Whatever the politics, it's fair to say Hawke's Bay United are here to play this summer.
The new-look Brett Angell-coached Bay franchise football team showed they can foot it with the best after their 2-2 stalemate with Team Wellington, in Napier, yesterday.
If the city slickers didn't know much about Bay United, they certainly did on a typical Bay spring day. The Ross Haviland-captained hosts showed killer instincts and didn't let the O-League contenders daunt them in their first ASB Premiership match at home.
Both sides had one Bay-born player each in the starting XI - defender Harry Morton for the Bay and striker Jarrod Smith for the visitors.
All that, however, hardly mattered as the crowd lapped up an entertaining affair that was locked 1-1 at halftime.
It was far from flawless footy but it's exciting to know a predominantly young Bay United have playoff material written all over them after an away 3-2 loss to defending champions Auckland City the previous weekend.
"It could have gone either way but we need to stop conceding sloppy goals from set pieces," said centreback Haviland, not pleased with how they started the game.
"Overall, we have to be pleased - points on the board, new team, young team so we're happy."
Having matched the "so-called best teams" in the summer league, he felt it was a promising sign of things to come for the Bay faithful.
"We're still growing and developing as a team so come out and support us," Haviland said, hopeful of returning with three points from the Wanderers Soccer Club this weekend.
The body language of the opposition spoke volumes and one could have been forgiven for thinking they had lost the match.
Ex-Bay United captain Bill Robertson, wearing the co-captain's armband for the Wellingtonians, confirmed that suspicion.
"Obviously we're absolutely gutted because we didn't perform any where near the standard of what we should be performing and it's cost us three points," Robertson said.
"We've got one point but that just isn't good enough for us so we're disappointed with ourselves."
Robertson said the hosts were organised, sitting back to defend and then pulling the stops to counterattack.
"We were organised too but they broke our play. You know, we should take a hard look at ourselves today in that game."
Winning the league was the first hurdle with O-League aspirations on the backburner for now, he said.
Yesterday a trim and fitter-looking Smith caught the Bay defence napping at the far post in the eighth minute when he pushed the ball into the net after an oblique cross from the left flank for the visitors to lead 1-0.
The hosts replied, 1-1, three minutes later after a Sean Lovemore drive from about 25m out deflected off winger Victor Lekaj to leave Wellington goalkeeper Michael O'Keefe stranded from the pitch-wedge effect. The officials declared it an own goal on the NZ Football website report.
Bay winger Troy Pennycooke-Morgan and central midfielder Saul Halpin needed to thread balls through much quicker, costing potential shots at goal as Lovemore fell foul of the offside trap although the over-eager striker was also guilty of not timing his runs.
Rightback Wade Randle, who had a solid game, and Pennycooke-Morgan displayed great throwing arms with cornerkick impact.
Wellington struck first again in the second half for a 2-1 lead in the 54th minute when winger Henry Fa'arodo received a pin-point pass from Cory Chettleburgh on the right flank, chested it down, swivelled before drilling it past a diving Bay goalkeeper Josh Hill.
Lekaj's had the opportunity to equalise following a goalmouth melee but the defence prevailed.
Halpin, who got up slowly from a couple of tackles in the first half, looked spent in the heat early in the second spell.
Not long after Luis Corales had a point-blank opportunity but his header skewed over the crossbar.
Lovemore had a chance to equalise in the 78th minute after Robertson lost the ball in a tackle. The striker's one-on-one with keeper O'Keefe in the box looked good but didn't have enough bite as a defender cleared from a gaping goal mouth.
In the 89th minute, Wellington coach Matt Calcott yelled out to watch Haviland. It fell on deaf ears as the centreback rose above everyone to nod in the equaliser, 2-2.
The Bay conceded two silly yellow cards in added time through English midfielder Ryan Tinsley and Argentine playmaker Mario Alberto Barcia.