October 18, 2024 • 9 mins
There’s a number of big names backing Auckland’s new football club.
Former All Black Ali Williams is one such name, joining Bill Foley as a member of Auckland FC’s ownership group.
He joined Jason Pine to discuss his hopes for the club, as they prepare to make their A-League debut at Mount Smart Stadium.
“It's about fan engagement, it's about getting a buy in, it's about getting a belief that we're not here for a short term, we're here for a long term.”
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from Newstalk zed B.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Bill Foley, of course, is the majority owner of the
football club, but there was an ownership group made up
of a number of other prominent investors, including former All
Black and Rugby World Cup winner Alie Williams, who was
with us. Now, Allie, thanks for popping in for a
bit of a chat. Take us back to the start
of all of this. How did you get involved?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Look, it's a long it's a long story, but Anna
herself actually asked me, why do we not have a
professional football team in Auckland, And I said, well we did.
It's it's been a long time between drinks and Anna,
being the person that she is, proactive, got straight up
onto the A League and rang them and said, mate,
where's your expansion documents? Anyway, long story short, they send
(00:56):
them through and you know, we looked at other people
and other partners around the world around that, and you
know we've we've ended up in a partnership with Bill Foley,
Winston Reed, Steve Adams, Noah Hicky and Tim Brown and
and we're having a lot of fun and the fruits
are today right seeing everyone together and feeling the excitement
(01:18):
leading up to it and also the it's almost an
unknown you know, how is this all going to turn out? Well, look,
we're not going to go away. We're going to have
some fun. We're going to make some mistakes, we can
guarantee that, but we're going to have, you know, one
the people, the communities forefront of our decision making in
terms of making this fun, getting some excitement. And then
(01:39):
the player pathway, how do we give kids, younger kids,
both women, girls, boys and men an opportunity to achieve
their dreams and higher honors. And that's not just playing
for the all whites. That's playing for bigger and better
clubs than this one. And we're quite happy to be
a stepping stone. Two bigger things.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What is your day to day involvement in the football club.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I've just been at Pony Club with my daughter, so
basically the first priority as being a dad and a husband,
and then you know, we'll turn up and have some
fun with everyone else. You know, there's a little bit
of a bit of stuff that you've got to do
commercially to support the people that have helped us right
(02:24):
and believed in the vision. So a bit of that,
but then it's about excitement, like it's about energy, and
it's about enjoying enjoying something because I think it gets
hard to motivate yourself day in and day out to
help out and to make change if you're not seeing
and appreciating the little successes that you get. So today
is one of those moments where we can really sit
back and have a bit of fun with everything. And
(02:47):
then obviously you go back to drawing book holds and
look at where we can get better. But today, yeah,
today is about having fun with everyone else.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
How has Bill Foley been to deal with?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Pretty straight shooter? Jumping a room with Bill and Anna
and I tell you what, we're not mucking around and
when it comes to decision making or or their drive
to be successful on all elements, right, not only winning,
but but making this club a success all around the world.
So pretty pretty simple. I love I love working with
(03:20):
with with him. He's a great human and you know,
got some excitement the guys, you know, almost pushing eighty
and he's got energy like a like a young fourteen
year old. So yeah, really really really great human.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
On the grass Allie. On the football side of things,
What are your expectations for the side on the field
in season one.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I don't think any sports person in the world goes
out to lose, right, so very clearly, every every game
they want to win right every game. As individuals, they
want to play their best. What does success like look
like as a club? It's it's about fan engagement, it's
about getting a buy and it's about getting a belief
that we're not here for a short term. We're here
(03:59):
for a long term. We're here for a you know,
we're here to make a change in football in this country.
We're also here to propew and create youth passes, path pathways.
We're also here to tie in communities of Auckland, and
we're here to turn turn football and sport into into
a fun and entertaining element. And that's success. How do
(04:20):
you measure that? Well, A lot of people are going
to try and do it on the field with the results.
