A-league Football: They Left Auckland To Pursue A Dream, Now Return As Enemies

Friday, 6 December 2024, 3:11 pm
Article: RNZ

Mathew Nash, Sports Contributor

Auckland FC v Wellington Phoenix

Kick-off: 5pm Saturday 7 December

Go Media Mt Smart Stadium

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For 17 years the Wellington Phoenix have been every Kiwi's local football club. That is, until now. Auckland FC have stormed onto the scene, topping the A-League with five wins from five and this weekend will be looking to make it two wins from two in Kiwi Clasico matches over their more established rivals.

The Phoenix's previous monopoly on professional football has led to a litany of footballers from Auckland heading south for their one shot of starting a career in New Zealand. This weekend a handful of those players will return to their hometown not as heroes, but for the first time in their professional lives, as the enemy in front of a sell-out crowd at Mount Smart.

Sam Sutton and Tim Payne have played in Auckland before, but always as the home team in marquee fixtures at Eden Park.

Sutton was just 14 when he and his family upped sticks from the North Shore, where the midfielder turned left-back had spent his youth career at East Coast Bays, to join the Phoenix academy.

Payne, a Sacred Heart alumni, joined the Nix at age 25, from the National League's Eastern Suburbs where he was captain under current Auckland FC assistant Danny Hay.

On those previous occasions, the Phoenix full-backs were treated as homecoming heroes but this weekend will be different.

For Payne and Sutton, they had no choice. It was Phoenix or bust and both have embraced the club and become a part of the furniture. But two other returning Aucklanders are from a different category - one that signifies that the biggest city in New Zealand remains a location of interest for the Phoenix, despite the arrival of the Black Knights.

Nathan Walker arrived at the Phoenix from Fencibles United at the start of 2024. The wide-man's Auckland heritage was a prominent feature in the press release announcing a new deal at Wellington in October.

'Nix secure young Auckland winger on multi-year deal' was the slightly misleading title - as the Phoenix dug the knife in that one of Tāmaki Makaurau's best had flown the nest. It was a non-subtle gloat, that the Phoenix still had the ability to bring the best players down from up north. Corban Piper is much the same. Snapped up from Birkenhead United in September, bringing him south is no doubt seen as a fillip from the Nix.

Plenty of Aucklanders have previously played for the Phoenix in the City of Sails. Sarpreet Singh, Stefan Marinovic, Oli Sail, Ben Old and more. But none have done so under the conditions these four players will at the weekend.

It's a common tale for New Zealand footballers. Players, sometimes whole families, upping sticks from Auckland, and all over the country, to head down to Wellington for a shot at glory.

Even in the Auckland team this weekend there will be examples of this trend in Alex Paulsen, and Logan Rogerson.

However, the hometown heroes are now returning rivals and with the Phoenix still an enticing option for young talent in Auckland going forward, this theme will continue throughout this new New Zealand sporting rivalry.

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