Yoda.
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald since nineteen thirty, across twenty two editions of the FIFA Men's World Cup, only two New Zealand teams have featured on the biggest football stage, in nineteen eighty two and twenty ten. Now there will be three four board and.
Chol's teammatee Head North America. Save it again and again and savor every word. New Zealand are going to the Football World Cup.
The All Whites have qualified for the twenty twenty six FIFA World Cup after a three nail win over New Caledonia in front of a home crowd at Eden Park. After a successful job co hosting the women's tournament in twenty twenty three and a strong run from new team Auckland DEFC in the A League. What does the future of football look like in New Zealand Today? On the Front Page, News Talks That'd be host and keen football fan Jason Pine is with us to talk about football
on and off the pitch. Piney, you got to commentate this game. You were there at Eden Park for this big moment. What was the atmosphere there like and what was that moment like for you?
Atmosphere was great. It was for a Monday night in Auckland. I thought the crowd was terrific, twenty five thousand turning up there. Yes, it's a pretty special occasion when New Zealand can, at the end of the game qualify for a Football World Cup. That doesn't come along very often. I have to say the atmosphere of the game changed markedly during the first half and then I think a lot of people were turning up to watch a comfortable New Zealand victory. We got to halftime, it was still
mill all. After an hour, Chris Wood, our main man, comes off injured, it's still nil all and the atmosphere in the ground just started to ever so slightly changed. But when the goal with the first goal went in, just the relief in the elation mixed together was palpable. Second goal goes in and then at the end when they've qualified, it was really cool. So yeah, a great occasion to be a part of.
I've heard actually from people and mates who have been to the Auckland f C games in particular, but the atmosphere is quite different to a rugby match. Is that right?
Absolutely? Yeah, it could not be could not be more different really, I think you know, a lot of us have been to rugby games. You know, we know we are a big rugby country. We pride ourselves on that. But often apart from a little bit of all blacks clap, clap, clap, that's pretty much all there is at a football game. There is NonStop chanting and singing and just they call it active support, and that's really what it is. You don't just sit there. You become part of the atmosphere.
Auckland FC have definitely got it. The all Whites had it last night. They call themselves white noise when it comes to the all whites, So yeah, that just adds the atmosphere. And I think when people are there who aren't part of that active support, they feel fine about also becoming a little bit more involved rather than just sort of sitting there waiting for a try to happen so they can cheer.
You know.
Yeah, and that's something that struck me as well.
Obviously, being in an Aussie and a South Aussie at that I hadn't been too many rugby games, but I've been to a lot of what we call footy matches, so the AFL, and when I've gone to rugby matches here, I was like, why is everyone quiet? When my dad goes to a footy match, he comes home with no voice.
Yeah, it's quite different here. Maybe we're a bit more reserved. I think, you know, we look, we get excited. It's about rugby games. I've been at rugby games as I'm sure you have, where you know there is high excitement. I think the thing with football is that in rugby tries are quite frequent. You know, you might have ten or twelve in a game. Often in football there's only one or two goals, and it's the explosion of joy that accompanies those goals. I just love the roar of
the crowd. There's that little, almost split second of silence as everybody holds their breath as a SHOT's being taken or a ball is being played in, and then the ball hits the back of the net and then there's this spontaneous, simultaneous raw and I just love that sound. It's one of the things I love most about football is the reaction from the crowd when a goal is scored. So yes, perhaps it's a rarity of goals compared to rugby, where there are a lot of tries. But yeah, I
think it's also cultural. We like to be a bit more understated here in New Zealand.
I have to tell my dad then, well, if Chris.
Ud congratulations have qualified for the World Cup.
I know there's some personal pain, but I imagine that pales into significance to how.
You're feeling rain.
Yeah, definitely, it's fantastic.
This is what the country has been weighing for for the last twelve years. I've heartbreaken things like that since we've gone through Mexico.
Crew and our costra Ethia.
So it's come out on top this time around. It's fantastic.
