Michael Burgess: Only one winner for Halberg team of the year

Auckland City's heroics captured the attention of the nation. Photo / AP

Auckland City FC are the team of the year.

Whether they will win the Halberg Award on Wednesday is another matter - some of the judging has been unpredictable over the years - but let's hope so because it would signal a new maturity in how we assess sporting achievements.

Last year was an extraordinary year in New Zealand sport. The level within the teams category was stupendous, leading to the Black Caps and All Blacks not making the final group. The finalists accomplished brilliant feats but we are looking for the greatest performance by a New Zealand team in 2014.

Instead of emotional - and difficult - subjective debates, what about trying an objective measure?

There could be three questions. Has it been achieved before? What was the depth of competition and global significance? Is it the highest level possible for the relevant team?

Here is how I would rate the finalists.

5. Hamish Bond and Eric Murray
The pair had another brilliant year, culminating in their convincing win at the world championships in Amsterdam. But such wins in a non-Olympic year never mean as much and New Zealand has won many medals at world championships. We tend to be major fish in a pretty small pond; about a dozen countries take rowing seriously and 23 nations contested the men's coxless pair.

Bond and Murray are deserved finalists but there were superior achievements last year.

4. Peter Burling and Blair Tuke
Burling and Tuke created history in Spain, retaining sailing's 49er class world title they won in 2013. It's a unique achievement but falls down in terms of depth of competition and global significance with about 20 countries represented. And the highest level is next year at the Olympics.

3. Ethan Mitchell, Eddie Dawkins and Sam Webster
The trio claimed a notable first for New Zealand cycling with their sprint gold medal in Colombia last year. Thirty-one countries sent teams to the event, though next year is the big one for cycling.

2. Kiwis win Four Nations
It's been more than 50 years since the Kiwis beat the Kangaroos in consecutive tests, as they managed in Brisbane and Wellington last year. The competition was one of the fiercest in international league history, with four evenly matched teams, although the sport doesn't score highly in global significance. The World Cup is the pinnacle event.

1. Auckland City
The 'Miracle in Morocco' ticks all the boxes. No New Zealand men's football team has come close to finishing third at a Fifa competition and probably never will again. All six continents were represented in Morocco. First, Auckland City beat the champions of Morocco, which was a bit like an English non-league team winning at Stamford Bridge. Then they trumped the African champions, who had won through a competition that started with 58 teams from 47 countries. And they took South American giants San Lorenzo, who won the Copa Libertadores ahead of 38 clubs from 11 nations, to extra time as the dream of a clash with Real Madrid became a possibility. Auckland City then beat North American champions Cruz Azul, who had several players on their books earning annual salaries of US$1.5 million ($2.05 million).

If we add another measure - based on which team's performances will remain the longest in our sporting memories - then the Kiwis and Auckland City come out on top, with the footballers shading it due to the previous criteria.

The 'water cooler' effect was tremendous and everybody was talking about it.

Even non-football fans jumped on the bandwagon, realising it was something historic.

Google's verdict
It's not a definitive measure but does provide a reflection of global interest:
• 2014 Rowing World Championships: 1.87 million search results
• 2014 Sailing World Championships: 2.15 million
• 2014 Track Cycling World Championships: 2.68 million
• 2014 Rugby League Four Nations tournament: 4.75 million
• 2014 Fifa Club World Cup: 40.1 million