 |
Sports correspondent & historian with |
Recently, a mate asked me who I thought was the biggest world sporting star to visit New Zealand in my lifetime.
While we quickly moved on to more important sporting questions, like whether the Warriors would win the NRL Championship this season, it got me thinking about the big names in world sport who had visited our shores.
The first name to come up was my greatest golfer of all time, Tiger Woods.
Eldrick “Tiger” Woods, came to our country at the end of the earth to play at the 2002 New Zealand Open at Paraparaumu, at the behest of his Kiwi caddy, Steve Williams.
At the start of the new millennium, Woods was arguably the best-known sportsman in the world. His appearance on the Paraparaumu course shone a sporting media spotlight on a small Horowhenua town.
The Evening Post reported that “by tournament’s end, the world number one could only manage a share of sixth while Australian, Craig Parry, claimed the title”.
The Post quoted Woods: “It was a tough week on the greens. The wind has not been easy”.
“The people down here have been great and I wished I could have played a bit better.”
However, the presence of Woods at the New Zealand Open provided millions upon millions of dollars of free exposure that extolled the location and beauty of our country to a worldwide audience.
Muhammad Ali came to Aotearoa to a tumultuous welcome in 1979. He was the reigning world heavyweight boxing champion, although he had not been in combat in the ring for some time.
Ali was an extrovert extraordinaire and had a passion for creeping up on people before launching forth with his outrageous statements.
Self-proclaimed as the “Greatest Boxer of all Time”, he mesmerised people in Wellington and Auckland.
Ali was mobbed at Wellington Airport on arrival, and wherever he went on his walkabouts in the nation’s capital. The reception was no less enthusiastic in Auckland, where he thrilled the public on his frequent journeys out and about.
My final pick of the three greatest sporting superstars to visit Aotearoa is football superstar David Beckham.
Beckham brought the LA Galaxy to play the newly created Wellington Phoenix at the then Westpac Stadium in December 2007.
Twelve months later, he was in Auckland with his LA Galaxy line-up to square off with a hastily put together Oceania All Stars.
The two football visits produced very contrasting financial results. The Terry Serepisos-owned Wellington Phoenix club had laid out a reputed $2 million to make the game happen.
A sold-out crowd of 32,000 and corporate sponsorship ensured that the club turned a healthy profit.
There is a moral in the story of the LA Galaxy game with the Oceania All Stars.
The Auckland Regional Council decided to promote the fixture and spent millions to secure the event.
However, they priced the entrance tickets too high and ended up with a crowd of 16,587 spectators, when they had budgeted for 25,000 to break even.
The huge loss sustained by the ARC sent warning signals to other local government organisations about dabbling in a market where they had no knowledge or expertise.
I will leave the pick of which member of the Fab Three made the biggest impression in New Zealand to the SunLive readers to ponder.