So what does this mean for the all Whites to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
Well, I think every young boy or girl who grows up playing sport wants to play at its pinnacle events and for football as that is the World Cup. So first things first, they will get the opportunity, this group of young men and slightly older men to go to the World Cup next year. They've earned automatic qualification. The World Cup is widely regarded as the pinnacle certainly of football, but also it's one of the big sporting events full
stop in the world. It creates profile, it puts the game front and center of the consciousness of the not just the sporting public, but the general public here and as far as New Zealand football is concerned. It's a financial windfall also because teams that make the World Cup get quite a substantial payout from FIFA, which they can then reinvest into the game at all levels, not just
into the elite sides. A lot of that money can go to administering and managing the game at grassroots and amateur levels, so and junior level of course as well. So by two or three metrics, it's quite significant what's.
Happened in football in this country over the past fifteen years to get us back to this moment.
I think the advent of a profession club and now clubs plural has certainly helped the Wellington Phoenix, you know, coming into existence in two thousand and seven, led I think anyway directly to Kwards qualification in twenty ten. Yes, it's been a little bit of time between drinks since then, but if you look at the current squad, I think this is as good a roster as we've ever had
players playing in good leagues around the world. Chris Wood is playing in the Premier League, Libby CACACI in the top flight in Italy, others playing in the United States and other parts of Europe, up in Asia. Here in New Zealand as well with Auckland ft C or Wellington Phoenix. So the standard of our players has lifted immeasurably due
to more and more of them playing professionally. You know, when they come together in the national side now they're also not just there to make up the numbers anymore. When they get to the World Cup next year, it won't just be ohh wow, We're at the World Cup. Isn't this great? It's like, no, we're here now. Our job is to win football matches. So we're going to try and win some games at the World Cup, not just be at the World Cup.
Who are some of the star players that have contributed to this. I mean Chris Wood that you mentioned is obviously our big football star at the moment with his record breaking success with Nottingham Forest Day.
Yep, he's the man and what a season he's having in the Premier League. He's New Zealand's main man all time leading goalscorer, closing in on all time leading appearance maker, and just the leader of the side in more ways than one. Yes, he wears the captain's armband, leads the site out all of that, but just the way he is around camp has to be so influential to some
of the younger players. They look at him, the way he looks after himself, nutrition, exercise, recovery, and even the way he deals with the media and with the fans. And I think every other player says, well, okay, well, if Chris Wood can sign autographs for an hour, then I'm going to do that as well. He's the obvious one. I mentioned Libby Cacaci, but of the younger cohort Marco Staminich is a player I think who will go on to be a terrific player for us. And there's a
young kid, youngest in the squad. Actually it's a name to remember. His name is Tyler Binden. He started in central defense last night and he, for me, is one of the best talents I've seen for quite some time. So there are a lot of them, and more to Carmen, you know a lot of those players in the lead up to last night, talked about how they'd been in the crowd watching the all whites qualifying in two thousand
and nine. I'm sure that there are young boys and girls in that crowd at Eden Park last night who will be sparked towards perhaps being one of the next ones ten or fifteen years down the track.
Now it's not just the national level.
Hey, Auckland DEFC joined the current A League season last year and they have just been killing it. They've won twelve games out of twenty so far, the most of any team in the league.
How have they pulled that off? Do you reckon?
What a great question. Yeah, I've been trying to work that out all season myself. Actually, accommodation of things, good recruitment is one. They've recruited some very good players. You're about five overseas players in the A League, and all five of their overseas players have, you know, have been hits. Often you get the occasional miss, you know, you'll see some footage of a player and think, well, he looks like he's got a bit about him, and they turn
up and then nothing like that at all. All five of auckland f season ports have been terrific they've recruited well. The rest of the team are mainly Key Weeks and I think that's helped in gaining a connection with the fan base. So on the field, I think they're just a very very good squad. But the way that they have engaged the Auckland football community and made an Auckland Left Sea game the place to be. We talked before
about the atmosphere at a ground. So many anecdotal examples of people going to an Auckland Left Sea game for the first time, going to a football game and go, man, when's the next game? When can I come again? This is amazing and so different from rugby. You know, the Warriors have got their own atmosphere at a rugby league game. They've really got something special going there. But for Auckland Left Ce so early in their life to have already
just mobilized this incredible act of support is awesome. And yeah, look they could make history. They could win the A League in their very first season. No one's ever done that apart from the first season of its existence, So yeah, they're on track for something pretty special.
How does that compare to the Wellington Phoenix. I'm not here to pick a fight with you about your favorite team Piney, but historically they haven't been perhaps well, they've been a bit underwhelming compared to the Australian teams.
I mean they've been there for eighteen years and never won it, you know, and so you think to yourself, well, what is it about this team that is that is stopping them from you know, from finding success. And there are a number of things which you know, we probably don't have time to go into. Look I I yes, I'm from Wellington, have watched the Phoenix since they came
into being in two thousand and seven. But I think from a distance you can, you know, you can only admire what Auckland f C have done and I think what that'll do is make Wellington Phoenix lift their game.
They shouldn't need a local rival to do that. They should, as you say, you know, be competing with the Australian sides every year and they have you know, been in the playoffs more often than not in the last five or six years, but they've just been unable to take that final step to a Grand Final and to winning the things. So what it also does having Auckland f
C here is create a good environment for the players. Previously, you know, a New Zealand player if the Wellington you know, Welllington Phois was really their only destination if they wanted to play professional football here. Now they've got two and they can you know, push for perhaps better deal, better pay, that sort of thing. So yeah, what I hope is
that Auckland FC will lift Wellington Phoenix as well. That hasn't happened this year, but I think as the rivalry goes on and intense effice, I hope anyway that Wellington Phoenix will respond.
We saw football gain popularity, especially during the Women's World Cup. I remember going back home to Adelaide and the Matilda's were absolutely everywhere. Do you think we've kept up that momentum.
I'm not sure. I think you're right about the Matilda's hottest ticket in Australia, you know, far more popular than the soccer us, sold out stadiums wherever they go, and what a case study in how to connect with a fan base. Matilda's amazing football Ferns haven't had quite the visibility here. In fact, they I think one of the secrets of the Matilda's is they played at home a lot. You know, they made an effort to bring those players back, who are you know, playing in Europe and up in
the United States. But they said, no, we want to keep this momentum going. We're going to bring players back regularly, so they play at home half a dozen to ten times a year. In the time since the twenty twenty three World Cup, it's hard to, you know, to get excited about any team, but the Football Ferns next game is in Costa Rica. It's you know, it's it's you can't meet the players, you can't get the selfies, you can't get the autographs, you can't you see your your
heroes or your heroines. In this case, I think there needs to be a greater focus pot on on getting the Football Ferns back here because we've seen the last week the all whites being here, big crowd in Wellington, big crowd in Auckland's, lots of kids. Auckland FC. Look that that place is full of kids on match day, getting autographs, getting selfies, calling out to the players. They know them by name, they're connecting to these players so
they see on TV and in person. I think if the Football Ferns want to capitalize on yes, they didn't have the tournament that Australia to do. But if they want to capitalize on on women's football, they need to have those players back here more often.
Football is obviously one of the world's biggest sports, but a twenty twenty three national survey by A School, Sport and Z found that football is the fifth biggest sport with kids here, still a few thousand behind the likes of netball, basketball, volleyball and rugby. Is it gaming popularity do you think or do we need to do more to get the kids playing the game.
I think it's still quite popular with say kids, I think under twelves, let's say, before we reached the teenage years. I think junior football is very big, you know. I think it's a it's often sent as a safe option for you know, you hear a lot about soccer mum's you know, they don't want they don't want their kids to be necessarily, you know, run over by much bigger kids in a game of rugby. And I know there are different levels of contact and that sort of thing.
I think football does okay at the junior level. It's retaining those players at secondary school, I think, which is a big one. We know that we know first fifteens at secondary school are are a big thing. Our first eleven's the same. Not sure what are they some of the other sports you mentioned, you know, basketball is just really taking off. I know my son's school. You know, there are seven senior basketball teams and only two senior football teams. I know there are fewer players, so you've
got to take that with a grain of salt. But basketball is being picked up by more and more kids. Football, on any sport, we're they're all in a battle for relevance and for at the elite level, for cutting through what is a very crowded marketplace. But at the junior level and through teenage years, kids have got a lot of options, and not just sport, you know, so you've got to make it attractive as attractive as you can. It's a work in progress. You just got to what
you think you've done it, you haven't. You got to keep on doing it.
