Gimme Fever in bright yellow
Wellington Phoenix fans are loud and proud and remain unique in NZ sporting landscape
My wife had warned me about this moment. Whatever happened, I was not to take off my shirt on national television. But here we were.
“Come on, mate,” said the two Wellington Phoenix fans beside me, clutching beers in one hand and waving scarves in the other. “We’re all doing it. What’s wrong with you? You’ve got to.”
It was gentle persuasion — but they had a point. If I wanted to stand with the most passionate supporters of any team in this country, it was time for the full experience.
The Yellow Fever started in 2007, just after the birth of the Wellington Phoenix. Almost 20 years later, they remain unique in the New Zealand landscape.
Kiwis aren’t great sports fans by world standards. We are reserved and quiet. There is little sense of being part of the occasion, of helping to will the team home.
The Warriors are an exception with noisy, vocal fans but they’ve got nothing on those who gather every fortnight in block 21 of Sky Stadium in Wellington during the A-League season.
“We love the team and we’re not afraid to show it,” explains a fan next to me. “I guess we’re following the tradition of overseas football fans.”
Ahead of the round 19 game, they met first at the Old Bailey pub, running into Australian cricketers Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell, celebrating their first-test triumph at the Basin Reserve.
It’s a 15-minute walk from there, accompanied by their large flags, until they congregate at the stadium.
“We don’t have allocated seating as such,” says Tracey Hodge, a Fever diehard. “But if other people have tickets for a particular seat, they’re welcome. We just warn them that this is an active support zone. Most people are fine with that.”
The first chants are basic — “Come on Phoenix, come on Phoenix” — before some signature anthems.
A favoured one comes soon afterwards, pre-empted by someone yelling “Oh Wellington” at the top of their lungs. That’s followed by a group response, “Oh Wellington,” as the sequence continues:
“Is wonderful
Is wonderful
Oh Wellington is wonderful We’ve got the wind, the rain and the Phoenix
Oh Wellington is wonderful.”
A few rows along, long-time Fever member Patrick Barnes bangs on a large floor tom drum, adding to the theatre.
“The stadium lets us leave it here after each game, which is great,” says Barnes.
He got hooked on the Phoenix in
2010, after attending two playoff games which drew massive crowds of 30,000.
“It was unlike any atmosphere I’ve experienced in New Zealand sport and they [the Fever] were a big part of it,” says Barnes.
The fan group initially avoided using a drum or song sheets (they wanted things to happen organically) but now do, which helps if there is a low turnout on a wet, windy day. But numbers haven’t been a problem recently, with around 1000 in the zone for this game against Adelaide.
The noise continues, from the predictable, “He’s been doing it all day, ref ”, to the simple, “We’ve got the ball, we’ve lost the ball”.
A high point is seeing a 9-yearold girl, hanging off her dad’s shoulders, leading off with the “Oh Wellington” chant.
Her small voice is immediately engulfed in chorus — the rest of the section love it — as she beams with delight.
There’s a large variety of player tributes, from young goalkeeper Alex Paulsen (“We’ve got the best keeper in the league”) to veteran forward David Ball (based on Oasis song Wonderwall — “And all the runs that he goes on are winding, And all the goals that he scores are blinding.”)
There’s even a seagull chant, when a tern appears in view.
“Our fans are pretty creative,” says Hodge.
Ideas might emerge at the pub, over a WhatsApp group or on an away trip. There’s an eruption of noise when the Phoenix open the scoring — but thankfully no beer thrown in the air — and the buzz continues through to halftime.
Hodge has mixed feelings about Auckland FC.
“Will it work? It’s already failed twice up there,” she says with a laugh. “But the derbies will be great. We normally invite away fans to join us at the pub, though I’m not sure we’ll do that for Auckland.”
Most are looking forward to the rivalry, with Barnes adamant that one end of Mt Smart Stadium could be filled with Phoenix support.
Many are making the trip to Auckland for today’s game against Sydney FC at Eden Park — Wellington’s last in the city before Auckland FC join the A-League for the 2024-25 season.
“Away trips [to Australia] are great but very expensive,” says Barnes. “Auckland is obviously different.”
Adelaide start the second half well. They equalise, a penalty, before the scorer winds up the crowd with a series of gestures. He’s brave — “wanker, wanker, wanker” inevitably ensues — but is substituted immediately.
The tension is alleviated soon afterwards, as the Phoenix score a brilliant counter-attacking goal, then another.
The match time edges closer to the 80th minute. After a 10-second countdown, it’s “shirts off for the Nix”, a tradition that has made the Yellow Fever famous throughout Australasia. Bellies and shoulders are bared, as scarves continue to wave, while Barnes ups the rhythm on his drum.
“We know you don’t believe us, we’re going to win the league,” they sing, before repetitions of “Italiano’s Yellow Army”, a tribute to coach Giancarlo Italiano.
My T-shirt (and jacket) have stayed on, before the nudge from two nearby fans, with a few minutes to play. I still didn’t know most of the chants — but I felt part of the action, while the brisk Wellington evening didn’t seem to bother anyone. It was, as a fan had promised, “liberating”.
With a few minutes to play, the Fever implore the entire crowd to “Stand up for the Phoenix” and almost all do. Adelaide get another goal back but it is too little, too late and the Fever can celebrate another win during this most memorable of seasons.
“We hope it continues,” says Hodge. “Anyway . . . Auckland has a lot to live up to.”