Where is our Fifa World Cup anthem? (We checked the chilly bin)
Sunday, 21 June 2026
Kevin Norquay is a senior writer for The Post and Sunday Star-Times. This is his weekly explainer.
We need a football anthem to inspire the All Whites to the heights of football creativity, lifting them out of the Fifa World Cup group stage.
Football anthems are part of what makes the magical sport so magical. A soaring sonic background to the beautiful game unites fans, and makes the enemy realise all hope is lost.
We should have one, and yet we don’t. Well, not that I know of.
In an effort to explain the oversight, Phoenix fan club the Yellow Fever was contacted. It has a song for nearly every occasion … (just not this US-Mexico-Canada one).
Read more:
But for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Yellow Fever spinoff group the White Noise did write an anthem.
“Here's the best WC song ever made,” says Yellow Fever member Guy Smith, linking to a banger called Barbeque.
It starts “where on earth are you from, we’re from New Zealand, where you come from do you pack the chilly bin?”
It has a lot of nah, nah, nahs, a shouted “All Whites” or two, and rhymes barbeque with Timaru.
There was also an anthem in 1982 ‒ our other World Cup appearance.
Heading for the Top was sung by Ray Woolf who made his name as a ’60s rock’n’roll star on TV shows C’Mon and Happen Inn.
Written by Carl Doy, the original backup singers were the 1982 All Whites. It was released as a single.
“Most of them sang real good,” Woolf said in 2010 of a song filled with a rousing heading for the top, aiming for the future, we will never stop vibe.
But they’re not anthems in the way You'll Never Walk Alone by Gerry and the Pacemakers is, the song adopted Liverpool FC fans in the 1960s.
You’re not getting thousands singing Heading for the Top or Barbeque in that way. So the anthem problem remains unsolved.
Even Three Lions (It's Coming Home) is a definitive anthem for England fans. It’s decades of heartbreak blended with stubborn, unyielding hope.
Scotland are using a Belle and Sebastian song and (like England) they won their first game, so New Zealand need one, right?
With the Iran game a 2-2 draw, desperate measures are required ‒ we’d have to hurry before we meet Egypt, so grab Poi E, Slice of Heaven, How Bizarre or Don’t Dream it’s Over with its “hey now, hey now” chorus.
Our resident footy fan offered Pink Frost by The Chills: “We should just all chant along to the instrumental bit of Pink Frost followed by ‘We've Lost… Bye Bye Bye; We've Lost… Bye Bye Bye; We've Lost… Bye Bye Bye’.”
Too grim. With time of the essence, why not call on AI?
“Write me a rousing singalong anthem for the All Whites World Cup campaign with small words that can be sung even when under the influence,” the Star-Times explainer requested of ChatGPT.
And it replied …
“Here's one built for terraces, pubs, lounges, fan zones, and the back seat of a campervan at 2am. Short words. Big chorus. Easy after three beers.
“The key is that the crowd only has to remember three things: 'Whoa-oh-oh', 'We're the All Whites', and 'One Team, One Dream.' That's usually the sweet spot for World Cup singalongs after the third pint.”
WE'RE THE ALL WHITES
From the hills, from the bays,
From the wind and rainy days,
From the farms and city lights,
Here we come, we're the All Whites.
From the North, from the South,
Got one song and one loud mouth,
Side by side, black and white,
Here we come, we're the All Whites.
(Chorus)
Whoa-oh-oh!
We're the All Whites!
Whoa-oh-oh!
We're gonna fight!
Sing it loud!
Sing it proud!
New Zealand, hear us now!
Whoa-oh-oh!
We're the All Whites!
All Whites!
All Whites!
(Verse 2)
Long way from the world so far,
Now we're here and here we are,
No big talk, no big hype,
Just the heart of the All Whites.
When we run, when we press,
When we're down, we give our best,
One small land, one big night,
Come on boys, you All Whites!
(Chorus)
Whoa-oh-oh!
We're the All Whites!
Whoa-oh-oh!
We're gonna fight!
Sing it loud!
Sing it proud!
New Zealand, hear us now!
Whoa-oh-oh!
We're the All Whites!
All Whites!
All Whites!
(Bridge)
One team!
One dream!
One team!
One dream!
One team!
One dream!
New Zea-land!
(Final Chorus – repeat until security asks you to stop)
Whoa-oh-oh!
We're the All Whites!
Whoa-oh-oh!
We're gonna fight!
Sing it loud!
Sing it proud!
New Zealand, hear us now!
Whoa-oh-oh!
We're the All Whites!
All Whites!
All Whites!
HEY!
Or we could go the Spain route, and have a national anthem with no words ( La Marcha Real), so you’d only have to hum.
But really, do I have to come up with all the good ideas?
What do you think? Email sundayletters@stuff.co.nz. Please include your full name and address.