Steven Holloway: NZF not to blame for Phoenix troubles

Former All White Tim Brown. Photo / Richard Robinson.

Opinion

Lost amid 48 hours of wall-to-wall rugby coverage last weekend was a fascinating interview Radio Sport conducted with former Wellington Phoenix vice-captain Tim Brown.

Brown, who made more than 100 appearances for the Phoenix before retiring from professional football in 2012 to study for a master's degree in economics in London, was commenting on the Wellington club's current A-League license spat which threatens to derail New Zealand's footballing future.

In the 10-minute interview, Brown's opinions ranged from the ambitious (New Zealand need to move into Asia) to the ridiculous (could we get a Christchurch team in the A-League?), but his most absorbing insight was about the Phoenix's plight. Objectively, he said, you just can't paint Football Federation Australia as the bad guy in all of this.

"If you're the FFA and you see this outlier club which plays in a different Confederation, with small crowds, which gives you bugger-all money for TV rights - and they're trying to grow the league the best way that they can.... whether it's a negotiation ploy or whether it's something they genuinely feel, objectively speaking, I don't think it's something we can criticise them over," Brown said.

Brown, who was one of the most likeable, intelligent All Whites of recent years and now lives in San Francisco where he is the founder of a footwear start-up company, then turned his attention to a familiar if slightly unexpected scapegoat.

"For me, there's only one bad guy in all this, and that's New Zealand Football."

In most cases over the last six months, blaming New Zealand Football would be about par for the course. Their amateur administration shattered Olympic dreams. They wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees, went to war with OFC and lost, and even got suckered out of a few easy dollars from Fifa.

But they are not to blame here.

Sources say NZF has already invested $1 million into the Phoenix over the last several years, as well as incorporating their reserve team into the ASB Premiership and youth team into the National Youth League.

Brown argued NZF have been busy playing small-ball, focusing time and investment on things like televising the ASB Premiership when they should be focused on a bigger vision which involved "embracing what the Aussie's are doing" and joining Asia.

These 'big-picture' ideas are often at odds with reality. The problem with joining Asia is that NZF are the only party who (might) want that to happen. OFC don't and Asia certainly doesn't, although the upcoming Fifa presidential elections could create a new landscape.

Short of taking over the Phoenix's licence themselves, which would create myriad conflicts of interest, NZF have done just about as much as they can in this particular situation.

The reason the Phoenix are on the brink of getting tossed from the A-League all comes down to money. FFA chairman Frank Lowy wants more than the Phoenix are currently able to give him.

NZF are exploring ways to help the Phoenix but, ultimately, the A-League club must find a sustainable way of being more attractive to the FFA themselves.

But the ramifications of losing an A-League licence would be devastating for the game in New Zealand. Top players would quickly move overseas, the game would lose its visibility and, once New Zealand lost a foothold in the A-League, it's hard to see them getting back in.

The fight must go on and NZF and the Phoenix need to join forces to do all they can in the short-term to save the professional game.