Editorial: Competing globally is the goal

The fact that the All Whites were running on to the pitch last night for a World Cup play-off was rare in itself.

This sort of dream should never have happened. World football today is defined more by billionaire businessmen spending millions on poster-boy players.

But, aside from skipper Ryan Nelsen, none of New Zealand's players was readily recognisable on an international stage.

Goalie Mark Paston was playing only because regular keeper Glen Moss was suspended for abusing a referee.

Ben Sigmund quit his sales job to see if he could cut it as a professional footballer.

And Ivan Vicelich, the Auckland City skipper, has retired from professional football entirely. He had to take time out from his day job as a community football coach to train with the team.

Few of the players in the starting line-up were aged under 27. Some were nursing injuries. But the squad had also nursed a dream, a dream passed down from the 1982 World Cup qualifying team.

Indeed, last night's coach, Ricki Herbert, played for that team. And 27-year-old striker Rory Fallon is the son of Kevin Fallon, one of the coaches.

Why is all this important? Because the motley crew of little-known footballers who came together for the starting whistle last night demonstrated that special Kiwi characteristic that we love so much: the underdog's determination to beat the odds.

The result was not the only important thing. Competing at an international level mattered.

And that, perversely, is why it was so important that Prime Minister John Key was not at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington last night. Instead, he sent his good wishes from Singapore, where he is attending the Apec leaders' summit.

Trade talks may not be illuminated by the same towers of spotlights as World Cup qualifiers, they may not garner the same TV ratings, but our competition on that stage is also important - and for some of the same reasons.

Despite straitened finances that have at times jeopardised our domestic football league, sports funding authorities pulled out all the stops to ensure the All Whites could compete at this international level.

And, despite recessionary revenues that made for the tightest Government Budget in years, ministers have continued to invest in trade talks that are key to New Zealand businesses competing with their overseas counterparts.

Because it is the competing that counts.

As with the World Cup, we won't always win. Key has not been able to get a meeting with President Barack Obama, and a bilateral free trade deal with the US remains a distant and forlorn prospect.

But slowly, slowly, we are nudging open the heavy door of free trade. Bilateral deals like this week's one with Hong Kong, and the US entry to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, provide new opportunities for our exporters. Multilateral talks at the World Trade Organisation proceed, albeit at a glacial pace.

We are a small economy of only 4.3 million people, but it is as underdogs that we are at our best. We can be bold. We can be cocky. We have little to lose.

What David Lange understood, what Helen Clark understood, what John Key may be beginning to understand, is that New Zealanders succeed best when we push ourselves, stretch ourselves, just a little bit further than is sensible.

Being first to the top of Everest was never an entirely reasonable aspiration. Standing alone against nuclear weapons wasn't very logical. Making the most ambitious movie trilogy in history could easily have been left to others. Clark's proposal to be a "world leader" in cutting back carbon emissions made no economic sense whatsoever.

And trying to tear down the barriers to free trade, when we could have muddled along nicely with tariffs and other protections for our farmers, may be bold to the point of madness. After all, the US and the European Union have shown little willingness to reciprocate our goodwill.

Yet the benefits of free trade to New Zealand and to the world cannot be understated: growing the global economy; improving living standards in developing nations; enhancing mutual understanding.

As Ryan Nelsen would surely testify, the more that we compete at an international level, the fitter and stronger we become. New Zealand cannot afford to give up on the bold economic aspirations. We may not always win - but it is when we push ourselves that we are at our best.