Why the Phoenix aren’t putting bums on seats

Saturday, 24 February 2024

The Warriors were one of New Zealand’s most ridiculed teams, until they weren’t.

For years the Auckland-based league team just couldn’t cut a break. Now they have fans in all the right places, while their infamous battle cry even has a place in Hansard – the official record of New Zealand’s parliamentary debates.

“Up the Wahs”. Three simple words that, unless you’ve been living under a rock, can only mean one thing.

David Dome would love a bit of that Wahs action. Dome is, as he says on his CV, the general manager of “New Zealand’s greatest professional football club”.

It’s not narcissism, nor is it puffery. Dome is boss of the Wellington Phoenix, the country’s only professional football club (until next year). The ‘Nix are sitting top of the A-League ladder, after a season of unprecedented success.

A 2-1 win over Macarthur FC in Sydney on Sunday was their 10th victory this season and took the team’s unbeaten run to an eighth match in a row.

Yet on a good day attendances at their matches are dismal. While the Waitangi Day game did pull just over 12,000, the last time the squad got close to a maximum crowd at home was May 2021 – when 24,105 watched the first match back in New Zealand after an enforced stint based in Australia due to Covid.

Phoenix rising? Not in this town, and it’s this town, Wellington, that some argue has led to the lack of love.

Anywhere else, and players like Kosta Barbarouses,Alex Rufer and Oskar Zawada would be considered if not gods, then certainly princes, of the beautiful game.

The Phoenix are not alone, of course. It’s a scenario that’s also being played out in domestic cricket, with five-time Super Smash winners Blaze dominating the women’s competition, yet largely ignored by Wellington punters.

Still, legendary ad man Mike Hutcheson is blunt. Not only are the Phoenix in the wrong city, the city doesn’t really care about the Phoenix.

“[Football] is a minority sport and, second, it’s based in Wellington where there’s not many people,” he said.

“That’s the problem for a start, and then you call it the Wellington Phoenix and the vast majority, 80 %, of New Zealanders don’t feel attached to it.”

On the other hand more than a third of Kiwis live in Auckland, more than enough to support several teams, and where a new Bill Foley backed A-league club is being prepped for the 2024/25 season.

Hutcheson maintains the ‘Nix need a hero – “a Messi or a Beckham” – to shift the dial.

“People love watching world class sport in any form; they don’t get that from obscure names in Wellington. It’s a pity really that it was initially started and funded by some successful Wellingtonians.

“Move the headquarters to Auckland and a different scenario would emerge. It’s as simple as that.”

Dome is not so sure. He agrees there are issues around the size of the region – “we’ve got the smallest population out of any club in the A league, so we have to work that much harder to get the big numbers” – but points out it’s all relative.

“If 10% of the [Wellington] population turns up to the stadium, that’s 35,000. That’s huge, but that’s a fraction in Auckland, it’s a much lower percentage you have to do to get 35,000.”

Dome is with the team in Perth for tonight’s match against the Glory. He is expecting the hype to ramp up in the next few weeks, in the lead up to the finals, and as the rest of the country “cottoned on” to the squad’s success.

“Every year the pundits in Australia predict where everyone’s going to finish and nearly every single one had Wellington Phoenix last.

“We always say we’re going to be in the finals, that’s part of our strategy. But even I wouldn’t have picked we’d be top of the table nine weeks in a row at this time of the year. It’s an incredible achievement what the team have done.”

That said there were other issues that have plagued, and continue to plague, the Phoenix. One of them is media coverage. While the club’s YouTube channel has the most followers of all the A League teams “bar none”, the concentration of mainstream media in Auckland meant it was difficult to create a “buzz” nationally, Dome said.

Another is their home stadium, and Dome knows only too well how badly the Cake Tin performs when it comes to “audience participation”. Cold, wet, windy … and that’s in summer.

Then there’s the size of it. Oval, and too big; supporters don’t feel close enough to the action.

“The Yellow Fever are one of the best supporter groups in the A league and the atmosphere that they generate is magnificent, and that’s in a big stadium that’s oval and not made for football.

“Imagine if it was a little rectangular stadium with the fans right up against the touch line that would be an unbelievable experience. When a football crowd gets going it’s incredible.”

Pie-in-the-sky stuff, but Dome is nothing if not optimistic.

More realistically, he says he’s looking forward to the launch of the Auckland club, with the Nix hoping to piggy-back off some of the publicity around it.

With the majority of businesses being Auckland-based, there were some commercial challenges, but overall, and with at least one derby in Wellington each year, the new franchise would be a “net positive” Dome said.

Dale Warburton has been a Phoenix fan, and a Yellow Fever member, since its inception and runs the Fever FM podcast.

He doesn’t buy Hutcheson’s antipathy argument, saying Wellington stacks up well against the likes of much bigger A-League cities such as Brisbane or Newcastle.

Filling the stadium was always going to be a much easier ask when international teams were involved, he said.

That’s borne out by the hordes that turned up, after some prompting from politicians and others, to the FIFA Women’s World Cup matches at the stadium, and the bums on seats at Wednesday’s T20 and foe next week’s test between the Black Caps and Australia.

With different codes competing for pockets at this time of the year, punters had a plethora of entertainment they could spend their money on, he said.

“But I think once once we get closer to the end of the season, and the Phoenix are still doing well, you'll get to see those up-ticks in crowds that have happened in previous seasons when they are doing well.”

As for an attention-grabbing slogan “Come on you Nix” is about as fist-pumping as it gets, although fans do have a selection of chants that target specific players, plus a song, Phoenix Rising, was dedicated to the team last year courtesy of Wellington band Number 8 Wireless.

“There’s definitely one [a slogan] floating around,” Warburton says. “At this stage it may not have swept across the nation like the Warriors’ one did, but there’s still nine weeks of the season to go.”

Marketing guru Hutcheson wants in on the discussion. He ponders a new battle cry before admitting anything might just sound “naff.”

“How about an anthem? Chumbawamba’s classic Tubthumping – I get knocked down, but I get up again?”

How much does it cost?

Ticket prices range from $14 (kids) to $82.50 (best available) and family packages and season passes are also available, and there are a number of “kids go free days”. An alcohol-free family zone and special “benchwarmer” membership packages for out-of-town supporters are also offered. Around 2500 registered junior player with Capital Football have been provided free season passes.

Says Dome: “We’re right in the middle of other codes and we’re cheaper than most of the Australian clubs.”