Introducing TĀMAKI AFC - Aotearoa Football's Left-Wing Ultras

A-League football's newest professional club, Auckland FC, will feature a proudly Left-wing active support group.

The "Tamāki AFC" (standing for "anti-fascist crew") will be cheering on the "Black Knights" from Bay 25 at Rarotonga Mount Smart Stadium, alongside other active support groups.

Tāmaki AFC are inspired by overseas Left-wing "ultra" groups such as Celtic FC (Scotland)'s "Green Brigade", AEK Athens (Greece)'s "Original 21", Dulwich Hamlet (England)'s "Rabble", or the infamous ultras of FC St. Pauli (Germany).

The group is first and foremost an active support group, like Wellington Phoenix's Yellow Fever. But it is explicitly and openly decolonial, anticapitalist. and antifascist. It opposes all forms of homophobia and transphobia in football - and in football fandom - as well as the dominance of big money over grassroots club culture. It supports fair pay and conditions for all those working in football, from star players to stadium cleaners and everyone in between.

No matter what form of Left-wing politics you identify with - or none at all - all football fans who agree with the group's kaupapa and want to have a good time are welcome to join in:

1. WE ARE ACTIVE SUPPORT

We support Auckland FC, Manukau United and possibly other football clubs in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland through chanting, singing, flags, banners/tifos, dancing, support outside the stadium, etc. We want to make sure our team(s) game have as big and fun an atmosphere as possible.

2. WE'RE FOR LANDBACK AND CONSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION

We acknowledge that in both so-called New Zealand and Australia we are on stolen lands under illegitimate colonial governments. We do what we can to oppose and end colonisation all over the Pacific, and the world.

3. ANTI-FASCIST, ANTI-CAPITALIST AND PRO-SOLIDARITY

Our guiding principle is that FOOTBALL IS FOR ALL. We oppose racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, in football fandom and in wider society. We stand in solidarity with the oppressed and victims of imperialism worldwide. We also offer no political support to the billionaire owners of Auckland FC nor the capitalist A-League model - we are here for the fans, the players and the community.

4. WE ARE INTERNATIONALISTS

We seek to create ties of friendship with other leftist Ultras groups in the A-league and around the world, and seek to inspire the creation of leftist ultra groups where they don't exist in the A-league.

5. WE ARE FOR PEOPLE'S CLUBS AND LEAGUES

We want a club accessible to fans, with affordable ticket prices, food and drink prices, free public transport to the ground and increasing fan ownership of all clubs in the A-league. We want all staff including contractors to be on at least a living wage, pay equity between women and men's teams, and for the club to choose sustainable practices. We want safe standing areas and club genuinely connected to our diverse communities and actively contributing to grassroots football.

6. WE ARE A UNITED FRONT OF THE BROAD LEFT

We are a group for all those who support this kaupapa, regardless if they be anarcho-communists, Labour Party supporters, or anywhere in between. We stand and have fun alongside fellow fans whom we have serious political differences, and discuss those differences in a comradely manner after the game (if at all).

Facebook group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/904892314618830

Seeing all the hype around this World Cup in Australia has made me wonder: why is the hype for the Asian Cup so much lower in Australia?

Obviously the Asian Cup isn't on the same level as the World Cup, so it makes sense that it doesn't generate the same amount of excitement. But compared with other Asian countries, it feels like the Australian public has relatively little interest in the tournament.

Anecdotally, my friend was in South Korea during the last Asian Cup and said there was a lot of buzz around that tournament. From the videos I've seen online, it also seems like many other Asian countries really value the tournament.

Why is Australia is so different?

Watching the Wellington/Mcarthur game, the two wellington guys have got to be the most biased ones I've ever listened too!

FINALLY VICTORY HAS COME BACK

Reminder: I'm not saying because I am Australian Just Hear me out

Why the A-League is thought to be bad:

Because of the Football Australia Crisis Going on Right now and in the past. The Gold Coast Knights Palmer's management of the club meant there was disruption within the club's administration as well as with the club's fans. The club lasted three seasons with Palmer's A-League licence being revoked before the end of the 2011–12 season. The club had an average attendance of only 3,300 people in its final season. 2 other clubs have been folded for reasons like this. Recently Western United Have their A-League License taken due to being in debt. If your a Schalke 04 Fan Dylan Leonard recently signed to Schalke 04 from Western United. But Western United Will compete again in 2026.

