Former All Black Ali Williams, Anna Mowbray join American billionaire Bill Foley at Auckland FC
Thursday, 14 March 2024
American billionaire Bill Foley has brought a former All Black and a toy company tycoon on as minority investors in his new A-Leagues football club, which has officially been dubbed Auckland FC.
Power couple Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray, the co-founder of Zuru, both were present as Auckland’s name, badge and home kit were unveiled at a downtown venue on Thursday.
They had been among the interested parties as Australian Professional Leagues sought investment in a new Auckland club last year, but their involvement alongside eventual backer Foley has come as a surprise.
Williams said it was “exciting” to be involved, while Mowbray said she was driven to help one of the largest in the cities in the world without a football club finally have one again after 17 years.
“APL kind of pulled us together as a great partnership,” Mowbray said, adding “I grew up playing football, Ali grew up playing football, now we have five kids playing football, so it’s a space of passion for us”.
Auckland FC will wear blue and black and play out of Mt Smart Stadium, with their first A-League Men campaign starting later this year and their first A-League Women campaign to come in the 2025-26 season.
Foley’s influence can be seen in the use of Black Knights as a nickname, in a similar set-up to Macarthur FC, who call themselves the Bulls.
Whether that name - the nickname of the sports teams at the United States’ West Point military academy, which American billionaire owner Bill Foley graduated from in 1967 - catches on with fans, remains to be seen.
Knights carries negative connotations in an Auckland football context, after the brief but disastrous tenure of the New Zealand Knights, who won just six of their 42 matches in the first two seasons of A-League Men between 2005 and 2007, before folding and being replaced by Wellington Phoenix.
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley finished as the old Knights’ captain and leading appearance maker, with 47 to his name. He said at the launch there was no need to “dwell on the past”.
'It's a new entity. Auckland FC is a great name and Black Knights is part of the business - that's awesome
“These guys are real heavy hitters in regards to building franchises and building clubs, so it’s exciting.”
Auckland FC are one of four clubs the Foley-led Black Knights Football Club partnership has invested in. It fully owns English Premier League club AFC Bournemouth and has stakes in FC Lorient in France and Hibernian FC in Scotland.
Foley expressed his preference to have Black Knights in the name almost as soon as he was confirmed as the backer of professional football’s return to Auckland.
While the name and nickname as presented on Thursday appeared a neat compromise, Auckland chief executive Nick Becker didn’t want to use that word.
“I don't think it's as much a compromise as it is bringing together two great things.
“It's got a really strong local club name, and it's something that we know all Aucklanders can get around and then you've got the global ambition — it’s part of our identity, it's who we are.”
Stefan Bebić has been active building support for the new Auckland club, launching a Facebook group when its entry to the A-Leagues was confirmed last November. He said of Black Knights: 'As a little nickname there, it will go down all right“.
“Obviously there are people who look at it as a bit of shaky ground, with the old team not doing so good, but I think as soon as this team hits the park all those feelings will go away.'
Auckland’s men’s coach Steve Corica came up against the old Knights during his playing days with Sydney FC and will be charged more than anyone with making the new Knights more successful.
'That's the aim, obviously, but there's a lot of work to do. The last team before us was a long time ago.
“We're very happy to have a team in Auckland. We want the people to get right behind it. Today is the start of the club.”
With a name, badge and kit confirmed, Auckland’s next big announcements will be signings for its inaugural men’s squad, nine of which have been made so far.
Becker and Corica are yet to confirm any names publicly, though plenty have been bandied around in recent weeks.
Five signings were highlighted by Stuff last month - All Whites Francis de Vries, Cam Howieson and Michael Woud and age-group internationals Jesse Randall and Luis Toomey.
Two more All Whites - Joey Champness and Callan Elliot - are also believed to be on board, as well as Australian Jake Brimmer and Australian-Fijian defender Dan Hall, who both play for existing A-Leagues clubs.