Sports After Dark

There was only one name on the lips of New Zealand sports fans this weekend: David Beckham. Overshadowing the New Zealand Golf Open and two ODI cricket matches, it was the exhibition match between the LA Galaxy and the Wellington Phoenix which everyone was talking about, but will this one game vault football into the nation’s national consciousness? Or is it just celebrity chasing by fans for whom football hold little appeal?

Sure the home side lost, sure the Phoenix were playing their second game in 24 hours and sure there were more substitutes than normally allowed in a game of football, but that does not change the fact that over 31,000 fans crammed into Westpac Stadium to see one man play, and for just one weekend, football was king.

It began on Friday when the Galaxy had their training run at the stadium. Over 15,000 people, mostly school children, packed into the stadium to see their hero. Teenage girls squealed with delight every time Beckham touched the ball, and the man himself was nice enough to sign a few autographs after a light training run.

That evening came the first leg of the football double header, a regular season A-League game against Adelaide which attracted 16,000 fans. Even though the home side lost that game as well, by Saturday morning everyone was talking football; the disallowed goal, the penalty which was not given. For a nation where rugby is the only show in town, it was certainly a refreshing change.

On Saturday night the main event arrived and, in front of one of the largest crowds ever to watch a football game in New Zealand, it was certainly worth waiting for. Beckham showed that he is one of the best players in the world, creating chances with his precision passes, controlling the flow of the game and even scoring from the penalty spot. There was no doubt who the fans were there to see, chanting “Give the ball to Beckham” on a Phoenix free kick.

But then, after 90 minutes, it was over. The concert that was the Beckham show was done, and like a concert those who were there will remember it for a lifetime, and those who were not will barely give it another thought. Indeed football is gone from the sporting headlines now, replaced by musings as to how a 71 year old is our best golfer or how our cricket team once again failed to perform.

So what did the Phoenix and New Zealand Football gain from this moment in the sun? A few extra fans perhaps, but in the end, the fickle sporting public will go back to where they are comfortable: rugby and cricket.

The reason is the lack of high profile football being played in New Zealand. Until recently the national team had not played a home game in almost two years. For football to truly become part of the national consciousness, it needs constant high profile events like this. But for a sport which struggles for funds, this leaves the administrators with a “chicken and egg” problem: they need money to put on high profile events to earn money.

Taken on its own, this was a wonderful event and fully deserved its place in the national spotlight, but in the bigger picture it is not enough to break New Zealand’s rugby addiction. At least not yet.

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The What has Beckham-mania done for New Zealand football? by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.