Nick Becker: Auckland FC CEO on claims of threats of violence ahead of Wellington Phoenix v Auckland FC derby

Extra security has been added for Saturday’s derby between Wellington Phoenix and newcomers Auckland FC amid claims of threats of organised violence from visiting fans on social media.

Auckland FC CEO Nick Becker tells Heather du Plessis-Allan the claims of threats are absolute nonsense.

“I’ve asked Wellington to send me their proof and they haven’t sent me anything.”

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heather Duke for CELA.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Yeah, they're putting on extra security for the football in
Wellington tomorrow. This is of course the first big derby
between the Wellington Phoenix and the newcomers Auckland FC and
the Phoenix reckon that there have been threats of organized
violence from visiting fans on social media. Now. Nick Becker
is the CEO of AFC and with us Hey.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Nick, Hey, Heather, how are you doing well? Thanks?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Mate? Is this credible? You've seen any of these threats?

Speaker 1 (00:23):
No, it's absolute nonsense. I haven't seen anything. I've asked
Wellington to send me their proof. They haven't sent me anything.
So I think it might just be a little keyboard warrior.
So it's probably some spotted little fourteen year old getting
over excited. But no, there's absolutely no credibility to it
at all.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Possible that is a bit of smack talk from the Phoenix.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
It could be. I mean, they'd be quite smart for them,
so it might be.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Are they getting you back for the stunt that you
people pulled with the T shirt thing?

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Ah, that wasn't us here, that came.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh the stunt that was pulled on your.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Behalf, it was it was on our behalf. It was
somebody representing Orkan FC, and I think they did a
great job. But there definitely wasn't I didn't have anything
to do with it.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
I forget the details. I forget the details, but I'm
loving this rivalry already. Hey, how many fans?

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Good?

Speaker 2 (01:07):
It is good. It makes it really interesting. We don't
have enough of this stuff in the country, don't you think.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
No, it's exciting. And it's like, you know, you want
to bet football's tribal, right, and you want to have
that tribalism. You want fans to have a bit of bands.
You want it to be fun, you want it to
be entertaining, and that's and that's exactly what it is.
Kiwi football fans aren't hooligans and there's not going to
be any trouble tomorrow. It's it's going to be a
fantastic moment for New Zealand football.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Now, how many fans do you reckon? You've got headed
down because that's a lot of yellow that they've got
going on there.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, well it how's it? They've got a
loocs as well, But we've got I reckon. We had
about four or five hundred coming down so it could
be more. We've the port who are our official supporters club,
said that they've got about four hundred of them going down.
So they'll bring the noise, they'll bring the energy, they'll
bring the fun. It's going to be a great night.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Did you see the tab odds are stacked against you?

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Are they? No? I haven't I unless them? What are they?

Speaker 2 (01:58):
I don't know. I can't remember exactly. I thought that's
what off because I would have thought you guys would
be the favorites, given that you've come and hot.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Wow, you want it? You want to go in as
an underdog? Done, you snatch three points and then get
out of work, well into as quickly as we can.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
How how far do you reckon? You can take the
swimming streak in your first season?

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Oh well, you know, we've got to keep our feet
firmly on the ground. But we have had we've had
a dream start. I think the boys. The boys have
jowled really well and they're just going to get better.
Even from round one to round two we've improved. So
you know, I'm confident that we're going to come down here.
We're gonna we're gonna put up everything that we've got
and you know, if we get the three points, fantastic.
Long may the streak continue. I don't want to put

(02:35):
in I don't want to jinx it by saying it
could go on forever, but yeah, we want it. Will
play as hard as we can.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
What's the magic source? Like, what's making you guys click
so well? Is it the money?

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Now? I think it's it's more the people, right. We
from day one we said we're going to go out
and we're going to get good people. We've got Steve Kayaker,
proven winner, he's won as a player, he's wonner as
a manager. And then and then with our recruitment, we
looked at the right type of players played the style
that we want to play. But also we've brought in
good people. The energy and the kind of the positive
vibe and the squad there's nothing like I've seen before.

(03:09):
And I've worked in football for over twenty years, and
you know, the guys get on so well. I think
we've been really clever with some of our foreign players.
The visa spots that come in, you can get up
to five visas, and we've brought an amazing guy called
Heroki who's our club captain. You know, he's gone to
three World Cups and he brings a real sort of
professionalism and brings the dresser room together. And then we've

(03:29):
got a bit of South American flair, and we've got
a great midfield and a kid called Lily who came
over from Belgium and he's he's been very solid in
the first two games. So Steve's got them playing really well.
That plays a style that we want to play, attacking,
exciting football. And we've got some great Kiwis in there too.
You know, we've got five current All Whites. We've got
a bunch of other Kiwis have played in the All Whites,

(03:50):
so it's an exciting young team and we can't wait
to get out there and show them what we've got.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Good stuff, Nick, I'm convinced you're gonna win. Good on you,
Nick Becker, the CEO of Auckland FC. Laura producer. Laura
just looked up the tab odds. She knows how to
do this thin. She's into that kind of thing. She says.
Wellington is paying two dollars forty five and Auckland's paying
two dollars seventy, so it's not like not a huge
difference is it?

Speaker 1 (04:14):
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