210 days ago, I was blinking into the sun at Go Media Stadium as Auckland FC strode out onto the pitch for their first-ever A-League game. 

The club was owned by a billionaire and the team’s style of play wasn’t immediately alluring – the very first goal in the club’s professional history came courtesy of an opposition player. I knew about two of the players and had to keep cross-checking the action on the pitch with my gameday programme. 

Upon reflection, there were plenty of reasons why Auckland FC might not have taken off with fans quite as they have. And yet here we are, seven months on, in the semi-finals of the A-League. The crunchy end of the season for the team that has consistently drawn the biggest crowds in the competition. I can confirm I’ve crossed a sporting threshold this season. As much as I love the Crusaders, Auckland FC in my sporting priority each and every week. 

I’ve talked before about how the club really nailed the matchday experience. And let’s not kid ourselves and imagine the season would have been quite the same if they hadn’t been winning. But given they started from nothing, it’s also notable the extent to which the club has actively tried to build and nurture a fanbase. It cannot be easy to snap your fingers and try to build a culture and fanbase overnight. But the club has held however many meet-and-greets. They’ve had an enduring outreach programme with local football clubs. They ‘ve held training days for kids and even made an appearance at my mate’s local school fete last weekend. They’ve had autograph sessions and sponsor gigs and even shipped the regular season trophy around corporate offices in downtown Auckland – including this one! 

As an organisation, Auckland FC has hustled. And I think the same attitude permeates into their style of play. The players run hard. They try hard. And it’s paid off however many times this season when the team has scored a goal in the dying seconds of a game to snatch a draw or even a win. I read an interview at the start of the season in which the players talked about their backgrounds. Apart from the captain, Hiroki Sakai, no one was a big league superstar, and honestly, they knew it. They were professional footballers, sure. But no one was signing perfume deals and earning half a million bucks a week. They had everything still to prove and the only way to do it was through graft. 

By the nature of an inaugural season, everything Auckland FC has done this year has been a first. But knock-out football is a different kind of pressure. It’s a home-and-away semi, of course, with the away leg first. Part of me feels a bit anxious about that. Was it really in our interests to have a full week off before getting up for a critical match in opposition territory? 

Sport can be glorious, and sport can be cruel. Winning the Premier’s Plate does not guarantee anything at this stage of the season. But like so many others, in a few short months, I’ve come to feel a deep affinity for this team. I now know the respective club histories of players who were effectively strangers in October. I know our defence is our greatest strength: Paulsen, Hall, Sakai, Smith, Pijnaker. That Louis Verstraete blends a technical finesse with an enthusiasm for a 50/50 physical challenge. That Francis de Vries will always whip in a ridiculously good delivery and Guillermo May is just waiting to lash it in with that left foot. 

I know how lucky we are to have had this season. How good it is for NZ football. And seven months since that first game, with the knock-out stages upon us, I know we can win.