The referee blew, signalling time. One gentleman dressed in navy blue kicked out in frustration, two others allowed their chins to drop to their chests. One by one, all eventually turned to look in the direction of Ramon. As professional as ever, he gave away little emotion while shaking his counterpart’s hand. Yet nobody realised that this was to be his last match in charge.
Unless you are a Kiwi, the name Ramon Tribulietx is unlikely to be familiar to you. Yet his Continue reading
On Sunday the 31st of March 2019, the Eastern Suburbs AFC became only the 4th team to win the ISPS Handa Premiership in its 15 year history. The outfit from Southeast Auckland finished second in the Premiers of New Zealand’s leading national Football league before defeating the powerful Team Wellington 3-0 in the playoff final.
What’s more, the club’s highest ever position in New Zealand’s top tier of club Football means that the Eastern Suburbs will now compete in international competition for the first time when next season’s OFC Champions’ League gets underway. If the recent performance of Auckland’s Football clubs in international competition is anything to go by, the Lilywhites may just well make it to the FIFA Club World Cup, where Continue reading
The small settlement of Miramar to the East of Wellington feels a world away from New Zealand’s capital, yet has miraculously come to occupy a crucial part within the city’s Football scene. As such, former notions of segregation that Continue reading
New Zealand never has been and never will be a big Football nation. But the lack of attention its domestic Football gets in the blogosphere means that some one its more curious characteristics sadly go unnoticed by the rest of the world. In this post, we explore some of Kiwi Football’s remarkable idiosyncrasies Continue reading
The legacy of 19th century migration of Dalmatians to Auckland lives on in one of New Zealand’s most celebrated Football clubs.
1858 saw the first significant number of Dalmatians migrating to Continue reading
High-scoring Auckland City FC was favourite to win the final of the 2017/2018 ISPS Handa Premiership on April the 1st 2018, having won the minor Premiership in March. But opposing Team Wellington FC was the only club they had failed to beat during the league’s regular season. Furthermore, reigning champions Team Wellington had won the final at the past two attempts, beating Auckland City FC both times in the process. The omens were there for Continue reading
Football in Wellington is complicated. 3 professional and semi-professional clubs who play in black and yellow represent the Kiwi capital in competitions spread across 2 countries, while partisan fans of various Winter regional league clubs put aside their historical rivalries to support all 3 black and yellow clubs indiscriminately during the Summer months.
Of those 3 clubs, you are likely to know Wellington Phoenix FC. The Continue reading
Think of New Zealand and you think of Rugby.
The rugged, antipodean, Anglophone country has become synonymous with egg-ball in a way that no other nation has with its national sport. To many people, New Zealand simply means Rugby. It isn’t difficult to understand why. 15 tattooed giants screaming from their very core while eyes pop and tongues shake. The vivid and frightening All Blacks, their Haka and their success have influenced the way we think of and define Kiwi culture. That iconic uniform and the conspicuous colour reference in the team’s nickname leads us to see black as the national colour, which it is. However, the New Zealand Men’s national Football Team are the Black Sheep Continue reading
From Boothferry To Germany 