Dean Bell, Phil Blake, Andy Platt and Stephen Kearney from The Auckland Warriors. Photo / www.photosport.co.nz
Dean Bell, Phil Blake, Andy Platt and Stephen Kearney from The Auckland Warriors. Photo / www.photosport.co.nz
The Warriors were the most entertaining sports team in New Zealand before they even played a game of rugby league.
The hype and fanfare leading up to the club's inaugural 1995 season was like nothing before or since. The squad was announced to press amid a dazzling light-show with ahuge mountain opening up on stage. Other publicity stunts involved jet skis and cheerleaders; and somebody can vaguely remember a guest appearance from Hercules at one point.
If the on-field performances haven't always lived up to that hype, the very fact the Warriors even still exist to celebrate their 25th anniversary this season seems like a minor miracle when you watch the first part of Sky Sports' three-part retrospective documentary, Keeping the Faith.
I always used hear stories about what a weird and wonderful shambles the early years of the Auckland Warriors were and think people must be exaggerating. Now, if anything, I'd say they were underselling it.
It'd almost be impossible to exaggerate the pre-match entertainment at the Warriors' first Winfield Cup game against the Brisbane Broncos. Mount Smart was turned into a war zone with tanks, helicopters, health-and-safety-defying explosions and seemingly hundreds of soldiers engaged in mock battle. There's a shot of one bloke running across the pitch engulfed in flames. Bumper Balls look a bit tame by comparison.
Auckland Warriors fans: did anyone say diehards? Photo / photosport.co.nz
The mastermind responsible for all this razzle dazzle was the club's Australian chief executive Ian Robson, who was just 31 when he got the job. "I had never been a CEO, never played rugby league, and I'd never been to New Zealand," he remembers of his appointment.
What Robson lacked in experience, he more than made up for in sales flair. Robbie Paul remembers how he was almost convinced to leave a $75,000 contract in the UK to sign a $3000 contract with the Warriors before someone pulled him aside and explained that was actually quite a bad deal.
Robson hasn't lost any of his salesmanship and he makes his first year or so at the Warriors sound like a dream gig. There are probably others who would beg to differ, but all those interviewed here seem to have loved it too. "He was real good fun," remembers his biggest signing, union convert John Kirwan. "Some of the bulls*** was awesome."
A lot of things about that first season still inform the Warriors identity today. They nearly upset the Broncos in that first game ("but for the grace of God," the Mad Butcher, Peter Leitch, remembers ruefully), and they would have made the finals if they hadn't accidentally fielded too many subs in one game and been docked two points. Then, as now: so near yet so far.
For the Warriors diehards, Keeping the Faith is obviously appointment viewing. I wish it went a bit deeper in places, but it's full of interviews with key figures and contains a treasure trove of archival footage. Frano Botica's sidestep, Phil Blake's chip and chase, a huge animatronic bear being driven around on top of a golf cart – all of it has to be seen to be believed.
Keeping the Faith: 25 Years With the Warriors screens at 6pm tonight on Prime before live coverage of the Warriors vs Broncos NRL game from 7pm.
