from back in the day I can send you if you have an email address. Could lead to an interview 

Ooh, sounds interesting. We have an email address. It's in the photo above. Would love some photos.

We're thinking of a website but it's way down the to do list at the moment. Let's see how issue one goes first.

We've been stapling copies of our Phoenix fanzine while watching the Canadian Super League Final where Bex Lake is playing for Vancouver Rise. 20 minutes to go and Vancouver are ahead 2-1!! GO BEX! 🔥⚽

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Cheers guys, that was a fun read!

So now you get to suffer the curse of every successful zine writer, “so when is the next issue coming out?”

Bought 2 copies before he had the chance to setup up shop. One with teething typing mistakes and one without. It has a real fan created feel, which is great. Done with passion. Interesting little facts.  I read it properly during half time. Money goes to good cause.

 Will I buy the next issue? If I can get my hands on one, for sure. Would I recommend to others? Without hesitation,  especially if you are into fan made stuff. It's honest and refreshing.

To me, this kind of fan made stuff needs to be encouraged. It has purpose and fills in a void.

Thanks for the feedback everybody. 🤪

Next up - issue two 🔥2️⃣🔥 - we need your help! We would love to feature some guest articles alongside feedback, ideas, articles or food reviews.

We will work on it over the school hols, so aiming for February. 👍 

Hi everyone,

Work on issue two is well under way 🔥⚽. What a season! 

We'd love to feature some contributions from other fans. We'd consider anything of interest and Phoenix womens team related - from fan art to food reviews, match reports or away ground guides (we've never been to Phoenix away game so we need help from overseas fans for that!).

We want to do a two page feature on the ACL🧎‍♀️🩺 that's been shaping the season and any help in proof reading or writing that feature would be fab :-).

If you've got any ideas, email us at pwfnix@gmail.com.

Thanks everyone. 🔥

Picked up a copy of issue one yesterday - great work, very cool, I hope next time I’m back I’ll pick up issue 2. 

PlayingWithFire

Awesome. Thank you for the positive feedback, we managed to print 25 copies at home this morning. Then we stapled and folded it. Then mum found some typos on the back page 🤔.

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I’ve been in the design field a long time and worked on a bunch of publications and the amount of times you open a newly printed work and the first thing you spot is a typo that’s been missed even though its been checked  4-5 times by several people is not zero. 

There was a "Learing Centre" run by Somalians in Minnesota that specialized in spelling.😉😉

Do you have any leftover first issues? I'd like to get one for my daughter who is a keen fan. A really great initiative by th way - well done!

Gordinho

Do you have any leftover first issues? I'd like to get one for my daughter who is a keen fan. A really great initiative by th way - well done!

Thanks. Great feedback. Yes we do have some spare copies of issue one. Best thing is to email us on pwfnix@gmail.com or else send us a DM here.

We had a great time talking to fans at the game on Sunday. It was great to hear that we have some regular readers, and that they have awesome ideas for future issues. Please keep the ideas and feedback coming.
 
We would love to feature contributions from across the Phoenix community. From fan art to away game travel tips. Just drop us an email with any ideas. 🔥😍

Hi everyone, we're all go for making Issue 3️⃣ - a FOOTY FINALS SPECIAL ⚽🔥!!

The kids made a decent start over the holidays and have come up with:
- their top ten goals for the wāhinx this season (seems to be an excuse to watch endless highlights on YouTube)
- their top five goals conceded (an excuse to watch the highlight videos again)
- random player awards from best hat trick to nicest player to funniest face to best re-signing video
- something about Mackenzie Barry
- a feature on Macey Fraser's right boot
- how to make noise tubes (cardboard rolls taped together and painted)
- food reviews on dumplings and the butter chicken Poutine food truck
- other people's fan art ("Macey Macey Always Pacey" is pretty awesome)
and
- footy finals bingo for the back page 

However - we have some blank pages and would love to feature guest articles from other Nix fans. We're open to ideas but we were thinking along the lines of your season highs and lows, match reports, away game guides, more fan art, poetry, good luck messages etc. While we're mostly focussed on the Wahinix we don't mind featuring occasional articles about the men's team, the footy ferns or whatever else might fit.

DM or email through any ideas.. we'd love to make it more of a community thing.

Thanks 👍 🔥
Playing With Fire team

Can I grab one with that issue 2 I asked for please?

Sure can!

Hi everyone, last call for articles to feature in issue three (footy finals special).

We know that Phoenix fans are the best - and we want Playing With Fire to be the best fanzine in the league... but to do that we want to hear from the fan base and feature other people's perspective (e.g. what's it like going to an away game).

