July 14th
Andrew, Kiwi and Spirit of Football Founder, deals with his past at meet and greet with the All Blacks
Hi my name is Andrew Aris. I am a founder and director of Spirit of Football and am contributing this blog entry.
I grew up in New Zealand in the 1980s, when Rugby was the national sport and football was hardly being taken seriously in the mainstream. Rugby was and is the country’s number one game, but football is now more widely played than rugby in New Zealand. The soccer mum phenomenon, where mums are scared of their children getting injured has assisted in this. The influx of a diversity of people from across the world who have moved to Aotearoa, New Zealand, have also increased awareness of and interest in football as the world game.
Today’s young footballers are lucky to be playing in a more football-friendly environment. Back in my youth, I was called a “soccer fag” and other names – insults that I don’t care to mention here. I grew up with a chip on my shoulder about my country’s national sport, and I, and many of my football mates, grew up disliking rugby – a sacrilege in New Zealand.
Having returned with The Ball to my home country and been invited to join a meet and greet with the mighty All Blacks rugby team, I found myself faced with coming to terms with my past. It was the eve of the Test Match between the world-famous All Blacks and the world champion Springboks from South Africa. The All Blacks would be training at the former home of New Zealand Football – Mt Smart Stadium. I had served as a ball-boy there when New Zealand played England, and I also played there many times in representative teams in the 1990s.
These days, Mt Smart is the home of yet another football code – Rugby League. The New Zealand Warriors play there. However, displaced by the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the All Blacks were due to play the Springboks here and not at Eden Park, the home of rugby. How the times have changed – women’s football causing the mighty All Blacks to play a test match somewhere else!
We had the privilege of meeting most of the team after their light training session and having them sign The Ball. Unfortunately, due to rights issues, we cannot share those photos and videos. Veteran All Black Sam Whitelock signed The Ball and talked to us about doing a beach clean-up with the All Blacks. He called it an ‘a-ha moment’. Whitelock said that seeing all of that plastic rubbish on the beach made him realize the need to take action. Since then, he always carries a reusable bottle with him and stays away from single-use plastics.
My meeting with the players helped me to make peace with my past and take the anti-rugby chip off my shoulder. The following day, sitting in the stands at Mt Smart Stadium, I cheered for the All Blacks for the first time ever – with great gusto.
