Bill Foley brings football fever back to Auckland
It was all fun and games as newly minted A-League football entity Auckland FC launched their official club name, badge and team strip last week.
On social media, the Wellington Phoenix used the occasion to propose a new home base for the expansion team as part of broader banter in which they also floated a petition to have the boundary of greater Wellington amended to include the majority of the North Island.
“The Kerikeri Sports Complex is a great ready-made option for the new franchise and the region would no doubt benefit from Bill Foley’s billions,” the Phoenix posted.
In response, budding Auckland fans celebrated stark evidence that they were already living rent-free in Phoenix heads before a ball had even been kicked.
The new Auckland black-andblue strip was generally well received, though Phoenix fans were quick to point out you might as well just buy an existing Miramar Rangers one.
The club badge copped slightly more criticism.
There was a case to argue it was like something Uncle Arthur doodled on Microsoft Paint, the night before it was due, though the bigger issue was a terrible colour contrast of black and blue on black and blue.
The slightly unimaginative new handle suggests the world is now running out of names for football clubs, given Auckland City and Auckland United already exist, along with Auckland Football Federation. New Zealand Football only fuelled confusion on social media by posting “Welcome to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland FC” — though it turned out they were only virtue-signalling, and a comma was missing.
But funniest counter-suggestion to “Auckland FC” for a quintessential club name was “Auckland Train Services Not Running This Weekend”.