Flying Kiwis flock to support their team in a uniquely New Zealand way

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — They call themselves the Flying Kiwis, an eclectic group of New Zealanders from around the world who, whenever their national soccer team plays a major match, assemble to provide raucous and usually outnumbered support.

The deliberate irony: Kiwis — the eponymous bird from which New Zealanders take their nickname — are flightless.

Since 2009 the Flying Kiwis have followed the New Zealand men's team at home and overseas, and they'll be at the World Cup, offering a small island of loud, proud and distinctly Kiwi support.

Small beginnings

In 2009, New Zealand played Bahrain in a two-game qualifying series, with the winner advancing to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. After the first leg in Bahrain ended in a 0-0 draw, New Zealand needed a win in the return match at home to qualify for the World Cup.

Matt Fejos, who was then a university student and, he admits, not a hardcore soccer fan, wanted to lend as much spirit as possible to the New Zealand team.

"So I got a credit card with a $1,000 limit and I bought 32 tickets for my mates and we wanted to do all we could, so we got banners, we got the coveralls saying 'Flying Kiwis' and we got New Zealand flags," Fejos said. "That was a pretty memorable moment for anyone who was there and for football to arrive in New Zealand a little bit."

Now those friends are spread around the world and have recruited other friends to the ranks of the Flying Kiwis.

"I had 10 years living in the UK, so, with the Confederations Cup in Russia in 2017, there were 30 of us who went to that, and it was kind of a special experience," Fejos said.

Russian supporters "organized a friendly game between our fans and their fans, and it brought in another kind of meaning for me: that you're doing it for your team, but actually in far away places you might be the first New Zealanders they've ever met, so you're kind of representing your country.

"To connect with the world through the global language of football is a beautiful thing and a beautiful way to travel."

Local culture

The Flying Kiwis had to find their way to their own brand of fandom. Soccer is not the major sport in New Zealand, where rugby holds sway. The soccer traditions that are firmly fixed in the culture of other countries don't exist at home, so Fejos and his friends have made their own.

The Flying Kiwis support section is usually small in number compared with the fan bases of New Zealand's opponents, but, Fejos said,"There's advantage to being so small — we can be really unified."

The New Zealand team will probably need all the support it can get at the World Cup. Ranked No 85 in the world, it is drawn in Group G against No 9 Belgium, No 21 Iran and No 29 Egypt.

"There's so much more belief (among the New Zealand team) because of where the players are playing," Fejos said of the foreign-based national team members.

"There's so many more playing at a top, top standard and in these difficult environments, these really charged atmospheres with crazy passionate fans. So they're used to playing under that pressure as well."

The mascot

The kiwi isn't the most intimidating of national symbols compared with other mascots, such as eagles or lions.

"Sometimes it can seem a bit funny or deprecating, but it's a thing that means a lot," Fejos said.

"The kiwi is a flightless bird, but when you consider the challenges that we face: we're so isolated, so far away from the world, the professional game is very young here, there are not many professional academies or opportunities.

"Despite that, I think it's incredible for some of those (New Zealand) players to play in some of the best leagues of the world, and to take (their talent) to the world at a World Cup."

Fejos said the "metaphor means a lot, defying expectations overseas".

"People think of us as a rugby country, and probably as hobbits, but that allows us to go in with that underdog mentality, fearless," he said.

"We want to stamp our mark and show them something different."