What a difference ...

What a difference a year makes. Wellington Phoenix's A-League season kicks off in Wellington in just a few hours against Gold Coast United. The last time the GGU boys were in town the Phoenix had one of those rare nights where everything clicked, and a six-nil scoreline resulted. With wind and rain forecast for tonight, that's unlikely to happen again.

Anyway, we're getting ahead of ourselves. On Stuff, Paul Thompson has written a preview piece for the A-League, and he takes us back to the parlous state of football in New Zealand just twelve months ago - check this out:

A year is a lifetime in sport. Just look at football in New Zealand.

In August 2009, the game was not quite in the doldrums. But it was struggling – for money, fans and respect. It was a minority sport with minority support.

Back then, the verdict was still out on the country's sole professional team, the Wellington Phoenix, who had finished sixth in the A-League that autumn.

The All Whites, meanwhile, were long-shots to qualify for the World Cup and lacked credibility at international level.

In what appeared a high-risk arrangement, the unproven Ricki Herbert was coach of both club and country and seemed on a hiding to nothing.

Not even the most one-eyed Kiwi football fan spouting off on talkback could have predicted what happened next.

The dazzling Phoenix finished third in the A-League. The All Whites not only made it to the World Cup, but they returned from South Africa as the only unbeaten team. Public support for the code rose to giddy heights and Herbert was feted.

Football's journey to credibility is worth pondering as the Phoenix prepare for the start of their A-League campaign against Gold Coast United at home tonight.

It is indeed worth pondering, and we thank Paul Thompson for his journey back twelve months. What a year it has been. Football now has real credibility within New Zealand. Who can forget that night in Wellington just nine months ago when the All Whites knocked over Bahrain? We have watched a lot of live sport over our 50+ years, andthe atmosphere in Wellington that night exceeded even that of the 1987 RWC final at Eden Park. It was the night that New Zealand football turned a corner.

Since then we've had the Phoenix's great late-season run, the World Cup build-up and the FIFA World Cup itself. Who, a year ago, could have imagined in their wildest dreams a sell-out crowd in Wellington; not for the World Cup qualifier, but for an A-League play-off match?

And Wellington is now the undisputed home of football in New Zealand. That suits us fine; if we want to go to a match, Paraparaumu station is less than two hours from our door. The Yellow Fever supports the 'Nix through thick and thin. When they morphed into White Noise for the Bahrain match, we stood among them and shouted/sang ourselves hoarse, quite literally. If nothing else, a Phoenix home game is great entertainment just for Yellow Fever's performance!

As we've said often, we're rugby people through and through, but we enjoy football, and are loving the wave that the code is riding at the moment. We're optimistic about Wellington Phoenix's propsects for this season, and we'll be in the crowd at the All Whites v Paraguay match later in the year. What a diffrence indeed a year has made!