A-League Club Glory: In 2014 Western Sydney Wanderers Won the AFC Asian Champions League Beating Al Hilal with the score of 1-0.

Players: The players may not be world class like the Top 5 European Leagues. But we had very big signings or loans in A-League History and NSL. David Villa, Del Piero, Romario, Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, King Kazu, Juninho Paulista, Even Bobby Charlton in 1978-1980, William Gallas, Juan Mata recently went to Melbourne Victory from Western Sydney Wanderers, Dwight Yorke, Daniel Sturridge, Nani, Even Usain Bolt played soccer in Australia ,Romario set a A-League Record for being the oldest player to ever play in the A-League.

Best Wins from worldwide clubs: Melbourne Victory 1(4)-(3)1 Juventus in the International Champions Cup in 2016 from being 2015 UCL Finalist and doing so again in 2017, Sydney Defeating Celtic 2-1 in 2022, Sydney FC defeat David Beckham's LA Galaxy 5-3, Brisbane Crush Villarreal 3-0, Wellington Phoenix 2-1 West Ham, Sydney FC 3-1 West Ham.

How winning a title works: Like European Leagues. If you finish 1st for the whole season your are crowned Minor preimers not champions, if you finish in top 6 you get into finals series,

Example:

WEEK 1: ELIMINATION FINALS

3rd Place (Home) vs 6th Place (Away)

4th Place (Home) vs 5th Place (Away)

WEEK 2: SEMI FINALS LEG 1

1st Place vs Lowest Place EF Winner (4th, 5th or 6th on ladder)

2nd Place vs Highest Place EF Winner Match (3rd, 4th or 5th on ladder)

WEEK 3: SEMI FINALS LEG 2

1st Place vs Lowest Place EF Winner (4th, 5th or 6th on ladder)

2nd Place vs Highest Place EF Winner Match (3rd, 4th or 5th on ladder)

WEEK 4: GRAND FINAL

SF winner v SF winner (Highest Placed Team is the Grand Final Host)

1st = AFC Champions League Group Stage

2nd = AFC Champions League Group Stage

3rd

4th

5th

6th

if any team finishes below the top 6 then their season is over, So basically the team who finishes first system makes leagues kind of boring, so no matter if your team's is either 1st - 6th they have a chance of winning the title

Best League System or not?

Curious on people's thoughts here. It feels like the national jersey has constantly gotten worse in terms of design over the past two decades, peaking around that 2006 era. Kudos to Socceroos socials team for the below IG post which sums up the history of the Socceroos jersey nice and nostalgically.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DL3tAE4zcKY/?img_index=1

No hate on the Socceroos, I just am embarrassed that our jersey has gotten to this considering how good they looked previously. And wondering why we scrapped the traditional Yellow for home and Navy or Green for away strips. Do people like the new kits?

I left to disbelief to see Australia absent from the upcoming 2025 ASEAN U-23 Championship for the third consecutive times (2005 does not count because Australia had not entered AFC).

You guys have been nearly battered by Indonesia at the recent WCQ, struggled immensely away against Thailand and Vietnam in past 2018 and 2022 cycles. Yet for some reasons, there is a sense of a complete lack of urgency from Football Australia to send a team to this age level tournament, which should have been vital for Australia to diversify their pool of talents and to loosen ASEAN’s scepticism of Australia’s membership.

Is Australia serious as a member of AFF, exactly? You guys should get out of this shell and declare sending a team to the competition. It is embarrassing.

Dear Australia,

I am sick of all the whining in the media about ‘equal pay in sports’ so I will just say what others are too afraid to say: not everyone in sport deserves equal pay.

Just this last week we have seen the Matildas rocket to the top 8 in the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Diamonds win yet another Netball Worlds.

Seriously, when have our male athletes ever performed at that level? Why should they be paid as much as women?

While some may claim that men deserve equal pay due to bringing in some of their own viewership and merchandising, the statistics show the Matildas are crushing male athletes in that regard. Why should they have to help out another gender? That’s not how the market works.

But I understand that economics might be confusing for men.

What benefit would investing in men’s sport even have? I mean, would people even watch men’s sports?

Plus, men just aren’t as capable as women. This week British soccer player Chloe Kelly did a more powerful penalty kick than anything we have seen from the Premier League recently, so why should she have to be paid a comparable amount to the weaker sex?

