Opinion Piece

The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website | home

Opinion Piece

"The Kiwi Way"

by Jeremy Ruane

In 2005, a culture was born in New Zealand women's football. "The Kiwi Way".

The NZ Under-20s coach of the time, John Herdman, having been part of the NZ football environment for a couple of years prior to being appointed to the role, knew from his experiences that this was something very special to us as New Zealanders.

He brought into it. And as a result, he "got" us.

For the next dozen years, through Herdman and his initial assistant then subsequent successor as national coach, Tony Readings, a style of play was developed and enhanced which was soundly founded on "The Kiwi Way" culture.

It earned New Zealand women's football quarter-final berths at both the 2012 Olympic Women's Football Tournament and the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals, as well as a number of near misses, not the least of which was at Canada 2015, at the FIFA Women's World Cup Finals.

But for a missed penalty and two dreadful refereeing decisions, the Football Ferns would have topped their group in Canada and advanced to the last sixteen. And with it being knockout football from that point on, who knows how much further, potentially?

"The Kiwi Way" culture also spawned a footballing philosophy which was introduced throughout football in New Zealand, entitled "Whole Of Football", an award-winning programme which has become an integral part of the fabric of the game in this country, and has been copied by other nations, Australia in particular.

With this programme in place and growing in tandem with the game, and with Readings having taken the Football Ferns as far as he could, what was needed was some fine-tuning of the total package to turn those narrow misses into progress by a coach with a similar footballing philosophy to that already in place - not to mention a willingness to buy into "The Kiwi Way" - to take the women's game to the next level.

Instead, we've ended up with a change merchant taking charge of the national team, namely NZ Football's Technical Director, Andreas Heraf, a man whose approach to football is steeped in percentages, not passing; in keeping the score down, not playing to win; in playing a form of anti-football, the antithesis of the direction the women's game the world over is taking today.

It's definitely not "The Kiwi Way"!

Of course, the players, the innocent victims in this condemnable collision of footballing philosophies, have no choice but to sing from the same hymnal as their mentor. Cue player comments such as "We're right behind the coach" and others of like ilk. They daren't say otherwise, of course, for fear of finding themselves on the outside looking in.

But there's no question in my mind, from my observations of players I've known and seen in action, in many instances for at least a decade, often longer, that they're not in a happy place right now.

You're messing with my team, Mr Heraf, and I don't like it.

To a woman, the girls want to play the game as it should be played, as they've always played it, with a sense of fun, flair and joie de vivre, entertaining the New Zealand public in the process, not finding themselves confined to a tactical straitjacket sponsored by "Play To Not Lose"!

What's required where the Football Ferns are concerned right now, in terms of where they are as a team, is the football coaching equivalent of a piano tuner with a finely honed ear, not an anarchic percussionist who is tone deaf.

Yes, Mr Heraf, I hear your statistics-based argument about NZ's performances at all levels on the world stage. It has some merit, but not in this environment.

Here in New Zealand, we do things "The Kiwi Way". And now you're here, I strongly suggest you embrace it, rather than oppose it. Because you'll have an entire nation against you if you don't, mark my words.

People power is an extremely powerful weapon. I'll cite one footballing example which instantly springs to mind - the case of Roy Hodgson at Liverpool FC. Appointed manager in July 2010, he was out the door just six months later. The Kop spoke volumes, as only they can, and the club heeded the message - "Bye bye Woy".

Why did this happen? It can be summed up in four words - he didn't "get" LFC. Just as you, Mr Heraf, don't seem to "get" "The Kiwi Way".

Buy into the philosophy. Don't try and change things for the sake of change. It ain't broke, so don't fix it. Follow that path, and you'll gain friends, of whom you have few in the wider NZ footballing community at present.

We Kiwis are a generally easy-going lot, but we're no fools. We don't suffer them gladly either, and we certainly don't like being told we can't do anything - it flies in the face of our "can do" approach to anything to which we put our minds, a key element of "The Kiwi Way".

Make it your way too, Mr Heraf, before it's too late, at which point the football community will send you down the highway, another statistic in the never-ending armada of foreign coaches who came to these shores full of bravado and big ideas, but who ignored the most intrinsic one of all where New Zealand is concerned.

"The Kiwi Way".

Road To France & Tokyo