Italy vs New Zealand- In a Hazy Hindsight

Wow. It is an amazing time to be a football fan in New Zealand. For ths first time I know what it is like to follow a team in the World Cup, to really follow them, and not have a ho hum neutral reaction when they lose, or have a harsh penalty given against them.

I think I am still too tired, both mentally and physically to give a really good impression of my thoughts about this but I need to comment, to get out of my head and into the blogoverse my thoughts about the other night, no matter how scattered and disjointed.

To summarise: New Zealand, our football team, ranked 78th in the world, held Italy, the World Champions, currently ranked 4th, to a one-all draw in a must win World Cup group game, after leading in the 7th minute and almost sneaking the win with only their third shot of the night in the 83rd minute.

Wow.

When Andy Barron came on I had an even bigger upswelling of pride. Barron is an amateur footballer from my local National Football Championship Franchise Team Wellington- A local boy made good footing it with the overpaid Italian ponces on the world stage.

I also had to chuckle a little because when the All Whites were substitued in the second half they dawdled and stalled, in direct violation of my complaint in a previous post except this time I loved the fact that our lads' tactics ate up the clock. At one point Vicelich, I think, even shook the ref's hand!

I think the fact that Italy had to resort to the tried and true method acting to con the ref speaks volumes for the resistance that they met, and the kiwi lads will be a little bit wiser for it. It shows how far public expectation has come that we are arguing over a dubious penalty call which robbed us of three points against Italy rather than counting our blessings that the post, Paston and the clock saved us from the full onslaught of Italian wrath. So New Zealand were outplayed, out shot, out cornered, but the history books will now have a little D for draw next to that game, and New Zealand will be more than a curious little footnote in the history of the world Cup.

When you see some of the limp and uninspired efforts put in by some of the more fancied teams (England and France, I'm pointing my finger at you) the All Whites must seem like a breath of fresh air in a fairly stale tournament. They are visibly enjoying the moment, playing with passion and pride. Long may it last.

I think Russell over at No Punts Intended was already starting his Italian research ahead of the game- he is stuck with us for at least one more game. I sent him a reaction but he has yet to post it. While we await Paraguay, here are some highlights, courtesy of Russian website.

Team Wellington's Coach in Dog Attack

This could have been a lot worse. A lot worse.

Team Wellington Coach Stu Jacobs, one helluva nice guy, sustained serious injuries after trying to break up a dog on dog attack at a college based youth football clinic.

Given the fact that his own five and four year old daughters were nearby, it was probably more of an instinctive, rather than rational, response. Whatever the motivation it says a lot about his make up that he bothered to intervene, and a medal for bravery, (with a bar for stupidity?) should be in the post. He even had the presence of mind to get his TW top in the photo- a true professional!

Good luck with the recovery Stu, and may Team Wellington channel some of that mongrel attitude when they take on Auckland FC tomorrow.

You may have to put up with ACFC fans giving you good natured grief with chants like 'Who let the dogs out" and "How much is that doggy in the window" though!

The Jaffas roll Al-Ahli

Absolutely magic result at the FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates overnight. NZFC side Auckland City has rolled out 2-0 winners over hometown heroes Al-Ahli.

Hot on the heels of the All White's WC qualification, this inaugural win at the Club World Cup is another shot in the arm for the local game, netting Auckland City a cool $1 million pay out and earning them a crack at Mexican champs Atlante.

(It is not necesarily good news for Team Wellington's bid to trim back the Auckland club football hegemony however-but I digress)

What I particularly like about this win was that, on the highlights at least, it didn't seem like an ugly, backs to the wall, last minute scramble type of win.

A class cross and tidy finish by Adam Dickinson at the end of the first half, followed by a wonder strike by Chad Coombes that would be at home in a Christiano Ronaldo highlights reel means that ACFC won with a certain amount of class- something that NZ teams have been criticised as lacking in the past.

But play of the match for me was not the Coombes' goal itself, rather fellow scorer Dickinson's instinctive duck under Coombes' cannonball, seen at 55 secs on the following video. The shot was heading straight for him and he reacted smartly to avoid it. I think the appropriate headline is:

Dickinson's Duck Saves Auckland's Golden Goose!

How To Get Your Kicks In Wellington Pt. 2

A Tragic's Guide to Park Kickabouts: Part Two- Southern and Eastern Suburbs

Here is the next instalment of the guide to the best places to find a kickabout in Wellington.

