Editorial: Time to talk up, not down

OPINION: New Zealand soccer has an opportunity to cash in on making the final of the World Cup thanks to its battling win over Bahrain on Saturday night.

The code captured the public's imagination in a way it has not done since the build-up to the 1982 World Cup. The All Whites will go to South Africa on a hiding to nothing, but that won't matter. In 1982 John Adshead's side were in a pool which included Scotland, Russia and Brazil. Simply watching them compete at that level was enough. Goals from Steve Wooddin and Steve Sumner against Scotland were the icing on the cake.

The 2010 World Cup is far different from the 1982 version. The influence of former Fifa boss Joao Havelanche has been instrumental in taking the game to a new global level. Where in 1982 24 teams made the final and New Zealand got there at the end of a marathon, in 2010 there will be 32 teams, and the All Whites will have negotiated a less rocky road. Where 1982 had one Asian team, today that confederation is represented by both Koreas, Japan and new chums Australia. Africa had two in 1982, it already has five: the hosts, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon. And there are still six countries to be added to the starting line-up for next June.

In the 27 years between finals, football/soccer has swept through Africa and Asia, taken a firmer hold in North America and has strengthened in Australia thanks to the A-league. The game in New Zealand has blossomed thanks to the Australians allowing the Football Kingz and more recently the Wellington Phoenix into their competition. Many New Zealand-born players now earn a living playing in Europe. The exposure players like Chris Killen, Chris Wood and Rory Fallon have received as a result of the present All Whites campaign will ensure a new generation of New Zealand youngsters have home grown heroes to emulate.

Saturday's win was watched by a record crowd for a New Zealand soccer match, and without the support of any official figures, we suspect it was also a domestic record for a soccer match broadcast by Sky. It is just what the game needs. What it does not need are soccer players and supporters comparing the popularity of the game to rugby and suggesting a new sports leader is emerging. Traditionally, soccer players have complained about the chip on the shoulder of the oval ball brigade, pointing to a segment who considered a love for one code involved a compulsory hatred of any other. Those people are now in the extreme minority, if they exist at all.

New Zealand qualifying for South Africa is not the first step to making soccer our national game, in the same way the Black Sticks' weekend success in Invercargill, where they also qualified for next year's World Cup in India, is not the start of a hockey takeover. Rugby is, and for the foreseeable future will be, our national game.

Some fans need reminding the competition is on the park, not off it. The rest already know soccer and hockey's successes were great news for all fans of New Zealand sport.

- © Fairfax NZ News