Soccer: All White back from obscurity

Jeremy Christie hoped a return to the professional ranks would spark a recall. Photo / Dean Purcell

Making noise at Tampa Bay Rowdies gets Christie noticed for World Cup

He plays for the Tampa Bay Rowdies yet no one was screaming his name, or even whispering it, for that matter, before the All Whites' World Cup squad was announced.

Jeremy Christie was the Rowdie with the quiet claims from America.

At the conference to announce the squad, coach Ricki Herbert gleefully ribbed a press member for failing to flag Christie as a contender.

In our defence, Tampa Bay is a decidedly remote soccer location. And Christie, who soon turns 27, had been discarded by Herbert's Phoenix last year and not figured in the national side since the Confederations Cup in June. Clues leading up to his selection were not thick on the ground.

The Rowdies don't even play in the Major Soccer League - they are just five games into their inaugural season in a second-tier division.

Such obscurity was not always the Rowdies' lot.

Back in the North American Soccer League heyday 30-odd years ago, they were big noises, their most famous player being the flashy Englishman Rodney "Clown Prince" Marsh.

The Rowdies flourished with a PR smile, and also drew glamorous opponents fielding famous players like Franz Beckenbauer to an area that had been a dead zone for professional sport. The Rowdies even won the national title in their first year, 1975, but neither the glitzy league nor the Rowdies lasted.

After folding in 1993, the Rowdies were revived for the current season and Christie, one of their first major signings, has made a matching international comeback.

His history is soccer typical - loads of clubs and travel. After struggling with English lower league side Barnsley, the Northlander did the rounds with the New Zealand professional franchises - he is the only player to don the Kingz, Knights and Phoenix colours in the Australian competitions.

The rare good days for the Kingz were over by the time Christie arrived at the dilapidated Auckland outfit. He was one of only six players on fulltime contracts.

"For away games we would leave for Australia at 4am and play that afternoon - no wonder we struggled," he said from Florida this week. "Players would be working eight hours a day in jobs like scaffolding and then train at night. They would be late to training ... what with the Auckland traffic.

"The Knights were pretty crazy as well, although they had to operate to higher standards in the new A-league."

Struggling for games at Herbert's Phoenix, he ended up in a "bad headspace" and parted on amicable terms, played briefly for Waitakere, and found his international career had stalled.

All Whites comrade Chris Killen, a good mate, came to the rescue by putting him in touch with Paul Dalglish (son of Scottish legend Kenny Dalglish), the Tampa Bay coach.

From this distance, the Rowdies sound like an enticing combination of the sublime and ridiculous. They play in an 8000-capacity stadium used for spring training by the legendary New York Yankees. The rock-hard baseball infield - a potential injury zone where the ball bounces completely differently - protrudes on to the soccer pitch in an area where left backs and right wings have to operate and others try to avoid.

The club website shows that the grandstands, shaped for baseball, are planted on a strange angle away from the soccer field.

"Thirsty Thursdays $1 Beers" screams an advert for the next home game.

Christie says: "They are enthusiastic fans, they make a lot of noise and it's a great atmosphere. Being the Rowdies gives you a name to live up to.

"I love it here in Florida. The weather is amazing, so are the beaches, it is a good lifestyle and I was amazed by the reaction of the Tampa people to the Rowdies. They are remembered from their heyday and the people are excited they are back.

"Two new franchises will be admitted into the MLS in each of the next two years and I hope it's the Rowdies' ambition to be there."

Christie kept regular contact with Herbert and his assistant Brian Turner during his international absence, always hopeful a return to the professional ranks would spark a recall. He is still primarily a midfielder but has worked hard at right back, covering for a teammate who - clearly impervious to the charms of Florida - had succumbed to homesickness.

The Rowdies are proud of their World Cup player, but whether Christie gets a chance to make even a slight noise at the tournament in South Africa next month remains to be seen.

He will, of course, receive an enthusiastic welcome home no matter how his World Cup chips fall. That's the Rowdies' way, whatever division they may play in.