As many active support groups step up to the plate this week and say they will not be attending this round’s A-League matches, one support group that will not be boycotting is the Yellow Fever.
In the group’s public statement released yesterday over social media, the fan group both expressed their “strong support for the protest action undertaken by fan groups across the A-League against the Football Federation Australia (FFA)” while firmly stating that “the Yellow Fever are not in a position to take any boycott action at the Phoenix’s home game this weekend in Auckland” in what can be seen as a smart move on the part of the active support group. There are several reasons why a boycott on the part of the Yellow Fever would be a bad move this weekend and the largest one concerns the whole Wellington Phoenix situation itself.
We’ve released a statement explaining why our licence situation means we cant afford to boycott on Sat. Please read. https://t.co/OW8iDuiMUV
— Yellow Fever (@YellowFever_NZ) December 1, 2015
Anyone following the A-League this season would know of the situation the Phoenix have been placed into by the FFA after their request for a 10-year license renewal was rejected. With David Gallop himself stating that the Phoenix are “failing to perform on any metric” the Phoenix have been pushed into a situation where they must make every game count. Any significant boycott on the part of the Phoenix could spell a disaster for the club’s push to remain in the league, especially as it comes on the back of the strongest Phoenix crowd in over five years (13,654) in their previous home match against Adelaide United.
This upcoming match against the Victory represents the best chance for the Phoenix to take a hold of any new prospective fans that have arisen in the past few weeks and help secure their case for a spot in the league after the 2015-16 season. Another reason why this match is too important to boycott is the location of the game itself. While the Phoenix normally play their home matches at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium, this upcoming game against the Victory has been moved to Auckland’s QBE Stadium in an attempt to see if there is prospective fan interest in the city. This comes a couple of weeks after outgoing FFA chairman Frank Lowy suggested that Wellington may need to change to the New Zealand Phoenix if they are to survive in the league beyond the end of this season.
We strongly agree with all other supporters groups in their boycotts and protests this round, and stand behind them through this saga.
— Yellow Fever (@YellowFever_NZ) December 1, 2015
In the previous 21 matches held at QBE under the old banner of the New Zealand Knights, there has been an average attendance of just 3,438, something that, if repeated this weekend, will not be looked at kindly by the FFA when assessing the Wellington situation. If the Yellow Fever were to boycott this weekend’s match, then not only are they limiting the club’s chance at surviving, but they are also helping to shut the door on any future New Zealand side based around Auckland.
All of this brings it back to what the Yellow Fever addressed in their statement over social media. David Cross, one of the leaders of the Yellow Fever, said that “fighting to ensure the treatment of the league’s fans is fair and reasonable and is important to us all but will not mean much if we no longer have a club to support.”
And this statement encompasses why the Yellow Fever is making the right move with their decision not to boycott this weekend.
While boycotting the match may seem like a smart idea in the short-term for most other clubs, for fans of the Phoenix there is much more on the line than simply pushing for better treatment by the FFA. A significant boycott would do nothing but hurt the side at a time where it needs the fans’ support more than ever. As Cross suggests, there would be no point boycotting if the club itself is not to exist past next season. Fans would essentially be wasting their time on what would be seen as a pointless exercise. For fans of the Phoenix, the first and only priority should be attending matches and showing why the club is still a viable option in the league.
One could even go further to argue that this could be the Phoenix’s chance to shine, as a strong attendance compared to the rest of the league could suggest to the FFA that the club is standing strong even in times of distress. With this round being predicted to be one of the lowest attended in A-League history as a result of the boycotts, a strong showing from Auckland and Phoenix fans could go a long way to showing the FFA why they should still remain in the league.
That is not to say the Phoenix should simply ignore the issues plaguing the league at the moment. Cross himself made this point in the statement, suggesting that the Yellow Fever “appreciate[s] the stand other groups across the A-League are taking against the poor treatment of fans by the FFA and would like to publicly state they have our full backing” and this is the right move to make in this situation that has been presented to the group.
Ignoring what is going on with the rest of the league would be seen as a poor move on the behalf of the Yellow Fever, especially after the strong support they have received from other fan groups in the #SaveTheNix campaign. But by prioritising the campaign to keep the club in the competition, the group has organised its priorities correctly and by using this opportunity to keep themselves in the game, they are helping much more than they ever could by boycotting this weekend.
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