For us, it's not so much about that. Hey, I'm
not going to lie. We want to do well and
you know, like anything, we want to win cold herds,
So that's where it's at.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
It'll be easier though, want to engage with fans to
get some momentum behind this football club if the team
is winning football matches.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Right, Okay, we've got two options. Right, you can go
down the success path, which is all about what's on
the field, or you can go down what happens between
Sunday and Saturday. Right, and for us just looking success
on the field, then do we even need fans? Well,
that's not success for us. Right, So success for us
is buying in the whole community, buying in the people,
(05:02):
getting them excited, talking about it week to week, getting
energy around it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And you can create energy.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
You can succeed And I know that's going to sound weird,
but you can succeed by failing, right, You can succeed
because you learn from your mistakes and you move forward. Right,
what aims if we finish last and we get four
people into the English Premiership? Is that a failed season?
Or in my eyes it wouldn't be right?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Whatams I?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
We finished first, win the champion our first year and
then next year we finish fourth? Is that failure to
win or not? So you know what I mean? So
it's not in our eyes, it's very much it can't
be about results. We give that responsibility and that privilege
to the players and they take that how they want
to and you know the coaches, those guys they don't
(05:49):
want to lose. So it's really, really, in my eyes,
a silly question to ask what does it look like
and is it just based around results from our point
of view? No, it's not just based around results from
the players point of view. Yes, it's based around results.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Very good, very good, good approach on and off the field.
So this afternoon, any of your high profile former rugby
teammates coming along to game one?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yep, yeah, No, if you put some invitations long and wide.
You know, typical rugby guys, they want everything for free,
and they want a car park and they want me
to almost carry them in there. But we've got a
few of the lads upstairs and you know, like anything,
they just want to have fun. They want to see
people succeed. I think generally most of us kiwis we
(06:33):
want to see success and we want to see people
having fun and excitement around things, because you know, it's
not easy out there. At the moment, we will feel
for everyone, right and we've we've got to stick in
and moments like this to get some excitement is just
really really special for everyone, So good to have them
all here and good to see the smiles and good
to see a whole wide range of sports men and
(06:54):
women come out to watch.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
And I know we're game by game with Brisbane this afternoon,
but a couple of weeks down the track, your first
visit to Wellington for the derby. Then early December it'll
be Phoenix coming the other way for the first derby
at Mount Smart. How much you're looking forward to those
games against Wellington Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
The rivalry between the Phoenix and Auckland f C is
going to be huge. They are a great supporter club,
you know what I mean, They've been in this league
for a long long time and we just want to
see a great old rivalry. But you know it's slightly different,
right You've got the Phoenix there and Wellington, but then
you've got Auckland f C. But it's not really Auckland
(07:31):
f C. It's more the nation's team. So you've got
people from Dunedin, people from christ Church, people from all
over New Zealand supporting Auckland against the Phoenix. So you
know that derby is going to be really, really good.
And I promote everyone from all over the country to
where blue and Black against the Fois.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It's the way to stoke the embers. You must expect though,
that there are some Aucklanders who have supported Wellington Phoenix
for what close to twenty years now who are going
to stick with them. They're going to remain Phoenix fans
and not jump across.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
They'll be jumping over and supporting the blue black of
the Black Nights. Mate, that's that simple. I don't think
they've really got a choice, to be honest. But here's
the best part about life. You make your own choices, eh.
And at the end of the day, that's what we want.
We want people to be fully engaged in this football
team for the right reason and if you're.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
In it throughout.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Thick and thin, that's who we want, right And you know,
I'm not here to persuade anyone who they want to support.
I'm just here to make, you know, encourage people to
have some fun on who they support. But I don't
see why you wouldn't support us.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Wonderful, a great day ahead, an exciting day. Alli. Congrats
on everything you've done to bring this to fruition you
and the other members of the ownership group. I hope
it's a fantastic day for you. Thanks for having a chat.
Cheers buddy and everyone have fun today. Stay safe, yeah,
you stay safe to Ellie, I know you will. Allie
Williams there stoking the embers. I'm interested actually in what
(09:01):
Auckland based fans will do. Auckland based Phoenix fans, that
is what they will do because up until now, up
until today, they've only had Wellington Phoenix as their professional club,
and whenever the Phoenix have brought games to Auckland, which
they have regularly over the period of their life, which
is now eighteen years, they've always been really well supported
(09:22):
up here. There have always been big crowds to Phoenix
games at Mount Smart or Eden Park. I think they
might have played to their play game in Albany. I'm
going back a little bit. I think they might have.
