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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks at b.

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Speaker 2: Two hundred and ten days ago, I was blinking into

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Speaker 2: the sun at go Media Stadium as Auckland FC strode

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Speaker 2: out onto the pitch for their first ever A League game.

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Speaker 2: The club was owned by a billionaire, and the team's

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Speaker 2: style of play wasn't immediately super alluring. In fact, their

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Speaker 2: very first goal in the club's professional history came courtesy

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Speaker 2: of an opposition player who lashed it into the back

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Speaker 2: of the net. I think I knew about two of

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Speaker 2: the players, maybe, so I had to keep on cross

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Speaker 2: checking the action on the pitch with my game day program.

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Speaker 2: So upon reflection, there were plenty of reasons why Auckland

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Speaker 2: FC might not have taken off with fans quite as

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Speaker 2: they have. And yet, and yet, here we are, seven

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Speaker 2: months on in the semi finals of the A League,

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Speaker 2: the end of the season for the team that has

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Speaker 2: consistently drawn the biggest crowds in the competition. I can

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Speaker 2: confirm this morning, and I never thought I would say this,

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Speaker 2: I've crossed a sporting threshold of sorts. As much as

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Speaker 2: I still love the Crusaders and we'll always love the Crusaders.

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Speaker 2: Auckland FC is my sporting priority each and every week.

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Speaker 2: I know I've talked before about how much the club

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Speaker 2: kind of nails the match day experience, and let's not

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Speaker 2: kid ourselves and imagine that the season would have been

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Speaker 2: quite the same if they hadn't been winning, but given

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Speaker 2: they started from nothing, it's also notable the extent to

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Speaker 2: which the club has actively tried to build and nurture

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Speaker 2: a fan base. It has been deliberate, and it's taken

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Speaker 2: elbow grease think about it. It can't be easy to

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Speaker 2: kind of snap your fingers and try and build a

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Speaker 2: culture and a fan base overnight. But the club has

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Speaker 2: held how we ever, met any meet and greets. They've

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Speaker 2: had an enduring outreach program with local football clubs. They've

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Speaker 2: held training days for kids, and even made an appearance

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Speaker 2: at my mate's local school fate last weekend. They've had

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Speaker 2: autograph sessions and sponsor gigs, and even shipped the regular

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Speaker 2: season trophy around corporate offices in downtown Auckland over the

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Speaker 2: last fortnight, including this one. As an organization, Auckland FC

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Speaker 2: has hustled, and I think the same attitude kind of

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Speaker 2: permeates into their style of play. The players run hard,

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Speaker 2: they try hard, and it's paid off. However, many times

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Speaker 2: this season when the team scored a goal in the

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Speaker 2: dying seconds of a game to snatch a draw or

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Speaker 2: a win. I read an interview at the start of

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Speaker 2: the season in which the players kind of talked about

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Speaker 2: their respective backgrounds and apart from the captain Hiroki Sakai,

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Speaker 2: no one was really a big league superstar and honestly

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Speaker 2: they knew it. They were professional footballers. Sure that was

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Speaker 2: a hell of an achievement, but you know, no one

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Speaker 2: was signing perfume deals and earning half a million bucks

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Speaker 2: a week. They had everything still to prove and the

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Speaker 2: only way to do it was through graft. By the

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Speaker 2: nature of an inaugural season, everything Auckland FC has done

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Speaker 2: this year has been a first, but knockout football is

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Speaker 2: a different kind of pressure. It's a home and away

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Speaker 2: seemi of course, with the away leg first, and part

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Speaker 2: of me, I don't know, I just feels kind of

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Speaker 2: like a bit anxious about that. Was it really in

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Speaker 2: our interests to have a full week off before getting

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Speaker 2: up for a critical match in opposition territory? Sport can

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Speaker 2: be glorious and sport can be cruel. Winning the Premiere's

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Speaker 2: Plate does not guarantee anything this stage of the season,

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Speaker 2: But like so many others, in a few short months,

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Speaker 2: I've come to feel a real, like a deep affinity

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Speaker 2: for the team. I now know the respective club histories

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Speaker 2: of players who were effectively strangers back in October. I

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Speaker 2: know our defense is our greatest strength. Paulson Hall, Sarki

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Speaker 2: Smith Pineket that Louis Vastrata blends a technical finesse with

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Speaker 2: an enthusiasm for a fifty to fifty physical challenge. He

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Speaker 2: will dive in. That Francis Devrees will always whip in

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Speaker 2: a ridiculously good delivery and because you, Mommai is just

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Speaker 2: waiting to lash it in with that left foot. I

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Speaker 2: know how lucky we are to have had this season,

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Speaker 2: how good it is for New Zealand football, and seven

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Speaker 2: months since that first game at go Media, with the

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Speaker 2: knockout stages upon us, I know we can win for more.

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Speaker 1: From Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, Listen live to News Talks'

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Speaker 1: b from nine am Saturday, or follow the podcast on

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Speaker 1: iHeartRadio