It was amazing, you know, it's not every day you get to come back here and play in front of this on team. I think how many people was it? Five year? Twenty five thousand people turned out to watch us play, and that's pretty special. You know, at home, as well. Doesn't get bigger than.
That as looked like for your tailand with all the expectation or what it's being expected to win tonight expected to win quite comfortably. That it's quite a tribute scenario.
Yeah. I think that's football right. Every team's favored to winning at one stage and some teams are the underdogs. And today we went underdogs and we had to deal with that pressure. Another day we might be the underdogs. It's just dealing with that in the moment and then coming through.
Do you think having more professional club teams like Auckland f C and the Phoenix is going to help encourage more teams? Could we be seeing I don't know, like a Dunedin Dynamo's or something, or I don't know Hamilton Panthers or I don't know, Well I'm not going to name them.
No, no, no, no, well, thank goodness for that.
No.
There has been talk of a third A League team from New Zealand, potentially in christ Church. I think that would be it as far as the A League is concerned. They are league are keen to expand. There are thirteen teams at the moment. They're on record as saying they want to get to sixteen or eighteen, you know, to really flesh out their season, make it more attractive for broadcasters, that sort of thing. And if you look at untapped markets,
there are a few in Australia. It's no team in Canberra, for example, not a men's team anyway, there's a women's team, no men's team in Canberra. That seems like an obvious place some of the bigger places. Adelaide's a good example, just the one team in Adelaide. There are two AFL teams in Adelaide, So why shouldn't there be two football teams in Adelaide. Christ Church I think would be a
welcome addition to the A League. I think Auckland, what Auckland FC have done has proven that any doubt about another New Zealand team was completely unfounded. In fact that in many ways Auckland f C are the success story on and off the pitch of the A League at
the moment. So I think, you know, if there was to be a christ Church team coming or a team based further south in Dunedin, you know christ Church appeals because new stadium coming a bit more central as far as the South Island is concerned, a bigger population, but yeah, I would love to see it, and who knows. It seemed fanciful a few years ago when they were trying to kick Wellington Phoenix out. They didn't want any New Zealand teams to now be talking about the possibility of three.
I think so far we've come now, Piney, I don't want to rain on the All Whites parade, but New Caledonia was ranked one hundred and fifty second in the world, so it's perhaps not a huge surprise that the All Whites won. Have they just cruised through the Oceania round of the playoffs or do they actually stand a chance of making it through.
First things first is New Zealan can only play what's in front of them. They don't decide the drawer. They don't say, okay, we're only going to play in Oceannia. That was that with an expanded World Cup of forty eight teams. That was the format that was set up. If you win Oceania, you go to the World Cup. So that's nothing to do with them. They just play what's in front of them. Absolutely, they will need to
lift their level at the World Cup next year. I mean, for an hour last night, New Caledonia really tested them. So you know, once we get to some actual footballing superpowers who are up in the you know, the higher echelons of the FIFA rankings, then absolutely they'll have to lift their game. What they definitely need between now and the World Cup next year is good games against good opposition.
New Zealan can only play games internetal windows, and there are five of them left before the World Cup next year, and you can play two games in each window, So that's ten opportunities for New Zealand to play quality opposition, spend time together as a team and get themselves ready for the World Cup next year. Those ten matches have to be well. First of all, they have to happen, and I know there's planning going on behind the scenes. There's already three games confirmed for this year in two
of the windows. But they simply have to have time together against quality opposition because once they get to the World Cup, Yeah, that is what they'll be there for. They'll be there to not just make up the numbers, not just be our Oceanny is representative here, a bit of a token inclusion and an expanded World Cup, but a team that actually can trouble, more credential footballing nations and surprise a few people.
Thanks for joining us plony.
Great Chelse, thank you.
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You can read more about today's stories and extensive news comdge at enzdherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also a sound engineer.
I'm Chelsea Daniels.
Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.