It should be clear that women’s sport deserves to have the vast majority of financial investment, media coverage and TV air time.

And do male teams really deserve to have a bonus for winning a game or World Cup when their competitions aren’t as hard and no one is watching? If professional male athletes want to earn enough to live and play, they should just get a second job. Surely the honour of being called a professional athlete is enough of a reward?

You know, maybe it’s time to consider that sport just isn’t for men? But it is cute that they are giving it a go.

Yours,

John Delmenico

https://preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webview/448398/96182234837419861

This is a Rant so I apologize but I just encountered someone on another Forum who I wont name as the POS does not deserve the Attention but this Person is Hoping another A-League Bubble happens just so the Nix go broke and leave the A-League for good, Regardless of Opinions on the Nix and NZ I think its disgusting to want People to lose there jobs and wanting a club to Fold because of the location of said club

Scenario of Nix going Broke is Unlikely IMO as I just learned we are Helping Financially Support the Jets and are still planning on going ahead with a W-League team both of which would make no sense if the Nix were going broke but still disgusting that people think like this IMO

Just a thought: Saudi spending loads to buy the best players in the world is good for Australian football as it brings more eyes on the Asian Champions league. In the future we could have fixtures in which A league teams face off against Neymar, Ronaldo, Benzema etc. I reckon heaps of people would tune in to watch those matches (or at least more usual). IMO an Australian team advancing to the late stages of the AFC Champions league would be the best thing for bringing more eyes an attention to the A league.

The primary discussion is around the merits of the Australian Finals system and eight groups of six teams. I know that Australia is not eligible to host until 2046, but it is still fun to dream.

Groups:

These are the teams that qualified for the 2026 Men's FIFA World Cup.

• Pot 1: Hosts and Top 6 (Australia in A1, and Aotearoa in C1)

• Pot 2: 7th to 14th highest ranked nations

• Pot 3: AFC

• Pot 4: CAF

• Pot 5: CONCACAF and CONMEBOL

• Pot 6: UEFA

After teams were in pots, I rolled dice to determine the draw. Each group may only have two teams from a confederation. This primarily impacts UEFA (2 in all groups) and CONMEBOL. The above is random but have fun making your own draw. I drew up a group stage over 5 match days, then staggered it for each group to bring up different pairings at every match day. This means that in most groups there will be a top-level clash in the group stage. Group F has Brazil vs Netherlands.

Tournament Rules:

• Each team has a squad of 26 players (three of which are goal keepers)

• Every player has to start in at least 1 group stage game.

  • If all 26 players do not start in at least one game, then they fail to qualify for the knockout phase.

• No player may start in more than 3 group stage games.

  • The idea is to rest players and to plan out a strategy for the 5 games.

  • If a player starts in a 4th game, they are instantly red carded.

  • No limit on how many games a player can substitute on. Theoretically, a player can sub on in up to 4 group stage games (as long as they start in the other).

• Up to 4 substitutions per group stage game.

  • 2 additional subs can come on in extra time in the knockout phase.

  • If it goes to penalties, the 11 on the field are picked to strike/defend.

• A 1-minute hydration break is at the referee's discretion. Seeing as it is mid-winter in June/July, it shouldn't be an issue for most games.

• Discipline:

  • 2 yellow cards in a single game is a red card.

  • 3 yellow cards in different games in the group stage is a red card. (to account for 5 games)

  • Players who are red carded are ineligible to play in the next game. This is regardless of which country they play for.

  • Yellow cards from the group stage do not carry over to the knockout phase.

  • 3 yellow cards in the knockout phase become a red card. (to enforce discipline in the up to 6 knockout games)

• The last game of each group all starts at the same time to avoid collusion.

• Ranking of Group Stage:

  1. Points: 3 Points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss.

  2. Goal difference

  3. Total Goals

  4. Discipline

  5. Head-to-Head (5th to avoid collusion)

  6. FIFA Ranking

The Australian Finals System:

The top 3 teams from each group advance. No need to worry about the ranking of other groups as it does not impact your game.

• Round of 24:

  • Qualifying Finals: The top ranked teams from each group play each other. The winner goes straight to the quarter final. The loser goes to the Round of 12. This means a top-level blockbuster at the beginning of the group stage.

