As a sports fan, I suppose it was actually a genuinely meaningful moment.

I was sitting on the couch last night. 7.28pm. Sleeping baby in my arms. Remote in my hand. A decision to make.

Do I watch Moana Pasifika play the Highlanders? Neither of which is my first choice team but Super Rugby is Super Rugby and it was a local derby, no less. Or do I switch channels and watch the Phoenix play Melbourne City in the A-League? Again, not a result I was particularly invested in or angsting over but a game I knew enough about to at least know it was being played.

It’s kind of ridiculous, the extent to which our household has been caught up in the Auckland FC ride. After we attended the first couple of games – and loved it – my wife ended up splurging on memberships for the rest of the season for me and our 8-year-old boy.

From a live sport perspective, they’ve absolutely nailed a couple of fundamentals. For starters, there is an amazing family atmosphere. They’ve had various play areas for the kids: blow-up football arenas, a huge artificial beach behind one of the goals for the kids to make sandcastles, and an enormous blow-up slide stretching the length of the northern embankment, sliding down which on day one I very nearly lost my shorts. Games kick off at 5pm so you’re home with the kids by 8pm at the latest.

I think one of the most under-rated qualities is the stadium. Warriors fans know this, too. Go-Media (Mt Smart) was a sell-out last weekend for the derby. 27,000 people. The atmosphere was incredible! And while most games don’t get quite that many fans, it’s always closer to full than empty. You never get that feeling you sometimes get in big stadiums, when it feels like you’re watching a game in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. I really hope sports administrators take note: it is so much better to watch live sport in a full mid-size stadium than to watch it an empty big stadium.

Anyway..back to my decision. My vote with the remote.

In some ways, I reckon the real measure of Auckland FC’s success is the stuff on the periphery. The stuff that’s bigger than the team. I’m not naïve enough to think they’ll keep winning forever!

Since the start of the A-League season, our boy has become obsessed with football. He spends hours in the backyard practising skills and accidentally kicking his ball into the neighbour’s swimming pool. He went and picked up ‘The Encyclopaedia of Football’ from the library, and makes me read to him as his bedtime story the excruciating detail contained within. Last week I had to read a whole chapter on football pitch turf preparation techniques. He’s eight! He sat there, transfixed, as I ran through a paragraph on the drainage system at Wembley.

And, if I’m honest, I have been affected too. At least I realised I have, last night, when instead of picking the game I would’ve picked to watch every Friday for the last thirty years, I switched from an exciting, close game of Super Rugby to the A-League instead. I switched from an exciting, close game of Super Rugby to the A-League instead. I wonder how many households in New Zealand might be doing the same.

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