If you've any ideas for contributions then dm us or drop us an email by Friday evening. Thanks 👍🔥

Aiming for another 24 pages

Love your work. We got copies of #2 and #3 at the game (already had #1). My girl will definitely be up for contributing items for future editions (which I hope are on the cards). 

https://www.friendsoffootballnz.com/2026/06/01/the-return-of-the-football-fanzine/

Fanzines have been something of a rarity in New Zealand. This writer can only think of one, Sitter, which ran between 1995 and 2005s. In the digital era, all print publications seem to be taking a hit.

So, when the Friends of Football contingent was supporting the Phoenix women in their A-League play-off match against Brisbane Roar at Porirua Park, we were pleasantly surprised to see the third edition of Playing For Fire being sold.

This 20 or 24-page A5 colour zine is well produced and a great read. With contributions from budding writers as young as eight and including recipes it is aimed at fans young and old. It is also raising money for a good cause as well as trying to keep kids off their devices.

Fanzines blossomed in the British Isles during the 1980s and 1990s with virtually every club, from the professional sides to non-league clubs, having at least one zine. They provided a voice to fans long ignored by their team’s board. These days there are far fewer football fanzines but veterans such as City Gent (Bradford City) and Not The View (Celtic) are still being published.

Keen to find out more, I contacted the team behind Playing With Fire and were particularly keen to learn why they decided on a print publication when most fan publications and forums are online. The editor (though he laughs at the term), Richard Dean, took time to answer my questions.

What inspired you to launch this project?

We are big Phoenix fans living in Porirua. When we heard the women’s team would play at our local ground that got us interested and when my son William’s team Western Suburbs were asked to walk out with the players we were hooked. In that first season in Porirua we didn’t know who the players were and the club doesn’t print a programme for the games.

We wanted something physical to get signed so we started painting cardboard boxes and went from there. Apart from football we’re also part of Ngāti Toa Sea Scouts in Porirua – and when we learned we had to fundraise for going to Jamboree in the summer we thought let’s share our love of the Phoenix and make a fanzine.

And why a fanzine in the digital age?

We wanted something physical to hold, to cherish, that could be signed by the players and look back on in years to come. It goes back to painting our first cardboard box signs. The kids were fighting over the TV remote or the Chromebook. The only way to calm them down was to unplug the internet, get out the paints and from there they started making supporter signs on the back of cardboard boxes.
We’re also aware about the risks of social media and the debate over whether it should be banned for under 16s. A-League clubs rely heavily on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to share news and grow, but we question this approach of chasing views and clicks. While we registered an Instagram account we recognise that it’s an echo chamber and often suggests content that isn’t appropriate. The social media ban for kids in Australia proves that there is still a place for a good old fashioned fanzine.

What has been the feedback at games when you sell the zine?
It’s been really positive so far. With issue one we didn’t know what to expect and had to sell it outside the gates. This worked well as people were queueing up to get in and we saw an opportunity to talk to the fans. For issue two the club let us set up a table near the barbecue. We now have many regular customers.
Tell me about the assistance you’ve received from the Phoenix
The club has been fantastic. The first time we turned up at Fraser Park pre-season we met Lily, the club’s community officer, who was running a free training session for kids. We stayed on afterwards to watch the reserves, which is where we met Macey (Fraser) and Daisy (Brazendale) to interview them, and while we were doing that, Cam, the team’s official photographer offered us any help he could.
It’s not all been plain sailing, the club have to operate within strict rules around media rights and for issue one I think they were worried we might say something rude about the club. That’s not our style – we want the Nix to succeed and we want to share our love of the game.

How has the reaction been from fans?

Fans love it. A lot of people don’t carry cash anymore so we wrote down our Jamboree fund bank details and we’re amazed that 10 people did an online transfer there and then.

Who’s buying it?

We definitely get a good group of mums and dads buying for their kids but I’d say most are just football fans who want something to hold on to, to read at half-time, to help identify the players, something to sign, or something to put in their memory box. We will certainly remember the semi-final for many years to come. It was epic.

Has it been time consuming and any other difficulties to navigate?
Yep, it definitely takes time, but for the kids, if it wasn’t this then they’d just be zoned out on the computer or watching YouTube. This is much more creative. It’s a fun way to connect to kids who are growing up in a digital age and it embodies their scout values of doing their best in life. Mum is the proof-reading pro and dad helps out with layout and getting the printer to behave.

Will Playing For Fire continue next season …. and beyond?

Yes we’d love to do issue four. We’re only a third of our way towards our Jamboree fundraiser so we will work on it before the new season. That still gives everyone plenty of time to take a break.

Going forward, we’d love to feature guest articles and contributions from other Phoenix fans. That would make our job a bit easier and increase the likelihood that we’ll continue. Any ideas are welcome.

You can buy Playing With Fire at ko-fi.com/withfire and if you can help out in any way email pwfnix@gmail.com