Ricki Herbert's All Whites flew in to Wellington Airport this morning and a blanket media ban was instigated at the last minute. Photo / Getty Images.
After being run off the pitch 5-1 by Mexico on Thursday, the All Whites were apparently worn out by their extensive media commitments and travel itinerary during the first leg of their intercontinental playoff too.
Ricki Herbert's All Whites flew in to Wellington Airport this morning and despite their media
schedule indicating the coach and selected players would be available to speak to journalists, a blanket media ban was instigated at the last minute.
It sparked crazy scenes at the domestic terminal in the capital after the All Whites had flown in from Auckland following a long flight from Los Angeles.
A pushy Mexican media contingent and a collection of local journalists were keen to hear from Herbert but the underfire coach strode through the terminal, flanked by All Whites manager Brian Turner and a security guard, and didn't utter a word.
New Zealand Football media liaison Paul Gunn offered this explanation as to why nobody would front up: ``It's not so much a media stonewall,'' Gunn said. "It's just the team have been travelling for 36 hours now and coming back in to New Zealand, basically the onslaught and the level of media interest throughout the whole tournament's built up and the guys are just really fatigued.''
