Before Auckland FC had kicked a ball in the Australian and New Zealand A-League, their goal was clear: grow grassroots support (for a club that didn’t exist yet).
It’s been the best part of two decades since Auckland last had a football club of its own.
That’s a long time between drinks for fans of the beautiful game in Tāmaki Makaurau.
NZ Marketing caught up with the club just under two weeks before its first ever kick-off, as fans, spectators and lovers of the game had their eyes set on how the club would fare.
But with no games under its belt, the first question was obvious: how do you build support for a sports team with no fans?
Nick Becker, CEO of Auckland FC, says the timing for a football team was perfect. Coming off the back of the successful Fifa Women’s World Cup staged in New Zealand and Australia, interest in the sport in Aotearoa is at an all-time high.
“In the 16 years we haven’t had a club, the participation and growth of the game has been phenomenal. It’s just gone absolutely off the charts,” says Becker.
“It’s been growing 20+% year-on-year.”
Gather the fans
Amanda Hayes, Auckland FC Marketing Manager, says the club has been able to bring fans who might have scattered after the Women’s World Cup back to one place.
While rugby rules the roost in Aotearoa, football is the national religion in many overseas nations. It’s one of the most popular sports in the world, with the men’s Fifa World Cup garnering more than 5 billion live viewers in 2022.
Auckland’s population is becoming increasingly diverse and international. And Rafael Turnbull, Head of Consumer Business for AFC, says there’s a new generation of sports lovers in the city – and their eyes aren’t on rugby.
“We definitely are not following the rugby mould,” he says of the newly minted club.
“We want to be professional, we want to be successful, but we want to be able to have a bit of fun. It’s about entertainment, it’s about having a bit of a laugh like you would with a summer sport, enjoy yourself.”
Natural extension
Outside school sport, more than 20 clubs across Tāmaki Makaurau offer soccer clubs and classes for kids and teens, so there’s clearly growing interest in football at grassroots level in Auckland.
Flourishing interest within the community makes high engagement with the club a natural extension of after-school and weekend games. It gives Aucklanders a tangible team to interact with and fuel their passion for football.
Turnbull says Auckland FC will be following the example set by its international counterparts – aiming for the dedicated followings seen by overseas competitions such as the Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1.
While many Kiwi sports concentrate on winning above all else sees them attracting fair-weather crowds – who cheer when the team does well but disappear when the scoreboard is disappointing – Auckland FC is looking to nurture diehard supporters. NZ’s only NRL entrant, the Warriors, managed to create a buzz around the team despite seemingly endless losing streaks – and Auckland FC is hoping to replicate that model by making the team all about the fans.
Becker says the Warriors have managed to bring out the fan in people – and Auckland FC want Kiwis to feel the “passion and tribalism” that has worked for overseas football clubs.
Awesome atmosphere
“We’re trying to do something completely bespoke, away from premium mentality,” explains Turnbull.
“Everything that we do is around trying to create such an awesome atmosphere and offer fans things that are beyond the pitch to make sure that – regardless of result, regardless of if you’re into football or not – everybody has an amazing time.”
This makes the atmosphere and culture of Auckland FC not just about how many goals the team is scoring, but how fun it is to be a fan.
“The product is the product – we don’t control that. A sport’s a sport. But what we can control
is how good a time you have in a public stadium,” says Turnbull.
Aucklanders together
When Becker thought about building a football club, he was faced with the question of how to go about it.
The answer? Let the fans help shape the club. It makes sense when the club is new and is still finding its feet.
Out of necessity – having played zero games, but therefore with an undefeated record – the marketing strategy has been about getting to know the players. It’s a strategy many sports teams are now switching to in order to ensure engagement with fans, says Hayes, so starting off on this track is actually an advantage.
“A lot of that content is doing really well for us, because people are now understanding who our players are and what they get up to and what their life is like in Auckland.
“It then ties into collaborating with the rest of Auckland and bringing all of Auckland into this as well,” adds Hayes.
Unlike the long gaps between games that All Whites fans face, Auckland FC offers year-round opportunities to engage – with a local focus.
It’s not just Auckland FC that sees the potential in itself. The club has made some important commercial signings, even at this early stage.
Players were splashed across Tāmaki Makaurau on an Anchor out-of-home campaign even before Aucklanders learn their names.
Auckland FC is ready to do it their way.
“We’re going to be competitive, we’re going to fight hard. We’ll shake things up in sports,” says Becker.
“We’ll get things wrong, we’ll hopefully get a few more right. And we’ll hopefully engage that kind of sports fan who has just been wanting something different.”
This story was published in NZ Marketing magazine issue 81, December-January 2024/2025.
Read more stories from issue 81.
