All Whites' success has kicked me into conversion

OPINION: I'll admit it, I'm an All Whites convert, writes Nathan Burdon in this week's Straight Up.

Before last Saturday I would have struggled to name half of Ricki Herbert's squad but after the win over Bahrain I'm really excited about next year's World Cup.

I will admit, in my other life in which I'm not a sports editor and just a sports follower like everyone else, that I've occasionally been disparaging about the round-ball code. I did flirt with the beautiful game during primary school when I missed out on the Northern under- 45kg rugby team and, in a fit of pique, decided I was going to play football in the trials instead.

I fancied myself as a bit of a goalscorer, and had visions of leading Northern to glory at a tournament in Invercargill.

I remember our coach gently explaining to a couple of us that we had to stop kicking at the ball once the opposition keeper was holding on to it. And that it was bad form to knock him over and start rucking him.

When our goalie went down I spent the rest of a windswept afternoon picking the mud off the bottom of my boots and watching the odd ball whiz past. My only other football experience has been watching my flatmate play for Dunedin Tech at a freezing cold Old Caledonian in Dunedin, squatting down on the cycle track to try to keep out of the wind, and a superb visit to Craven Cottage a few years back to watch Fulham – who I now support in a lacklustre way – play Middlesborough.

Last Saturday was the first time I've watched an entire game of football on the box from beginning to end, but to be fair I struggle to watch a whole game of rugby these days. The scenes from the Caketin were incredible, special.

The nation owes a debt of gratitude to the people of Wellington for building that magnificent stadium, in much the same way New Zealand cycling owes the people of Invercargill and Southland for building them an indoor velodrome.

I was getting regular text updates from a friend who, I'm embarrassed to say, was one of the bare-chested T-shirt swingers.

Thankfully, he didn't make it on to the box or The Southland Times' agribusiness reporting might have taken a major credibility hit.

So now we can look ahead to the future.

I'm looking forward to the moment when one of the All Whites' sponsors sends me a team shirt in the mail.

I'm looking forward to next month's World Cup draw, regardless of whether Herbert gets a leave pass from his boss to be there.

And I'm especially looking forward to watching next year's World Cup in South Africa.

It's generally an outstanding do but it's going to be so much better now that we've got an invite to the party.

» Nathan Burdon has been the Southland Times sports editor since 2003 and has won numerous journalism awards, including provincial sports writer of the year.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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