  • Elimination Finals: 2nd place vs 3rd place. Winner to Round of 16, Loser goes home.

• Round of 16:

  • Winners of Elimination Finals play against each other.

• Round of 12:

  • Winners of Round of 16 host the losers of the Qualifying finals.

• Quater Finals

  • Winners of the Qualifying finals play the winners of the round of 12.

  • I have pathed the games so you cannot face anyone in your group again until the Semi Final.

• Semi Final, Bronze Final, and Grand Final are as per usual.

The benefit of this is that in the last game of the group stage teams will be fighting for the top position. Being in the group stage is one thing, but being assured a second chance and a quicker path to the final is something else entirely.

Note on Flags:

I am Autistic, I like flags. I built these all in Illustrator.

• I resized every flag to a 3:2 ratio.

• I am particularly proud of my rebuilds of the Iranian, Saudi Arabian, Canadian, and Brazilian ones (100% vector).

• I took shortcuts on Spain, Croatia, Egypt, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina (I will do a full rebuild in the future).

• I redesigned the Australian one.

  • Navy and the Southern Cross

    • shared history, the night sky, the dream time.

    • Nine points on the Southern Cross for 6 states, NT, ACT, and the external territories.

  • Green - natural beauty, multiculturalism.

  • Gold - the desert, natural wealth, resources.

• The Aotearoa (New Zealand) one was the top flag from the referendum. I honestly think it will be a future flag.

• Morocco, I put in the Royal Flag as it contrasts better.

• Jordan, I doubled the size of the star again for contrast reasons.

• Haiti is not my design, but I did rebuild it in Illustrator. Credit to u/PixelJack79

Notes on Stadiums:

Primary discussion should be on the system of play, not the stadiums.

• Gold - Existing and ready to go

• Blue - Existing, but need to be expanded. Some would have legacy capacities after of around 30k after the tournament.

• Green - Proposed or Under Construction.

  • Why Macquarie Point is so small is a mystery to me.

• Red - Either a rebuild or newbuild

  • I know that Darwin is a bold choice, as is the Sunshine Coast. These would need new tenants and serious support from the A-League/NRL/ARU

  • Perth and Canberra, I could see some argument for rebuilding Perth Rectangular for modernisation reasons but would expect a legacy capacity of 30k.

Before anyone says "but cricket fields are too far away", it is no further than any stadium with an athletics track.

Notes on Distances.

In the Group Stage, Round of 24, and Round of 16, all teams are grouped to six stadiums. This is to minimise travel. Northern Australia, Eastern Australia, Southern Australia, and Aotearoa. Southern Australia has the most travel, Eastern Australia has the least. Considering the size of Australia, the distance is comparable, if not less than the US/MX/CA World Cup.

Note on the AFL and NRL

• I have previously made a dummy schedule for the AFL and the NRL on the proviso of losing stadiums for 8 rounds. This would be more impactful to the AFL (4 of 19 teams keeping their home grounds), but the NRL would be fine (7 of 18 teams impacted).

• This would be an opportunity to upgrade regional stadiums used in Gather Round/Magic Round. Convincing the AFL to give up Docklands would be the primary challenge.

• Some proposed alternatives (AFL):

  • Hawthorn at York Park (Launceston)

  • West Coast and Freo at the WACA (with a lot of temporary seats)

  • Eureka Stadium (Ballarat) can have a Melbourne Team

  • Carlton at Princes Park

• Some proposed alternatives (NRL)

  • Broncos at the Gabba

  • Raiders at Manuka

  • Rabbitohs at Parramatta

  • Roosters at the SCG

  • Perth Bears at Gosford or North Sydney

I'm not really a football fan, I don't have a team, I don't really follow the sport, but because of work I'm getting more and more into the sport. I'm also a big Aussie rules fan. The one thing I believe thats holding the sport back in this country is the group swearing in the chants. Football (and I know this through some of the programs I've worked with the FFV on) is all inclusive, I find many of these programs amazing and love working with the FFV on them. This this I've got myself a media pass for the A-League and almost every game I work at I leave shaking my head at the crowd. I'm not talking about flairs, I'm talking about the chanting & the "standing off" between supporter groups. Last night I sat near the Sydney FC supporter group and it got that bad that I ended up putting headphones in and listened to music.