There were always a lot of big crowds, big crowds,
and so there were Phoenix fans in Auckland. What are
those fans going to do when the derby's here? They
(09:43):
might come along watch Aukland FC every you know, because
geographically they're here, right, but what are they going to
do with the derby?
Speaker 1 (09:51):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine. Listen live
to news talks b weekends from midday, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from Newstalk zed B.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Bill Foley, of course, is the majority owner of the
football club, but there was an ownership group made up
of a number of other prominent investors, including former All
Black and Rugby World Cup winner Alie Williams, who was
with us. Now, Allie, thanks for popping in for a
bit of a chat. Take us back to the start
of all of this. How did you get involved?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Look, it's a long it's a long story, but Anna
herself actually asked me, why do we not have a
professional football team in Auckland, And I said, well we did.
It's it's been a long time between drinks and Anna,
being the person that she is, proactive, got straight up
onto the A League and rang them and said, mate,
where's your expansion documents? Anyway, long story short, they send
(00:56):
them through and you know, we looked at other people
and other partners around the world around that, and you
know we've we've ended up in a partnership with Bill Foley,
Winston Reed, Steve Adams, Noah Hicky and Tim Brown and
and we're having a lot of fun and the fruits
are today right seeing everyone together and feeling the excitement
(01:18):
leading up to it and also the it's almost an
unknown you know, how is this all going to turn out? Well, look,
we're not going to go away. We're going to have
some fun. We're going to make some mistakes, we can
guarantee that, but we're going to have, you know, one
the people, the communities forefront of our decision making in
terms of making this fun, getting some excitement. And then
(01:39):
the player pathway, how do we give kids, younger kids,
both women, girls, boys and men an opportunity to achieve
their dreams and higher honors. And that's not just playing
for the all whites. That's playing for bigger and better
clubs than this one. And we're quite happy to be
a stepping stone. Two bigger things.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What is your day to day involvement in the football club.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I've just been at Pony Club with my daughter, so
basically the first priority as being a dad and a husband,
and then you know, we'll turn up and have some
fun with everyone else. You know, there's a little bit
of a bit of stuff that you've got to do
commercially to support the people that have helped us right
(02:24):
and believed in the vision. So a bit of that,
but then it's about excitement, like it's about energy, and
it's about enjoying enjoying something because I think it gets
hard to motivate yourself day in and day out to
help out and to make change if you're not seeing
and appreciating the little successes that you get. So today
is one of those moments where we can really sit
back and have a bit of fun with everything. And
(02:47):
then obviously you go back to drawing book holds and
look at where we can get better. But today, yeah,
today is about having fun with everyone else.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
How has Bill Foley been to deal with?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Pretty straight shooter? Jumping a room with Bill and Anna
and I tell you what, we're not mucking around and
when it comes to decision making or or their drive
to be successful on all elements, right, not only winning,
but but making this club a success all around the world.
So pretty pretty simple. I love I love working with
(03:20):
with with him. He's a great human and you know,
got some excitement the guys, you know, almost pushing eighty
and he's got energy like a like a young fourteen
year old. So yeah, really really really great human.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
On the grass Allie. On the football side of things,
What are your expectations for the side on the field
in season one.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I don't think any sports person in the world goes
out to lose, right, so very clearly, every every game
they want to win right every game. As individuals, they
want to play their best. What does success like look
like as a club? It's it's about fan engagement, it's
about getting a buy and it's about getting a belief
that we're not here for a short term. We're here
(03:59):
for a long term. We're here for a you know,
we're here to make a change in football in this country.
We're also here to propew and create youth passes, path pathways.
We're also here to tie in communities of Auckland, and
we're here to turn turn football and sport into into
a fun and entertaining element. And that's success. How do
(04:20):
you measure that? Well, A lot of people are going
to try and do it on the field with the results.
For us, it's not so much about that. Hey, I'm
not going to lie. We want to do well and
you know, like anything, we want to win cold herds,
So that's where it's at.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
It'll be easier though, want to engage with fans to
get some momentum behind this football club if the team
is winning football matches.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Right, Okay, we've got two options. Right, you can go
down the success path, which is all about what's on
the field, or you can go down what happens between
Sunday and Saturday. Right, and for us just looking success
on the field, then do we even need fans? Well,
that's not success for us. Right, So success for us
is buying in the whole community, buying in the people,
(05:02):
getting them excited, talking about it week to week, getting
energy around it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And you can create energy.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
You can succeed And I know that's going to sound weird,
but you can succeed by failing, right, You can succeed
because you learn from your mistakes and you move forward. Right,
what aims if we finish last and we get four
people into the English Premiership? Is that a failed season?
