The Wellington Phoenix football team have been told to build their fanbase, or risk being dropped from the Australian A-League. RNZ reporter Michael Cropp follows the golden path of the 'Save the Nix' campaign.
Wellington Phoenix supporters are some of the most loyal in New Zealand sport. Photo: PhotoSport
The capital's streets, parks and even statues have been gilded with golden scarves and banners.
It's part of a campaign to save the local football team, the Phoenix.
They have been told to build their fanbase, or risk being dropped from the Australian A-League.
It's hard to ignore Wellington's support. All I wanted was a flat white, but when it was served in a yellow takeaway cup with a logo on the front reading "Wellington Phoenix"; my curiosity was piqued.
"Do you know who the Wellington Phoenix are," I asked a woman passing by.
"Er, rugby?" she said.
This was not a good start.
I asked someone else.
"Do you know who the Wellington Phoenix are?"
"A football team," I was told.
I checked with someone else, just to make sure.
"It's the local football team," a man said.
Nevertheless, what was a football team doing on a coffee cup?
I went to Mojo's coffee roastery on the waterfront where their marketing manager Tay Mark told me the company backed the team.
"Steve the CEO loves the team, and loves the players and he's just willing to get behind any smaller teams. Any community-based teams," she said.
From Mojo, I followed a trail of gold and black ribbons to the council offices in Civic Square.
There, a golden scarf emblazoned with the Phoenix logo was wrapped around a tree - do trees feel the cold, I mused, or was something else at play?
I asked the deputy mayor Justin Lester what was going on.
Wellington deputy mayor - and Phoenix fan - Justin Lester Photo: RNZ / Michael Cropp
"On the weekend we started a scarf Wellington campaign, so we went out and we got hundreds of scarves and put them all over the city's icons. So we put them throughout Civic Square. We put them on the Bucket Fountain, I think that had about 10 scarves all over it," he said.
"We wanted to make sure that every Wellingtonian round the city would see scarves all over the city to acknowledge the commitment that we've got as a city to the 'Nix."
After being treated to a display of Lester's ball skills, I decided it was time to get back to the office, and find out why the 'Nix, or the Phoenix, needed saving.
Wellington deputy mayor - and Phoenix fan - Justin Lester shows off his ball skills Photo: RNZ / Michael Cropp
The team competes in the Football Federation Australia's A-league, but they have been told they need to boost their fan-base or risk being cut from the competition.
One of the options is to consider rebranding the team to the New Zealand Phoenix.
I needed someone to tell me what was going on - enter David Cross, the ringleader of the Phoenix fan club Yellow Fever.
David Cross, a leading force behind #SaveTheNix Photo: RNZ / Michael Cropp
"The key thing we're trying to do with the #SaveTheNix campaign is to get the brand back out there and let people know that if you forget about The Phoenix, it'll disappear," Mr Cross said.
But he was "quite spectacularly anti" changing the team's name.
"I don't think there's a business justification for it. I don't think the Warriors have a larger following because they became the New Zealand Warriors," he said. "Your home base is where you build your support, where you've got your regular support."
But Cross said the fanbase needed to commit to the team, otherwise the Phoenix might not rise from the ashes.
The team and their supporters are hoping to attract more than 14,000 people to the Cake Tin tonight when they play against Adelaide - and prove to the Australian bosses they belong in the competition.