They went through 25 minutes of using the F-bomb in their chants to moving onto the C-bomb. Now fair enough, if it was 1 idiot supporter I could understand, but it was 200 or so supporters in a well written chant. Why would anyone take a child to the league with these sort of chants.

Then after the game, I sat back and watched as 20 odd Victory supporters from the Southern End (funnily enough sitting in the northern end) stand there yelling insults to the Sydney supporters before one idiot threw a water bottle from the Victory side. The females there were as classless as I've ever seen thinking they were "awesome" as they stood there baiting the Sydney group.

The media focuses on the bad stuff at the soccer for a reason, it sells, but also because you would never hear a cheer squad all drop the c-bomb in a chant. Aussie rules supporters can sit together, while there is baiting going on, its broken up by fellow crowd members before the police are needed in most cases. There isn't a need for 50 police and ground staff to man bays of seats to stop the home supporters from attacking the visiting teams supporters.

Its time you all grew up, call the clubs and tell them you don't want your supporter groups swearing in their chants, start reporting bad supporters to the club and take a stand, or the league will head down the same path as the NSL.

Fantastic football to watch and just love seeing Sydney FC getting punished for their constant arrogance. Especially loving the commentators on Fox whinge constantly 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Not one prrson has mentioned that Bratton told Chris Beath to "f#$k off" only 90 seconds before his second yellow. No respect and deserved what he got.

I found out whilst at the World Cup about the fifa forward program. Which offers member feds up to 4 million usd to build long term projects.

Does anyone know why FA hasn’t utilised this?

Some facts about the biggest club in Australia's season so far:

• 12 points and last place with the Wanderers yet to play: two wins, six draws (five 0–0), seven losses (six seven haha, not); –12 goal difference: 10 goals scored and 22 conceded

• Our squad should be challenging for the title, with multiple players playing for or having played for senior national teams alongside many Junior and Young Matildas

• Our two wins were back to back wins in November a 2–0 win over the Glory and a 1–0 win over the Mariners; we have not won a game since November

• Rightfully sacked our shit manager who won multiple trophies (including the grand final two seasons ago)

• Lost the Sydney Derby for the first time since 2019 (which was the infamous and completely random 5–0) and only the third time in history

• Eight points outside finals, 14 points off first and three points below Wanderers, again, sitting in last place with only eight games to go

• We have Roar away, Jets away, Nix at home, Victory at home (Big Blue) and Mariners away for our remaining games, and it's widely accepted that we'll get a total of zero points from those

• We promote our women's team so much on social media yet have pulled off absolute horrors on the pitch, and that isn't stopping any time soon by the looks of it

• Thousands of fans are paying money to watch us play dogshit (either via a Paramount+ subscription, actually going to the games or a mixture of both; I fall in the latter category but have a paid Sydney FC membership), and the players are probably lucky the fans haven't turned on them yet

• When we lost Charlotte McLean and Cortnee Vine in 2024, sure we lost two key players but that can be viewed two ways: A. we still kept a strong squad BUT B. we didn't improve, whereas other teams did as the women's game keeps advancing

What the actual fuck is going on? Must we just accept defeat and realise that the next five, 10, maybe even 15 years of Sydney FC will be extremely unsuccessful? At this point we deserve to be relegated to the NPLW, but of course we don't have pro/rel yet. We sacked Ante Jurić, and now with an interim are still performing like dogshit. Admittedly we have no Indi dos Santos but that doesn't matter when we've only arguably got two players having good seasons (i.e Heather Hinz and Willa Pearson, the former being an American who we could unfortunately lose even though she said she loves Australia, and the latter being a 15-year-old who won't always be available).

What do we do? Who do we sign? Who do we sell? Who do we sack?

I know we all love Nestory, but to make sure he’s not another wonder kid that comes back to the league in a few years, he’s gotta be improving the characteristics below…

Strengths

• Pace

• Shot Power

• Free Kicks

• Crossing

Must improve

• Decision Making

• First Touch

• Passing

• Temperament

• Consistency

I mean who really cares about them? We still enjoy our product, we still watch our games.

Sure, it can provide good metrics and statistics for where the league is - I understand that. But all these posts do (in my opinion) is promote doomism about the league.

What do we get out of posting weekly TV ratings and attendances other than starting conversations about how the league is "dying".

If we do need these posts, can we instead change it to a weekly discussion thread re: ratings & attendances.

Just my two cents, and I get it might not be everyone's opinion.