Soccer: Yellow Fever strike back

The Yellow Fever have earned about $30,000 over the past three years - and invested nearly all of it back into the beautiful game. Photo / Getty Images.

Yellow Fever, the loose-knit group of football fans best known for bringing the terraces to life at Wellington Phoenix matches, has earned about $30,000 over the past three years - and invested nearly all of it back into the beautiful game.

Fever founder Mike Greene felt the need to clarify the group's affairs after Wellington Dominion Post blogger Dave Burgess, writing on the newspaper's website, this week asked where the profit from merchandising went, pointing out Yellow Fever Ltd was actually a registered company with one director-shareholder and two other shareholders.

Burgess also called for a more transparent and identifiable leadership structure for Yellow Fever, arguing it was time for formal fan memberships, and called for the Wellington Phoenix Football Club to play a larger part in such operations.

Despite its informal, deliberately ad hoc and almost shambolic structure, Yellow Fever has emerged as arguably the most energetic, vibrant and high-profile fan movement across all codes in New Zealand.

But while Burgess credited them with creating a good atmosphere at the Cake Tin since the Phoenix was formed in 2007, he said it was now time for change.

"More than six years later and the time has come to step it up a level," he said, before concluding he had raised "valid questions that demand some clear answers".

But core Fever activists have taken major exception to his two blogs - widely and passionately perceived as an unwarranted attack on their operations - with social media ablaze with indignant and occasionally humorous responses, and the issue trending on Twitter.

Greene, the mastermind behind the Fever concept, said there was very little in the way of support for Burgess' position, or the way in which he formulated his views.

"To have someone have a crack at you in a national on-line forum like that without even coming to ask you for your opinion or comment - especially someone who comes to home games and comes to the pub that you organise deals at - is actually pretty hurtful and totally unjustified,' he said.

"All of the questions that were raised we would have been happy to answer."

Greene said Fever founders formed a company purely to minimise tax liability from merchandise revenue.

"It was purely an accounting vehicle. We could have incorporated a society but that would have been significantly more of pain in the ass to do," he said. "You can incorporate a company on-line very quickly, it's a much easier structure to set up."

In the three years to March 31 Yellow Fever had gross revenue from merchandise and member contributions of about $26,000, with sponsorship of about $3800.

From that the $10,500 has been spent on sponsorship and scholarships - such as the one that brought Marco Rojas to the club - with a further $18,000 spent on promotion, banners, flags, award nights and the New Zealand Freestyle Football champs.

"We have made a net profit over that period of about $1000," Greene said.

"Outside of these accounts there is also stuff that we promote and rally around the fans to donate to. So outside of our accounts - through money that hasn't come through us - we have donated $4,500 to Life Flight, $3312 to Salvation Army Christchurch earthquake appeal, $5680 to a local footballer that suffered a traumatic head injury and $1330 to Andrew Durante's Movember account.

"In the history of Yellow Fever there's never been any distribution to the shareholders and there never will be. That money goes back into the game and we have to pay tax on it. We actually strive hard not to make a profit, because we don't want to pay any tax. So we do our best to re-invest back into football things and not turn a profit at all."

As for demands for more transparent leadership, Greene said: "it is as transparent as you get when the people who own the company are listed on a public registrar with their home addresses. If other people want to do their thing, they should rip into it and we wish them all the best. We're a fan group not a political party so we'll just keep on doing our best with what we've got for now."

"The other answer is that there isn't any leadership in a formal sense. We have no power over anyone.

"There is no chairman who has rights or anything like that. We are providing a service for free effectively and people can either take it or leave it, and vote with their feet. If David Burgess doesn't want to be involved, as he clearly doesn't, then he doesn't have to be. If he does, then he can do that too... There is no heirachy in Yellow Fever. There are a few people that do stuff, but the people that do stuff aren't really in charge, they just put their hand up to volunteer."

Greene said it was "a bit of a misnomer" to consider Yellow Fever a fan club.

"The Yellow Fever website is a rallying point. Yellow Fever is just a rallying cry to get people excited about the Phoenix and football in New Zealand. It's a place for people to come to either in person in the stadium or online to express their opinion and excitement about football, debate, discuss and get involved with the wider football community.

"You don't have to be a member that's the beauty of it. We don't charge membership fees because we don't offer a membership service. We're just not that bureaucratic - or organised. People can at their discretion buy a T shirt and a little bit of money comes to use to spend on these causes."

Meanwhile Phoenix general manager David Dome said the club worked closely with Yellow Fever on a number of issues, but did not see the club playing a greater role within the fan group.

"Yellow Fever is fiercely independent and we support that," he said. "There needs to be an independence from the official club and the supporters club who can do their own thing and support the club in the best way they see fit.

"And we like that. We think it's a good thing that they can have their own opinions about the club and can feed back to us and are not restricted by having to toe the official line.

"There are all sorts of activities involved with running a professional football club where it's more appropriate that the fans do it, or more appropriate that the football club does it and there's no need to blur those lines."

Tweets to the #YFSpendUp hashtag, on how Yellow Fever might spend its supposed riches, have included the following:

Recording the first album of the @YellowFever_NZ Kazoo Orchestra Symphony Extravaganza

Buying A-League License for Wellington B

An urn for the ashes of the Kingz and Knights

Search party to find Tim Brown

A new soap box for Gareth

Rent-a-Crowd to boost attendance & keep home games in Wellington

Propecia for Dura's (Andrew Durante's) hairline

Milk for Tyler Boyd's Weet-bix

Anger management classes for Manny (Muscat)

A spellchecker for Phooenix Press Releases

Shooting practice for Vinny Lia