Wellington Phoenix get shafted by shocking refereeing decisions on a regular basis but no one in Australia cares or does anything about it because the club is based in New Zealand.
It might be time to put our hands up and admit something that has been abundantly clear over the opening four rounds of the season.
It’s the fact that Australian-based fans, media and administrators couldn’t care less about what happens on the pitch to Wellington Phoenix – because they’re a Kiwi club.
Players illegally returning to the field and getting involved in the action? VAR decisions that make sense to no one? It doesn’t matter, because the Phoenix are just a Kiwi club.
There’s long been an unspoken feeling among Aussie fans that the Phoenix are nothing more than cannon fodder to be shuttled across the Tasman every fortnight to serve as bit-part actors in another comfortable home win.
And when they’re playing at a Westpac Stadium they’ve called home every single season since they were founded in 2007, hardly anyone watches them on TV.
Walter Scott of the Wellington Phoenix. (AAP Image/Ross Setford)
Because the stadium’s too big. Or we don’t like the commentators.
Or because we’re definitely football fans who support our local league, just as long as it never involves actually watching any football.
The age-old complaints about the Sky Sports commentators speak volumes about our collective mindset.
Jason Pine and Heremaia Ngata calling the action? Biased!
But Jamie Harnwell or Stan Lazaridis calling a Perth Glory game? Or Alex Brosque on the Fox Sports panel at a Sydney derby? That’s totally fine.
And if you’re the Phoenix what you need to do is sit down, shut up and not make too much noise in case someone threatens to yank your A-League licence out from underneath you.
And if you’re Phoenix general manager David Dome, you probably shouldn’t ask new Referees Advisor Strebre Delovski for a “please explain” around VAR decisions and why you always seem to get first-time referees.
Haven’t you already been told why the A-League gives “the more experienced referees to the bigger games” anyway?
And if you’re a member of the Yellow Fever, you can absolutely nod along in agreement to every word that’s written here.
Just don’t admit it publicly. Because years ago, Mike Tuckerman said on Twitter it might help your cause if a few more Phoenix fans turned up in the stands, and you didn’t like that.
Or maybe you just didn’t like the forceful language and strong opinions – especially since they weren’t coming from you.
If someone writes one column you don’t agree with, it’s probably safer to ignore the 860 others and wait for Simon Hill to join Twitter so you can agree with him instead. That way you can say it’s nice to finally see a journalist talk about these issues for once.
That’s the status quo. It’s the way things are and the way they’ll always be, because everyone in the A-League is pretty much only in it for themselves.
And we certainly don’t care about what some club from New Zealand is doing.
If we did, we’d probably mention Auckland in the same breath as every other potential A-League expansion city.
Or we’d talk about how Wellington, with its picturesque city centre and countless pubs and quirky bars, is the best away day in the competition.
Or we’d be following the exploits of Sarpreet Singh, who has the potential to be the finest Kiwi export since Wynton Rufer.
But we don’t.
Because it’s Friday, so we should be talking about Melbourne City’s clash with the Central Coast Mariners tonight. Or, more specifically, about how City have no identity.
Or we should be talking about Melbourne Victory instead. Why didn’t they play on Melbourne Cup eve again?
Probably because it would have disadvantaged Wellington Phoenix.
But that’s okay. Nobody cares about them anyway.
anon
Roar Pro
Why are we giving a helping hand to NZ soccer when we could have an Australian club in Wellington's place. Surely domestic soccer has enough problems without martyring ourselves for NZ as well.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
and Brisbane is the only city that does not have at least one local (expert) on FoxSports coverage of home games for Roar. We have to put up with Archie and co. I mean, every team has their own local commentator on Fox, except Roar. And you say the 'Nix get the rub. huh!
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
yeah, let's play in winter
Beni Iniesta
Guest
Wellington Phoenix are rubbish though. Who cares about the Yellow Peril? No one.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Voice of Reason Am from Perth, literally only ever met one person who cared about the Force and attended games: a kiwi expat who moved here as a kid/young teenager, so I am talking from personal experience. The major problem with the Force & Rebels is, apart from the fact both rugby codes aren't a big deal in these markets, the presumably natural supporter base for a rugby union franchise like the massive influx of migrants like kiwis and South Africans in the past 25 years already support a super rugby team from their home nation and don't support the local side.