Wellington's South and Eastern suburbs are traditionally where you'll find the refugees and migrants to whom park kickarounds are an essential part of the social fabric. From strata upon strata of Italian emgires in Island Bay, to the more recent influx of Assyrian and Afghani youth in Newtown and Miramar, the South and East is the place to go for the football tragic in search of a game or two.

There are a number of places to find a kickaround in the South and East. Here are a few of the best:

Newtown Park is not quite kickaround central like it used to be, for a number of reasons, but it is still one of the best places to watch football in Wellington.

Home of Wellington Olympic and Wellington United, it is also the training ground for Team Wellington and Wellington Phoenix. For years the rutted upper field (Newtown #2) has served as a kickaround spot for the large number of migrants and refugees who live in the adjacent flats. But since the upper field has been immaculately restored to accomodate the needs of professional footballers the allowance for informal kickarounds has decreased. Still on sunny summer nights plenty of people still sneak on for a barefooted kick or two, and during Team Wellington games kids replicate the goal fests below by playing on the upper field. With the Zoo next door a chorus of chimpanzee hollers is a nice standby for the roar from the terrace whenever a ball bobbles into the goal over a jersey.

The groundsman lives nearby and will often come by to see whats up. He is a nice guy and is not as grumpy as he first seems. He is just protecting the Council's investment, and will usually just point you in the direction of the other parks in the area that are open.


NEWTOWN PARK

Likelihood of games- 4/10
Location- 9/10 (Number 10 and 23 buses go right by, or its a short walk South from Newtown, and within walking distance of 3-4 other parks)
Other diversions 10/10
Likely participants: Local Somali social teams, dads and kids, Wgtn Phoenix training squad
Other sports to contend with: Athletics (try and get out of the way when the javelins and shot-puts start flying, theres a little bit of history between the park users there!)

Tragic rating= 7.66

Martin Luckie Park

A short jaunt up the hill South of Newtown Park is Martin Luckie Park. This is becoming more and more a place to find a casual game of footie. It is the location for the Council's excellent five a side ethnic footie event Culture Kicks every March, and is the home ground of the Oromo community, an ethnic nroup from Ethiopia who have finished in the quarter finals of Culture Kicks since its inception. The Oromo are usually happy for you to join in, but closer to tournament time they tend to be a little more jumpy about strangers joining in.

One of the best things about MLP is that you can see Wakefield Park and MacAllister Park from nearby vantage points; recently I went to MLP looking for a game there, but to no avail. I went up to the Hockey Stadium nearby and saw some figures flitting about in the distance at MacAllister park, got on my bike and was in luck as the distant figures turned out to be a group of Somali Taxi drivers about to start a game.


MARTIN LUCKIE PARK

Likelihood of games- 6/10
Location-6/10
Other diversions-5/10
Likely participants- social teams training for Culture Kicks
Other sports to contend with: Rugby League(Winter), Softball (Summer-watch out for broken glass around softball diamonds-these guys like to drink), Ultimate Frisbee (The Wgtn Ultimate Frisbee club play their league here on Summer week nights)
Tragic Rating= 5.66

MacAllister Park

A great place to find a kickabout since the main road (Adelaide) runs right past it, and a drive -by is all thats needed to ascertain the likelihood of a game.

Opposite the site of the former Athletic Park Rugby Stadium there is a certain poetic justice that MacAllister, for so long a rugby park, has recently been made a football ground in the winter. As windy as hell when its blowing, it has plenty of stuff for the whole family while papa (or mama) plays. Diversions such as bush walks, mountain bike runs, kite flying or running, really really fast down the gigantic hill at the northern end, (or sliding down it on Stolen Real Estate signs) means this is a classic multi-purpose park. Just make sure you specify top or bottom field when planning a kick-about here, traditionally the bottom field is for football and the top is for touch rugby and the bottom field has the better surface.



MACALLISTER PARK

Likelihood of games- 3/10
Location-9/10
Other diversions-6/10
Likely participants- Families, Somali Taxi Drivers, Preseason trainings (Wgtn Utd)
Other sports to contend with: Cricket, Kite Flyers, Golfers, touch rugby.

