Many football fans picked up the Dominion Post a few days ago to be struck with excitement. The Wellington Phoenix are in talks with Everton Football Club about the possibility of arranging a friendly match here in New Zealand. This was incredible news.
I was delighted, as a lifelong Everton fan it would be the stuff of dreams to be able to support my beloved Toffees here in Wellington against the Phoenix, my other adopted team.
Reading the story and picking through every online mention of the possibility I could find, I thought that the football community in New Zealand would jump on such an opportunity. Surely this will be a huge chance for New Zealand football, and the Phoenix in particular, to raise awareness of the progression that is being made in this sport.
Everton are currently sitting sixth in the Premier League, they are a top club in one of, if not the best leagues in world football, and so to have the opportunity to host a team of such prestige is a huge honour and a huge opportunity. While only being a friendly match, the game would provide some much needed exposure to the A-League and football in New Zealand - and let's face it, with the loss of our major sponsor, the Phoenix are in need of some global attention.
I was slightly disappointed then, that the proposal was greeted with quite a lot of cynicism. Yes, many football fans on forums and news sites have said that they would love to attend such a match, but there also seems to be a large feeling that the match as a whole may not go ahead as a result of being unviable financially.
As a part of the New Zealand football community and a Wellington Phoenix fan, I feel that we should be more supportive of such a venture by the owners of our club. Yes, we must understand the risks involved in the match, especially with the global economy experiencing such difficulties at the moment, and with the New Zealand dollar being hit particularly hard.
But while realism is important, so is support and encouragement. Just because the match between David Beckham's LA Galaxy and the so-called ‘Oceania All-stars' resulted in the Auckland council haemorrhaging money doesn't mean that this match will go the same way.
For one thing, Wellington has already shown up Auckland on a number of occasions when it comes to football. Twice in recent times have Auckland been given the chance to play home to a football franchise and twice have they failed in spectacular fashion. I'm sure no one needs reminding further of the demise of the Kings and the Knights. But Wellington has pumped new life into football in New Zealand, successfully launching the Wellington Phoenix into the A-League, and progressing well with solid if unspectacular performance both on and off the pitch.
And of course where Auckland failed with the circus that is a ‘Beckham game', Wellington had previously succeeded, nearly selling out the Westpac Stadium despite charging a spectacular amount of money for tickets. The main difference was, I think, that as well as the ‘Beckham factor' the fans also had a team to relate to. The ‘Nix are New Zealand's club team and enjoy almost country wide support, whereas the Oceania All-Stars were just a muddled together side of journeyman and nobodies, plus the ageing Davids and Karembou, who much of the younger generations may not have heard of anyway.
But Everton as an opposition provide an entirely new and enticing prospect. Whereas they don't posses quite the glamour of David Beckham and so won't flood Wellington with fawning teenage girls, they do possess a whole lot more quality and prestige than the LA Galaxy do. Whereas the MLS is a competitive but rather low quality league, the Premiership is the most exciting league in world football, famed for its stars, fast pace and incredibly loyal and vocal support. What I'm saying is, this is opposition that we can get excited about.
Some naysayers suggested that the game would end up being more of a match between Everton's youth or reserve team and the Phoenix, and so the public would not be enticed along. But Wellington's owners are cleverer than that. When LA Galaxy came, they knew Beckham was the ace in the whole, and they insisted that he be contractually obliged to appear for a certain length of time. They will again employ a similar strategy if this game goes ahead; ensuring that some top class players will be gracing the Ring of Fire.
What's more, the match will be a pre-season game for Everton. These are matches that are designed to return the team to full match fitness and allow new signings time to gel with the existing squad. Yes, youngsters are given a chance, but assessment of Everton's pre-season tours to the USA and the fact that David Moyes doesn't exactly have an enormous squad are further guarantees that we will see internationals like Tim Cahill, Joleon Lescott, Joseph Yobo and Stephen Pienaar here.
Even with this assurance thrown back at them, some football fans still profess to doubt the allure that Everton would have over casual football fans in New Zealand. They reckon that without a Beckham superstar, you won't fill the stadium. And that might well be true, but we don't need to fill the stadium.
It has been estimated that the cost of the game will be about $1.1m (less if more teams get in on the tour) and this can be covered adequately by selling about twenty thousand tickets at a price significantly lower that of the LA Galaxy game. When you look at it like that, it starts to look quite viable indeed.
For instance, in the Phoenix's first season, we averaged around about 12,000 fans at home games. This dropped significantly for the second season, but those fans, who were at least committed enough to stick out a season in the A-League, will surely be enticed by the prospect of Premier League opposition. Yes, one season of watching the ‘Nix against Perth Glory is perhaps all a non-hardened football fan can take, but the glitz of Everton will bring them back, at least temporarily.
Then, when you then consider that there are plenty of football fans in New Zealand who don't come to Phoenix games at all, the target of around 20,000 starts to look realistic. For example, my Dad lives in Nelson and is not fussed about the Phoenix, so never makes the trip. Naturally as an
Everton fan he would be here in a flash for this match, but so would many other Premier League fans around the country. The A-League doesn't have the pulling power to get people to travel inter-city very often, but Everton plus the introduction of JetStar to New Zealand might just do it.
All in all then, I think that the possibility of this game going ahead is reasonably high. As long as a few other teams are willing to jump on the bandwagon with us and Perth Glory (who deserve a lot of credit for initialising the talks), the financial feasibility of the venture looks to be reasonable. Of course we must not expect the media circus that Beckham brought to New Zealand, because Everton are not a glamour club.
But they will bring something potentially more valuable to NZ. They are the epitome of a well run, successful club. A good mix of youth and experience, trust in a quality manager and sensible backing and ownership have allowed Everton to become an established top six Premier League side. They will give the ‘Nix an excellent model on which to base themselves and to push for success in a league where they have been handicapped from their inception, because they had to start from scratch against established teams.
Likewise, the likes of Dan Gosling , Jack Rodwell and Jose Baxter who would inevitably form part of Everton's touring squad will set a great example to the young kids in New Zealand who dream of playing football for a limit. They will show that it is possible to reach the top through hard work and determination and that with good training and diligence; they can have a future in football. It is a growing sport in this country and as it grows, more and more youngsters will have real opportunities in the game.
I believe then, that it is our responsibility as the football fans of New Zealand to get behind this proposed match. Yes, it might not come off, but we should certainly try to make it a success. The only way football in this country will ever develop is by setting ambitious goals and targets, and this certainly is one. We should show our support for the ambition shown by the club in hoping to arrange this friendly rather than being cynical about it, because at the end of the day its success will depend on us, and how many of us turn up. If the owners of the Phoenix catch wind of the cynicism at work in some quarters with regard to this fixture then we may miss out on it all together, and that would ultimately be a tremendous loss for football in New Zealand.
So come on New Zealand, get behind the ‘Nix and bring on the Toffees (though I will be firmly in the Everton end, should the match come off!)!
