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Ryan Nelsen
Foundation Launch Prior To World Cup Pleases Patron
by Jeremy Ruane
"We want more Ryan Nelsens! More Rory Fallons! More Rosie Whites!" boomed NZ Football’s Chairman, Frank Van Hattum, at the launch of a new initiative designed to bring such desire closer to reality in Auckland on May 20.
The Football Foundation has been set up with the aid of a $4m injection from the funds earned by NZ Football as a result of qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals, as the national body looks to ensure that the investment inactivity which followed New Zealand’s only other World Cup Finals experience, in Spain in 1982, is not repeated.
It certainly won’t be with the introduction of a funding strategy which has, as its prime focus, growing the game of football in New Zealand, and enabling that growth to be long-term at grassroots level.
Set up as a registered charity, the management and utilisation of the fund will be overseen by a five-strong board of trustees, each of whom is well versed in such matters through their respective business and sporting careers.
Mark Stewart, the chairman of the board, is a current and past director of a number of private and stock exchange-listed companies, whose footballing involvement stems from his board membership of both NZ Football and the Mainland Football Federation, of which he is chairman.
Sir Eion Edgar, a past President of NZF, has a wealth of experience in the world of investment advice dating back nearly forty years, and his involvement in directorships, trusteeships and philanthropy render him keenly sought after for his esteemed business acumen.
The President of NZF, Nicholas Davidson QC, provides legal expertise aplenty on which to call, not to mention a high standing in legal circles - membership of the Serious Fraud Office’s Prosection Panel is not something many can point to on a CV which also boasts involvement in numerous sporting organisations besides the national footballing body.
The financial management of the Football Foundation will be overseen by the founder and managing director of Fisher Funds, Carmel Fisher, while Van Hattum brings hands-on footballing experience aplenty to the board, not to mention over twenty-five years’ worth of senior management executive roles at BP.
With its overall philosophy, and its highly influential board of trustees, it’s little wonder All Whites’ captain, Ryan Nelsen, leapt at the chance to be involved when approached to become Patron of the Football Foundation.
"I was asked to be Patron by Frank Van Hattum and Michael Glading (NZF’s CEO), and it was just an honour to be considered. Especially now when you see who the trustees are - it’s very humbling", declares the Blackburn Rovers defender, whose road to the English Premier League took him via Greensboro College and Stamford University during his formative years.
"We’ve probably brought some kids’ dreams closer to
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 Rosie White, proudly displaying her commemorative plaque after being named 2009 International Women's Young Player of the Year
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reality now with this initiative", says Nelsen of the newly launched Foundation. "The game’s growing, the numbers are amazing, and this now is a vehicle where we can really change lives, and change communities. What NZF has done is very special.
"There’s so much you can do", he continues. "At the moment, it’s a blank canvas. The idea of facilitating further scholarships through the Foundation is one suggestion. I think the trustees would be open to anything that can help individuals, help teams, help communities, clubs … everything".
The Patron’s presence at the launch of the Football Foundation was timed to occur as part of the principle reason for his being in the country temporarily - the All Whites’ training camp prior to departing for Australia, Austria, Slovenia and, ultimately, South Africa, where they will earn the biggest financial windfall in the history of the game in Godzone.
After having been on the go virtually non-stop since arriving in the country two days earlier, Nelsen is itching to get back into the national team environment again. "I still haven’t seen any player yet", he said, with a hint of disappointment.
"I’m looking forward to catching up with the guys. I’m actually just looking forward to getting on the training field, which will be fun - that’s real work for me, not talking to you!!" laughed Nelsen, as the deadline posed by his final media assignment for the day, a live-to-air TV interview, drew near, following which he could finally reacquaint himself with his team-mates over dinner.
And begin to relay to them his targets and ambitions for the upcoming Finals campaign, although the All Whites captain can’t really say which of New Zealand’s three group opponents he regards as the most challenging at this point in time.
"That’s a very tough question. I think that when you come to cup competitions like this, you can have all the predictions you want. On paper you’d probably say Slovakia, Paraguay, Italy, but in reality, I’ve been in the game too long to realise that things happen that you just can’t predict.
"I don’t want to curse myself or anything like that. All I know is that all three games will be so difficult, so hard, and our boys will give everything".
Should giving everything in pool play prove good enough for the All Whites, Nelsen knows full well what progressing to the last sixteen of the FIFA World Cup Finals will mean - not just a potential clash with either Cameroon, Denmark, Holland or Japan!
"If we ever got through our group, it would be the greatest achievement in New Zealand sport - as simple as that. It’s not climbing Everest - it’s climbing to the top, going back down and doing it again. It’s the hardest thing ever.
"Maybe we’ll get there, maybe we won’t", says All Whites captain, Ryan Nelsen. "But we’ll give it a good go!"
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