RIP the wheelie bin. The centrepiece of so many Moana Pasifika celebrations this season will at the very least now require a new lid after it was belted into submission by Peps Patafilo during the team song following the Pride of the Pacific’s breakthrough victory over the Blues on Saturday night.
It’s been a tough season for the defending champion Blues, who were jettisoned from the playoff mix courtesy of the 27-21 defeat at North Harbour Stadium – a ground that used to be one of theirs but no longer is.
It’s been a tough season in more ways than on-field results for the Blues. There has been a noticeable drop in attendance, not helped by the fact Eden Park takes an awful lot of filling.
Moana, meanwhile, boasting the same number of wins as their cross-town opponents heading into Saturday’s fixture, popped up the sold-out sign before kick-off, a clear indication there is an appetite for rugby north of the harbour bridge and, perhaps more importantly, an appetite for a team that represents something more than foundation Super Rugby membership.
So why does one middle of the pack rugby team with no history of success in its short Super Rugby lifespan seem to have captured the imagination of its fans while the other appears to be battling for breathing room in the country’s biggest city, all while the trophy is sitting in their cabinet?
The best advice this columnist has ever been given regarding the business of sport is this: "On field success is not a marketing strategy."
I believe that may have been told to me by the late Bill Campbell, AKA The Trillion Dollar Coach, who mentored such tech luminaries as Steve Jobs, Larry Page, and Sergei Brin, and who once defied Apple’s board when he ran the famous "1984" Apple commercial during that year’s Super Bowl.
Campbell was then VP of Marketing for Apple and would later become one of its longest serving board members. He was also one of the founders of New York Old Blue, a Manhattan Rugby Club that continues to focus on connection with its members above all else.
It is a particularly resonant quote because when the curtain came down on last year’s NRL season, the Warriors had nothing to show for the year’s graft in terms of titles and honours.
They did have something better than every other club, though: a full season of capacity home crowds.
How did a middle of the pack rugby league team with no history of success in 30 years of existence manage to become the first club in the competition to achieve that particular feat?
This weekend, in the same venue the Warriors faithful have called home for three decades, another sell-out crowd will be in attendance.
Auckland FC hit home turf for the second leg of the A-League men’s semi-final with a goal in the bank and fans queuing up for a slice of the action.
In the space of a few short months the Black Knights have become as much a part of Auckland City as road cones and shabby urban planning. The layperson might point to the win-loss record and suggest, dismissively, that Aucklanders are only there because the team is winning.
On field success is not a marketing strategy.
Auckland FC, like Moana, and like the Warriors before them both, tapped into a community and doubled down on it.
They have understood that there was a nascent football market in the city and purposefully dived into it. Engaging "The Port" as a matter of priority has been one such masterstroke.
Keeping prices at a reasonable level has been another.
Thinking about the in-stadium experience has also given the club a reputation for treating fans as more than bums on seats and necks for a scarf. Here’s a ferris wheel! Here’s a beach! Here’s a slide down the bank! I don’t care that it sounds like an A&P Show from the eighties. Keep the kids happy, and you’ll get the parents.
Moana has seen the power in authentically representing the islands, and Auckland is the largest Polynesian city on the planet.
There were question marks over the decision to utilise North Harbour Stadium as a home venue, mainly because its conveniently oversimplistic to think use "South Auckland" and "Pasifika" in the same sentence.
Authenticity doesn’t have a postcode; it connects communities and transcends Google maps.
I felt for the wheelie bin on Saturday night, but that team song will, to borrow a phrase from Tom Robbins, broadcast on transcendental frequencies.
The image of Auckland FC fans piled into downtown Auckland’s fan zone for the first leg of the semi-final was once the stuff of events of national significance alone.
Not anymore.
The Warriors will return to Mt Smart on a five-match win streak. Auckland FC will play to a full house for the chance to host a final.
Moana will take on the Chiefs and the Canes for a chance at the playoffs.
Who knows what will happen on the field? It’s off it where all three clubs have shown how it’s done.
If you haven’t had the chance to get to a game, I guess the question is, where's your wheelie bin?
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