International visitors were being greeted at the arrivals hall in Auckland Airport by a display promoting the FIFA Women’s World Cup with such detail it included carpeting resembling a soccer pitch. After that, the hype trails off.
There are banners downtown and an occasional big-screen advertisement, but other than that, one of the globe’s major female sporting events could easily be missed.
The tournament starts today, but seats for many games were still available yesterday. One day before the cohosts faced Norway, many sports fans and media seemed more interested in analyzing New Zealand’s decisive 35-12 win in men’s rugby over South Africa at the weekend before a sellout home crowd.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We’re a rugby-crazy country, and rugby is seen as our No. 1 sport. You haven’t always seen visibility in terms of being able to watch football on TV, exhibitions, women’s football,” New Zealand midfielder Annalie Longo said. “We’ve only just now got our first professional team here in New Zealand, the Wellington Phoenix. So things are shifting, just obviously not as quick as around the world.”
As of yesterday, 1.375 million tickets had been sold for the World Cup, exceeding the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France. Last week, just 320,000 of the sold tickets were for matches in New Zealand with the rest going to Australia. That prompted World Cup partner Xero to distribute 20,000 free tickets among the four New Zealand host cities.
To be fair, the smaller cities where matches are to be played — Dunedin, Hamilton and the capital, Wellington — have more signage welcoming the tournament. The buzz in those communities is palpable, even if ticket sales have lagged.
Sales have been better in Auckland, where the US play twice and are expected to draw thousands of visiting fans.
Belated interest is typical from New Zealanders with non-men’s rugby events, said University of Auckland sport and sports media professor Toni Bruce.
She said that the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand had early interest, but did not reach its peak until the hosts started their march toward winning the gold medal.
“We know that Kiwis are late ticket purchasers when it comes to tournaments that are played on their shores,” FIFA secretary-general Fatma Samoura said yesterday. “We still have tickets available for some matches. So my only plea is don’t wait until the last moment.”
A combination of the “island time” mentality, as University of Auckland student Connor Magatogia called it, and the country’s historical lack of soccer success is a likely source of the nation’s apparent indifference.
Magatogia said that the upcoming Barbie movie, opening the same day as the tournament, has received more attention around his campus than the Women’s World Cup.
“We don’t see soccer as our sport. That’s the bottom line,” Bruce said. “That link to nationalism is harder to make with a team that’s not likely to compete in the semis and the finals.”
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