Tragic Rating= 6.0

Thanks to Ben over at Crucket for the pic of MacAllister Park

Crawford Green
I have a sentinemtal spot for Crawford Green. The less romantic amongst you would call it a goat track in the middle of a down at heel suburb, but it has the feel of a real village green in that it's surrounded by houses and the kids who live there play there. Strathmore has a growing immigrant population (Afghan, Assyrian, African) who descend upon Crawford Green with beat up old balls of all shape and hue. Samoan families stake their own claim on Crawford Green to play touch rugby, and before this modern influx Crawford Green was a hubbub of Greek community kickarounds- still hosting Olympic AFC's post season social tournie.

CRAWFORD GREEN

Likelihood of games- 8/10
Location-5/10 (furtherest field from the central city profiled so far)
Other diversions-3/10 (good bakeries nearby however)
Likely participants- Refugees and new (and old) migrants
Other sports to contend with: Touch Rugby

Tragic Rating: 5.3


Kilbirnie Park

Kilbirnie Park is a hub for many sports. With The Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre next door, and homeground to Poneke RFC and Marist AFC there is usualy some kind of informal sport going down. Football games are touch and go, though I have seen a regular Chinese gathering down there on Sunday mornings. Like MacAllister Park, it is on the main trunk line so you can peruse the state of play from your car before opting to take part.
KILBIRNIE PARK

Likelihood of games- 4/10
Location-7/10
Other diversions-7/10 (Pop into the pool for a dip afterwards)
Likely participants- Families, College Kids from nearby St Pats, Preseason training (Marist AFC)
Other sports to contend with: Cricket, Rugby

Tragic Rating: 7
-----------------------

This is not intended to be a definitive guide. There are large parts of the city that are outside my consciousness, where I am sure regular kickabouts take place such as Karori Park, Harcourt Park Upper Hutt and Endeavour Park, Whitby. But these would, I believe, be mainly for the locals. Football tourists would rarely strike out for them in the hope of hitting a casual kickabout like you would with a more central park like Nairn Street, and where there are 2-3 other parks within 5 minutes which may also offer up a beautiful game or two.

As I said before please enlighten me if you know of something going down in your little part of the World.

Two Games of Two Halves

Yesterday I saw 90 minutes of local football action. But the first 45 was at Newtown Park where Team Wellington and Otago United were locked at 0-0 at the break, and then a few hours later I went to the pub where I caught the second half of Wgtn Phoenix as they wilted in sweltering temperatures in Newcastle. So I witnessed no goals, although both matches bore them. Team Wellington going down to two second half Otago strikes. 0 from 3 at home this season for Team Welly; a disasterous start to a much lauded campaign- even back up All White's Keeper Jimmy Bannatyne was unable to save their blushes. My mate Dave 'Writer's Block' Armstrong ponficated as we watched the Nix that Team Wellington tried to play like a team of stars but Otago United were a team, and that, he said, is the secret of winning football.

Dave and I chatted away over a delicious Three Boys Golden Ale at Bar Edward, as the Phoenix clung to a first half lead courtesy of a Paul Ifill volley. In the end the bush-fire temperature was the winner as both teams tired, but strangely Newcastle burnt out much quicker. The home team's perfomance was typified by the day dreams of a dozy ball boy, who took a hazy age to return a ball to the Jet's keeper as he raced the clock to nick a share of the points. The whole pub liked my "even your ball boys are shit" quip, although to be fair the lad was probably just bored and dehydrated.

So the Nix stay in 6th and pick up their first win on the road since November 7th.



In between the two games I attended a 4th Birthday party with as much chocolate cake as you could care to eat, and had to take my son to the park to run off the sugar rush afterwards. At Crawford Green a melange of refugee tweenies lined up potshots at a disinterested 4 foot goalkeeper. The boys, from Assyria, Afghanistan and Oromo backgrounds (I know cos I had taught them all before many years ago) were only too happy to have an adult go in goal to stop their shots, even if i was really only trying to stop Miro being clattered as he grubbed around the goal mouth. Without getting too mushy it was great to see the different tribes mixing it up on a nice Sunday afternoon, even if I had to leave the field of play to take Miro back for bathtime.

And tonight I had an unexpected call up for more Twilight Football Action. We played a very good side made up of Wgtn United first and second teamers. I struggled with a belly full of pasta and a glass of red wine but scored a nice solo goal. I realised I am not quite the athlete I think I am- more the archetypal park striker, all bluster and brazen, able to pull of a flukey goal or two but lazy in the track back and costly in defence.

Tomorrow I aim to give you more of an insight into my 'football tragic' credentials, as promised to Hamish from the Lucky Country.