Phantom
Roar Rookie
You can have Jacinda. Zero credible contribution
Phantom
Roar Rookie
Pretty much the same happens to the warriors so who really cares. The breakers had to be sooo much better than the rest to win the basketball and so it goes on.
Voice of Reason
Roar Rookie
A lot of people care and cared about the Force. Don’t get us started on that. But I agree with your overall point.
Kdog
Guest
All I can think of reading this is Patricio Perez.
lesterlike
Roar Rookie
“ football and rugby fluctuate between 1st and 2nd for most popular professional sport in the republic" well thats kinda easy considering the Irish games are strictly amateur
R2k
Guest
I love this argument of New Zealand providing nothing to the sport and how dare they be in it. Every other major sport doesn’t agree with you - including afl and basketball. Tell you what you should do. Petition the government that no foreigners are allowed whatsoever to the league. Get rid of any foreign marquee players - you don’t need them - there’s a borderline acceptable 17 year old Australian missing out. That’ll definitely stop all those pesky development problems. Especially when you dilute the player and coach pool by adding 12 clubs. I’m sure that’ll stop the Australian coach looking to Europe for development.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Apparently they were blackmailed by the OFC to include a kiwi team in the A-League otherwise they would withhold support for Australia to move to the AFC.
PB
Guest
Kiwis care. But who to complain to, and why. Duh.
PB
Guest
Cos you have to come back to Oceania from Asia if you want to welch on the agreement.
PB
Guest
Pretty much. Thanks for saying it. All that has impact on the attendance, nd hence viability of playing in a smaller developed stadium. Etc. Not having certainty around a license rendered all their effort in 2018-19 pointless, because no one wanted to stay and the club had to reinvent and start again. Again.
surfside66
Roar Rookie
Mike Tuckerman - if you were really doing your job you would be investigating and highlighting the financial and player development damage that having a New Zealand club in the A-League is really costing Australia. 1. Go back to the cost of the Crawford Report - taxpayers forked out big money via the Australian government to set out the best way to build and develop a new national league to raise the standard of clubs and players in Australia. 2. Wellington Phoenix develops players for New Zealand national teams. It brings no benefit whatsoever to the A-League - no fans, no financial asset, no television ratings and no Australian player development. It is a total parasite organisation which is now also trying to weasel its way into having a Women's team play in the Australian W-League so they can develop their kiwi players and take even more money out of the A-League. The NZ Football Association is also trying to weasel its way into a so-called "joint bid" for the 2023 Women's World Cup with Australia, despite the fact we will have more than enough top quality stadiums for every match of a 32-team tournament. 3. Under the new arrangement whereby the A-League clubs get a big share of the financial return from the Fox deal with the FFA, it means Australians are subsiding the cost and development of New Zealand football because Wellington get money far in excess of the zero amount they bring to the competition. 4. Australia (the Olyroos) have not qualified for the Olympics in 12-years - Graham Arnold has highlighted the lack of players not getting game time in the A-League - I refer to this Nick Symonds post: https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/aleague-news-socceroos-graham-arnold-podcast-video-watch-youth-production-second-division-reserve-grade-structure/news-story/c65e8fd6d44c7a03613005459939ab87 5. The FFA still retains a special right over the administration of the club game in Australia. Australian taxpayers and 99% of fans want the Wellington Phoenix gone at the end of this season. We have over half a dozen NPL clubs in Australia desperate to obtain an A-League license in various cities and regions. The FFA must step in at the end of this season and remove this parasite Kiwi club. 6. The FFA employs a gentleman called Ricardo Piccioni who has the title of "General Manager Media and Government Relations ". His job in simple terms is to constantly get money out of the federal government (in other words from Australian taxpayers) to develop the game in Australia. I repeat - Mike Tuckerman - if you were doing your job you would be inquiring as to why Australian clubs are being denied the chance to play in the A-League and thereby develop Australian players - instead of having Australian taxpayers subsidising a Kiwi club which does precisely nothing for the Australian game. 7. And the absolute number one question is: Why is the Federal Sports Minister Richard Colbeck allowing Australian taxpayers to continue subsidising this Kiwi club?
pacman
Roar Rookie
Love the last sentence, with which I thoroughly agree.
Kaks
Roar Guru
You're right. Nobody does care. Not even New Zealanders care. Shouldn't be in the league in front of other potential locations in Australia.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Oh the irony, as Arnold picked 30+ yo foreigners over young Australians
Fadida
Roar Rookie
You mentioned Ireland. No backtracking