Auckland gets an A+ start, now it has to maintain the momentum

Michale Lynch: Auckland gets an A+ start, now it has to maintain the momentum as A-League gets off to a bright start.

One swallow does not make a summer, but A-League chiefs will be hoping that the veritable flock that swarmed over the New Zealand city for brand new franchise Auckland FC's first-ever game is a harbinger of a heatwave to come.

Auckland was sure to get a big crowd for its debut, but it surely surpassed expectations with a sell-out of almost 25,000 to see the competition's new boys overcome Brisbane Roar 2-0.

For example, Melbourne Heart (as it then was) got less than half of that to its first-ever game (admittedly on a wet Thursday at AAMI Park in the depths of an August winter night ) in 2010.

The only times Western United, a previous A-League new entrant, would have ever played in front of a crowd anything like that size is when it faced Melbourne Victory or played in a finals match. Ditto for another relative newcomer Macarthur, who have yet to catch fire with their western Sydney target audience and only face large crowds in away games.

So well played the executives who put the Auckland operation together on behalf of American billionaire owner Bill Foley (who also owns Premier League club Bournemouth) and kudos to them for the way they were able to galvanise fan interest and harness media coverage - rarely easy in any A-League market these days - for their big opening day.

It is to be hoped, for the game in New Zealand and for the competition in general, that Auckland is a success. Still, caution should be exercised, at least for a few months.

Those of us who had the misfortune to travel to NZ to cover the unlamented New Zealand Knights, the country's first-ever A-League franchise, can only marvel at the size of the crowd in the City of Sails last weekend.

Back in those dark days it often seemed that only family and close friends turned up to watch the Knights in games that always seemed to be played in poor light, rain and mist at the far too big North Harbour Stadium - the climactic conditions complimenting their dark strip and reflecting the mood of the sparse crowd.

The Knights lasted only two seasons and few lamented their demise.

While Auckland attendances may or may not dip - much will probably depend on their on-field performances - they look to have a much brighter future and will take plenty of heart from their debut performance.

I was not a fan of including NZ teams in the Australian competition and over the years copped plenty of social media stick from Trans Tasman supporters (and some in Australia) for my views.

I reasoned that with money in short supply in the domestic game, there was little upside for an Australian league to give a rival football federation the chance to make money, attract sponsorship and develop a quasi-national team while offering the Australian game little in return - save the opportunity for a handful of coaches or players to gain employment in Wellington or now Auckland.

Wellington certainly did well on the pitch but they rarely seemed to attract thousands of expatriate Kiwis to games in this country, so I felt that if there was money to be made in license fees, jobs for coaches and opportunities for players then it should have been made in Australia. Not to mention the fact that allowing the Kiwis to build what could have amounted to an international squad playing week in and week out at club level could have backfired on Australia should the two nations ever meet in a meaningful tournament game.

Anyway, that ship has clearly sailed now and I lost that argument.

I am gracious enough now to take the view that two Kiwi teams are better than one and hopefully they can develop a real north/south rivalry and build the sort of passion that football thrives on. When the tide comes in all the boats in the harbour rise, so NZ football would be a big beneficiary.

On the mainland there was another excellent crowd in Sydney for the east-west derby which augurs well for the season: if both Sydney and Western Sydney Wanderers can harness the latent passion and support that exists for the game in NSW then they will help drive the A-League to a much-needed recovery.

Elsewhere it was a nightmare first game for new Perth Glory coach David Zdrillic, whose team crashed 6-1 to Macarthur.

Whether such a stunning start to the season encourages more Bulls supporters to get out and watch their team remains to be seen but at least Mile Sterjovski's side has hit the ground running and seems prepared to build on their Australia Cup success.

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