WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) 鈥� They call themselves the Flying Kiwis, an eclectic group of New Zealanders from around the world who, whenever their national soccer team plays a major match, assemble to provide raucous and usually outnumbered support.
The deliberate irony: Kiwis 鈥� the eponymous bird from which New Zealanders take their nickname 鈥� are flightless.
Since 2009 the Flying Kiwis have followed the at home and overseas and they’ll be at the offering a small island of loud, proud and distinctly Kiwi support.
Small beginnings
In 2009, New Zealand played Bahrain in a two-game qualifying series, with the winner advancing to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. After the first leg in Bahrain ended in a 0-0, New Zealand needed a win in the return match at home to qualify for the World Cup.
Matt Fejos, who was then a university student and, he admits, not a hard-core football fan, wanted to lend as much spirit as possible to the New Zealand team.
鈥淪o I got a credit card with a $1,000 limit and I bought 32 tickets for my mates and we wanted to do all we could, so we got banners and we got the coveralls saying Flying Kiwis and we got New Zealand flags,鈥� Fejos said. 鈥淭hat was a pretty memorable moment for anyone who was there and for football to arrive in New Zealand a little bit.鈥�
Now those friends are spread around the world and have brought in other friends to the .
鈥淚 had 10 years living in the UK, so with the Confederations Cup in Russia in 2017, there were 30 of us who went to that and it was kind of a special experience,鈥� Fejos said. Russian people 鈥渙rganized a friendly game between our fans and their fans and it brought in another kind of meaning for me: that you鈥檙e doing it for your team but actually in far away places you might be the first New Zealanders they鈥檝e ever met, so you鈥檙e kind of representing your country.
鈥淭o connect with the world through the global language of football is a beautiful thing and a beautiful way to travel.鈥�
Kiwi culture
The Flying Kiwis had to find their way to their own brand of fandom. Soccer is not the major sport in New Zealand, where rugby holds sway. The soccer traditions that are firmly fixed in the culture of other countries don鈥檛 exist at home, so Fejos and his friends have made their own.
The Flying Kiwis support section is usually small in number compared with the fan bases of New Zealand鈥檚 opponents but, Fejos said, 鈥淭here鈥檚 advantages to being so small 鈥� we can be really unified.鈥�
The New Zealand team will probably need all the support it can get at the World Cup. Ranked No. 85 in the world, they are drawn in against No. 9 Belgium, No. 21 Iran and No. 29 Egypt.
鈥淭here鈥檚 so much more belief (among the New Zealand team) because of where the players are playing,鈥� Fejos said of the foreign-based national team members. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so many more playing at a top, top standard and in these difficult environments, these really charged atmospheres with crazy passionate fans. So they鈥檙e used to playing under that pressure as well.鈥�
The mascot
The kiwi isn’t the most intimidating of national symbols compared with other mascots such as eagles or lions.
鈥淪ometimes it can seem a bit funny or deprecating but it鈥檚 a thing that means a lot,鈥� Fejos said. 鈥淭he Kiwi is a flightless bird but when you consider the challenges that we face: we鈥檙e so isolated, so far away from the world, the professional game is very young here, there are not many professional academies or opportunities.
鈥淒espite that, I think it鈥檚 incredible for some of those (New Zealand) players to play in some of the best leagues of the world and to take it to the world at a World Cup.”
Fejos said the 鈥渕etaphor means a lot, defying expectations overseas.鈥�
鈥淧eople think of us as a rugby country, and probably as hobbits, but that allows us to go in with that underdog mentality, fearless,鈥� he said. “We want to stamp our mark and show them something different.鈥�
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