Or in my eyes it wouldn't be right?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Whatams I?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
We finished first, win the champion our first year and
then next year we finish fourth? Is that failure to
win or not? So you know what I mean? So
it's not in our eyes, it's very much it can't
be about results. We give that responsibility and that privilege
to the players and they take that how they want
to and you know the coaches, those guys they don't
(05:49):
want to lose. So it's really, really, in my eyes,
a silly question to ask what does it look like
and is it just based around results from our point
of view? No, it's not just based around results from
the players point of view. Yes, it's based around results.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Very good, very good, good approach on and off the field.
So this afternoon, any of your high profile former rugby
teammates coming along to game one?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yep, yeah, No, if you put some invitations long and wide.
You know, typical rugby guys, they want everything for free,
and they want a car park and they want me
to almost carry them in there. But we've got a
few of the lads upstairs and you know, like anything,
they just want to have fun. They want to see
people succeed. I think generally most of us kiwis we
(06:33):
want to see success and we want to see people
having fun and excitement around things, because you know, it's
not easy out there. At the moment, we will feel
for everyone, right and we've we've got to stick in
and moments like this to get some excitement is just
really really special for everyone, So good to have them
all here and good to see the smiles and good
to see a whole wide range of sports men and
(06:54):
women come out to watch.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
And I know we're game by game with Brisbane this afternoon,
but a couple of weeks down the track, your first
visit to Wellington for the derby. Then early December it'll
be Phoenix coming the other way for the first derby
at Mount Smart. How much you're looking forward to those
games against Wellington Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
The rivalry between the Phoenix and Auckland f C is
going to be huge. They are a great supporter club,
you know what I mean, They've been in this league
for a long long time and we just want to
see a great old rivalry. But you know it's slightly different,
right You've got the Phoenix there and Wellington, but then
you've got Auckland f C. But it's not really Auckland
(07:31):
f C. It's more the nation's team. So you've got
people from Dunedin, people from christ Church, people from all
over New Zealand supporting Auckland against the Phoenix. So you
know that derby is going to be really, really good.
And I promote everyone from all over the country to
where blue and Black against the Fois.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It's the way to stoke the embers. You must expect though,
that there are some Aucklanders who have supported Wellington Phoenix
for what close to twenty years now who are going
to stick with them. They're going to remain Phoenix fans
and not jump across.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
They'll be jumping over and supporting the blue black of
the Black Nights. Mate, that's that simple. I don't think
they've really got a choice, to be honest. But here's
the best part about life. You make your own choices, eh.
And at the end of the day, that's what we want.
We want people to be fully engaged in this football
team for the right reason and if you're.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
In it throughout.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Thick and thin, that's who we want, right And you know,
I'm not here to persuade anyone who they want to support.
I'm just here to make, you know, encourage people to
have some fun on who they support. But I don't
see why you wouldn't support us.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Wonderful, a great day ahead, an exciting day. Alli. Congrats
on everything you've done to bring this to fruition you
and the other members of the ownership group. I hope
it's a fantastic day for you. Thanks for having a chat.
Cheers buddy and everyone have fun today. Stay safe, yeah,
you stay safe to Ellie, I know you will. Allie
Williams there stoking the embers. I'm interested actually in what
(09:01):
Auckland based fans will do. Auckland based Phoenix fans, that
is what they will do because up until now, up
until today, they've only had Wellington Phoenix as their professional club,
and whenever the Phoenix have brought games to Auckland, which
they have regularly over the period of their life, which
is now eighteen years, they've always been really well supported
(09:22):
up here. There have always been big crowds to Phoenix
games at Mount Smart or Eden Park. I think they
might have played to their play game in Albany. I'm
going back a little bit. I think they might have.
There were always a lot of big crowds, big crowds,
and so there were Phoenix fans in Auckland. What are
those fans going to do when the derby's here? They
(09:43):
might come along watch Aukland FC every you know, because
geographically they're here, right, but what are they going to
do with the derby?
Speaker 1 (09:51):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine. Listen live
to news talks b weekends from midday, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.