They call themselves the Flying Kiwis, an eclectic group of New Zealanders from around the world who, whenever their national football team plays a major match, assemble to provide raucous and usually outnumbered support.<\/p>\n
The deliberate irony: Kiwis \u2014 the eponymous bird from which New Zealanders take their nickname \u2014 are flightless.<\/p>\n
Since 2009 the Flying Kiwis have followed the New Zealand men’s team at home and overseas and they’ll be at the World Cup, offering a small island of loud, proud and distinctly Kiwi support.<\/p>\n
Small beginnings<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I got a credit card with a $1000 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,\u201d Fejos said. \u201cThat was a pretty memorable moment for anyone who was there and for football to arrive in New Zealand a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now those friends are spread around the world and have brought in other friends to the Flying Kiwis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Fejos said. <\/p>\n
“Russian people organised a friendly game between our fans and their fans and it brought in another kind of meaning for me: that you\u2019re doing it for your team but actually in far away places you might be the first New Zealanders they\u2019ve ever met, so you\u2019re kind of representing your country.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo connect with the world through the global language of football is a beautiful thing and a beautiful way to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiwi culture<\/p>\n
The Flying Kiwis had to find their way to their own brand of fandom. Football is not the major sport in New Zealand, where rugby holds sway. The football traditions that are firmly fixed in the culture of other countries don\u2019t exist at home, so Fejos and his friends have made their own.<\/p>\n
The Flying Kiwis support section is usually small in number compared with the fan bases of New Zealand\u2019s opponents but, Fejos said, \u201cThere\u2019s advantages to being so small \u2014 we can be really unified.\u201d<\/p>\n
The New Zealand team<\/a> will probably need all the support it can get at the World Cup. Ranked No. 85 in the world, they are drawn in Group G<\/a> against No. 9 Belgium, No. 21 Iran and No. 29 Egypt.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so much more belief (among the New Zealand team) because of where the players are playing,\u201d Fejos said of the foreign-based national team members. \u201cThere\u2019s so many more playing at a top, top standard and in these difficult environments, these really charged atmospheres with crazy passionate fans. So they\u2019re used to playing under that pressure as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The mascot<\/p>\n The kiwi isn’t the most intimidating of national symbols compared with other mascots such as eagles or lions.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes it can seem a bit funny or deprecating but it\u2019s a thing that means a lot,\u201d Fejos said. \u201cThe kiwi is a flightless bird but when you consider the challenges that we face: we\u2019re so isolated, so far away from the world, the professional game is very young here, there are not many professional academies or opportunities.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite that, I think it\u2019s 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.”<\/p>\n Fejos said the \u201cmetaphor means a lot, defying expectations overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople think of us as a rugby country, and probably as hobbits, but that allows us to go in with that underdog mentality, fearless,\u201d he said. “We want to stamp our mark and show them something different.\u201d<\/p>\n