USA and two-time defending champions arrived in Auckland on Tuesday for the FIFA Womem’s World Cup. Video / NZ Herald
OPINION
Please form an orderly queue
Tens of thousands of fans attending Fifa Women’s World Cup matches in New Zealand, starting on July 20, need to be aware there are plenty of barbed-wire hoops to jump through.
Match tickets can only be accessed through the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023ticketing app (and cannot be saved into a digital wallet) while a Fifa ticketing account is first needed to log into the app. You need to have the tickets within the Fifa app and present them on your mobile phone at the stadium.
A scannable QR code will appear on the ticket within the mobile app before the stadium gates open on match day, so whatever you do, don’t let your phone go flat.
And plan to get to games early — particularly mid-weekers in Auckland when traffic congestion or ghost public transport could make for a logistical nightmare. Inevitably there will be chaos with hordes of non-digital natives trying to access things they don’t really understand.
Once your ticket has been scanned in the stadium, there will be no pass-outs from the stadium. If fans are planning on taking a flag, banner, drum or trumpet to matches they will need to submit a request through Fifa’s Fan Materials portal at least 48 hours before kick-off.
Stadiums will be cashless throughout the tournament, so take your card. Liquid or beverages bought outside of the stadium are not permitted, nor are disposable plastic bottles, or long and non-retractable umbrellas. Among screeds of other restrictions, fans can only take in one small bag not exceeding 30 x 40cm on any two sides.
Otherwise have fun — what could possibly go wrong?
Football Ferns captain Ali Riley takes a selfie with fans. Photo / Photosport
Crusade against Crusaders?
There was only one player from the Super Rugby champion Crusaders (Scott Barrett) named in the All Blacks starting lineup to face Argentina on Sunday, the least for quite some time. It’s an idle thought, but if All Blacks coach Ian Foster was ever to pick a starting XV purposefully designed to spite Scott Robertson — while still being capable of winning an away test — this one would have to go close.
Ban-tastic media ban
Last week the (Australian) Rugby League Players Association announced all players will boycott game-day media commitments until further notice, as they seek to settle protracted collective bargaining agreement talks with the NRL.
Oh the joy! Savour the moment as for once we are blessedly spared the inanity of fatuous, predictable and platitudinous questions from former players-turned-commentators and the even more hackneyed and cliched answers from players struggling to add any value with their comments. Here’s hoping they fail to settle this agreement for years.
Ferns by number
Football Ferns coach Jitka Klimková avoided major controversies in naming her squad for the World Cup. But one minor curiosity was Erin Nayler being given the No 1 shirt when it is widely considered she is the third choice goalkeeper.
By contrast Vic Esson, the undoubted first-choice keeper, and even captain when the Ferns played China, is No 21. Maybe she requested that, but typically in football the No 1 shirt is reserved for the starting goalkeeper.
Welcome to the Dazball era
New All Whites head coach Darren Bazeley. Photo / Photosport
Darren Bazeley’s belated appointment as All Whites coach has unfolded as a clear case of “Last Man Standing” after New Zealand Football was unable to pin down John Herdman, Des Buckingham or Ufuk Talay.
Daz is the coach they wanted — after not being able to get the coach they really wanted.
So process-wise at least, it’s arguably the least glamorous national coach appointment since Ken Armstrong was first to take the job in 1957. Then again, New Zealand was always going to struggle to attract a big name.
With Bazeley, it is essentially a case of “the devil you know” and it least brings close to a nine-month shambles in replacing Danny Hay, even if there is a notable absence of excitement at the appointment from fans.
Meanwhile one tangential question that arose as the appointment process played out has still not been answered: Who might emerge as New Zealand’s answer to Australia’s Ange Postecoglou, as a football coach who has won trophies and turned heads domestically and been embraced by fans with his infectious drive, style and vision?
New Zealand’s best chance of getting a top quality coach might be to produce one.
Injured Kane is able
Despite being out of action for more than three months, Kane Williamson has risen to the top of the test cricket batting rankings again. The 32-year-old hasn’t been able to play since rupturing his ACL at the end of March but has quietly benefited from underwhelming performances from those who had been above him.
Sometimes it’s okay to do nothing in cricket and still prosper.
Bas has a ball
Everyone is looking for Bazball angles in cricket these days. And Scotland thought it was a clear case of “McBazball” when their appositely-named opener Brandon McMullen hit 106 of 110 balls in a crucial ODI World Cup qualifier against Netherlands.
But Netherlands won by four wickets (with 43 balls remaining) thanks to a Bas of their own. Bas de Leede became the first male* player in one day international history to take five wickets and score 120 runs in single game, in what decided the final World Cup spot.
Bas single-handedly won the match hitting 123 runs off 92 balls and taking five wickets for 52. Even after beating three full ICC members Scotland could not qualify. If the World Cup can surpass these qualifiers in excitement, it will be a real treat.
* In women’s cricket New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr registered 232 not out and 5-17 in a 2018 match against Ireland.
