1
00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:02,920
Speaker 1: Team nineteen past five on news talks, he'd be the

2
00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:05,360
Speaker 1: return of A league football to Auckland has gone better

3
00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:09,079
Speaker 1: than almost anyone could have dream. Eyes on referee to

4
00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:15,960
Speaker 1: Danascus and he confirms Auckland FC go five from five

5
00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:21,200
Speaker 1: and Auckland state at top the A League men's ladder.

6
00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:23,280
Speaker 1: I was there, of course, of course I was. Auckland

7
00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:26,520
Speaker 1: FC is still undefeated, yet to concede a goal five

8
00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,520
Speaker 1: games into its inaugural season, and the jerseys have been

9
00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,839
Speaker 1: flying off the shelves. The club has already sold all

10
00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:35,320
Speaker 1: of the merchant was expecting to sell this entire season,

11
00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:38,240
Speaker 1: and they're having to ship more in before Christmas. Nick

12
00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:41,400
Speaker 1: Becker is the Auckland FC CEO and he's with us

13
00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:43,400
Speaker 1: this evening high neck hijack.

14
00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:43,880
Speaker 2: Are you doing?

15
00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:46,680
Speaker 1: What's the secret source? How have things been going so well?

16
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,600
Speaker 2: I you know what it's been. Well, it's a few things.

17
00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:55,720
Speaker 2: There's no single silver bullet. But the Auckland was ready

18
00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:58,280
Speaker 2: for some professional football. I think like the passionates in

19
00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:00,440
Speaker 2: those stands. You just see it, like you we came

20
00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:02,319
Speaker 2: in at the right time, like we weren't really hard

21
00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:05,000
Speaker 2: to integrate ourselves into the community, but the community was

22
00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,000
Speaker 2: that it was. We're pushing against an open door and

23
00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:09,480
Speaker 2: the arms who was wide open and they've accepted us

24
00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:11,760
Speaker 2: really well. And you know, we're absolutely loving it here.

25
00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:13,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I've been to a couple of games

26
00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:15,200
Speaker 1: now and went to the opening game as well. It

27
00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:17,480
Speaker 1: is just an amazing experience. I'm not being paid to

28
00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:21,240
Speaker 1: say that, Like, it's a great family environment. Absolutely loving it.

29
00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,680
Speaker 1: But you know, sports apparel isn't cheap. You must be

30
00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,160
Speaker 1: amazed people are still shelling out one hundred and seventy

31
00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,560
Speaker 1: bucks or so for a founding members jersey and a

32
00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:29,880
Speaker 1: cost of living crisis.

33
00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,160
Speaker 2: Yeah well yeah, the founding members jersey was a little

34
00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:34,920
Speaker 2: bit more expensive. Was that actually had your name on it?

35
00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:37,880
Speaker 2: If you could buy a home jersey for it's about

36
00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:39,760
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty dollars, a little bit cheaper for

37
00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,320
Speaker 2: a youth. One. The thing that's blown me around is

38
00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:44,640
Speaker 2: just a buzz in the community. Like you know, at

39
00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:46,200
Speaker 2: that opening game that you were at, we would have

40
00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:48,320
Speaker 2: had seven eight thousand kids there, you know, in a

41
00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,120
Speaker 2: twenty five thousand stadium. That's phenomenal. And I think you

42
00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:54,120
Speaker 2: know you're right. The atmosphere is amazing. One end, it's

43
00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,120
Speaker 2: a family zone, and there's there's a fan zone there

44
00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:58,920
Speaker 2: for the kids. At the other end, you've got the

45
00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,720
Speaker 2: port and the hardcore that they've been amazing. They've been incredible.

46
00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:03,480
Speaker 2: They've brought the passion and brought the noise.

47
00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:06,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they've been incredible. So the derby against the

48
00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:09,919
Speaker 1: Phoenix this weekend is almost completely sold out. Any chance you.

49
00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,919
Speaker 2: Can squeeze a few more fans in, Yeah, well, we've

50
00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:14,920
Speaker 2: gone out today with that we're going to put so

51
00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,519
Speaker 2: every season is sold, but we can put some we've sold.

52
00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,480
Speaker 2: We're gonna sell about a thousand plus tickets onto the

53
00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:22,560
Speaker 2: North bank there, the grass bank, right next to where

54
00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,799
Speaker 2: we've got the big inflatable side that goes down the bank. Yeah,

55
00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:27,960
Speaker 2: we're gonna put about a thousand people onto that. So

56
00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,040
Speaker 2: those have been selling, and to be honest, mate, they've

57
00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,560
Speaker 2: been selling like hot cakes today, so i'd expect they'll

58
00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,560
Speaker 2: be all gone by into play today. But that will

59
00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:37,520
Speaker 2: take us up well over the sort of twenty six

60
00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:41,120
Speaker 2: thousand mark and probably closer to the twenty seven thousand marks.

61
00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:43,520
Speaker 2: It'll be a it'll be it'll be an all time

62
00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,960
Speaker 2: record for a regular season a league game to be

63
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:48,560
Speaker 2: played in New Zealand. So that's really exciting.

64
00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:50,120
Speaker 1: And I would hate to say this, and of course

65
00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:52,040
Speaker 1: I don't want to be doing the commentators curs, especially

66
00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,960
Speaker 1: is a keen opening season fan. But do you reckon

67
00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:56,440
Speaker 1: you're going to be able to keep up the buzz

68
00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,720
Speaker 1: if we happen to accidentally letting the goal sometime this season?

69
00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,880
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think so. I mean the guys that the

70
00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:05,880
Speaker 2: guys are brilliant because like the old cliche, they have

71
00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:07,760
Speaker 2: to take it game by game, I'm sure, but what

72
00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,200
Speaker 2: they're actually doing is they're setting themselves a challenge each game.

73
00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,760
Speaker 2: And I've never been I've worked in football for twenty years.

74
00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:15,560
Speaker 2: I've never been around a group of guys who are

75
00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:19,000
Speaker 2: so connected and so together. And you see it out

76
00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:20,880
Speaker 2: there on the pitch here, they're just working for each other.

77
00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,080
Speaker 2: Like Steve's got them. Steve Corriker, our head coach, has

78
00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:26,639
Speaker 2: got them working a really good certainly really good defensive pattern.

79
00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,320
Speaker 2: Their press is really impressive. But you've actually got you

80
00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,320
Speaker 2: see them actually out there and they're talking. They're working

81
00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:34,239
Speaker 2: for each other, and that's the sign of a really

82
00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:35,119
Speaker 2: good team.

83
00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,360
Speaker 1: No, that's fantastic. Hey, good luck this weekend. Nick, Really

84
00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,600
Speaker 1: looking forward to it. That is Nick Becker, the CEO

85
00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:41,720
Speaker 1: of Auckland FC.

86
00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,760
Speaker 2: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive listen live to

87
00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,920
Speaker 2: news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow

88
00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:50,720
Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio