[sotontee]

Hello everyone.
Please forgive me if this is a stupid question as this is my first time posting on here.
My wife and myself with our two kids(well at 20 and 16 i suppose they are grown up,but anyway),we are in the early stages of applying to live in NZ and i know it sounds silly,but as we are big football supporters(Southampton fc),and we were wondering if you get Championship games from the UK over in NZ?
Also i guess that rugby and cricket are well supported,but are there any local leagues where we could go and watch a game?
Thanks everyone.

[mgbridges]

I haven't seen anything other than Premiership matches on Sky. There's plenty of those (at least 3 per weekend) but nothing from the lower leagues. I'm even worse than you (Huddersfield Town supporter!) so I've got no chance.

Martin

[Kim39]

Only Prem games are covered that i know of. There maybe a 5 min highlight show somewhere on Sky of the Championship but i wouldn't hold your breath. As for the game over here you are able to follow the NZ Championship which features regional teams eg: Waikato, Otago, Hawkes Bay etc, here's a link for you.......http://www.nzsoccer.com/ You have some known players from back home, the most notable one being Jonathon Gould, along with good old Bobby. They are a managerial team at Hawkes Bay.

Kim

[IanW99]

Hello everyone.
Please forgive me if this is a stupid question as this is my first time posting on here.
My wife and myself with our two kids(well at 20 and 16 i suppose they are grown up,but anyway),we are in the early stages of applying to live in NZ and i know it sounds silly,but as we are big football supporters(Southampton fc),and we were wondering if you get Championship games from the UK over in NZ?
Also i guess that rugby and cricket are well supported,but are there any local leagues where we could go and watch a game?
Thanks everyone.

As Martin says, you can see some soccer on Sky Sports, there is also some shown on ESPN (again on satellite) For example, they are currently showing the UEFA Champions League. There was also a lot of coverage on terrestrial TV during the World Cup.

Haven't tried it, but would expect you to be able to stream some matches over the internet as another option.

For soccer played locally, there is now a lot of it being played by children - seems to be getting more popular than rugby due to being less physical.

From a professional perspective there are the Wellington Phoenix that can be watched. Not sure if there are any other NZ teams.

Ian

[StevieD]

Give up on footy if you want to watch it on tv. But there are more inviting things to do at 4am than watch footy :laugh

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

As a Chester City supporter there's always been something more entertaining to do than watch CCFC play, but I still say Chester 'Til I Die (I probably will die before they win anything).
http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/sports/soccer.gif (http://www.thesmilies.com)
Go Blues......
http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/sports/soccer.gif (http://www.thesmilies.com)
Wellington Phoenix are the only professional team in NZ (go yellow fever!). They play in the Ozzie A League (pretty unsuccesfully thus far), but as Kim says there is local footie - not that I've experienced it yet, but I will go see Waikato and doubtless get hooked in a CCFC are kak but ..... j u s t.....c a n t.....r e s i s t.....kind of a way.
http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/sports/soccer.gif (http://www.thesmilies.com)
<Blatant Plug>
http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/sports/soccer.gif (http://www.thesmilies.com)
If you like footie management fantasy footie type games check out www.xperteleven.com I run the 'Kiwi League' which is approaching the end of season 1 so if you fancy joining the fun sign up and you can join in from start of next season (about 5 weeks away) League ID is 107181. It'll get you hooked, be warned - but it's free and fun (your kids would prob love it too). PM me if you want more info. Some migrants, some soon to be migrants and some UK based managers in the mix.

[incredible hulse]

As said no real chance of non-Premiership - they don't even show the playoff final. Been to a couple of Well Phoenix games and the standard is very poor - I'm currently back in the UK and watched a couple of Div 3 games (Leeds) and the standard of that is vastly superior to the Aus league

[Mike & Nicola]

Wahey, another Saints fan in NZ!!!! :clap :cheers

There's not many of us over here, I've met three in total, and two on the same day at a course!!! One of them was even from my home town of Andover!!!!

Unfortunately its only Prem football, and the chances of that interesting us for a while is pretty slim :(

The pain is still strong, even from 12,000 miles away.

If you move to Wellington you'll get to see the Wellington Phoenix in the A-League. They're doing pretty well.

There is a national league, but its pretty poor. I went with a friend to see Waitakere Utd v Fijian Ba in the Oceana final (equivalent of the Champions League Final) and it was shocking, should have taken my boots...

You'll love NZ, but you will miss the footie. Saying that, there's plenty of leagues to play in.

Take it easy,

Mike

[sotontee]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.
Mike and Nicola,i went to see Saints play Colchester last night(wednesday),at St marys and it must have been the most boring game ever.The score was 1-1.
I love the Saints,but the way they are playing makes me want to leave even sooner.

[EngiNurse]

Just as a heads-up, the Los Angeles Galaxy are scheduled to play the Wellington Phoenix in December. In theory, Beckham should be healed up by then.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/18/sports/AS-SPT-SOC-New-Zealand-Beckham.php

[craig1234564]

I haven't seen anything other than Premiership matches on Sky. There's plenty of those (at least 3 per weekend) but nothing from the lower leagues. I'm even worse than you (Huddersfield Town supporter!) so I've got no chance.

Martin

Do you have sky that is exactly the same as british sky tv?? how do they show 3 premiership games? surley they will be during the night when everyone is asleep! I guess there is no chance of watching games repeated in a pub the next day in say christchurch? or is there?
:cheers

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

Not a hope I'm afraid.

All the rugby you can eat, but footie, no chance. More chance of seeing netball. I kid you not.

I've given up explaining about Chester City. Nobody understands, or cares, over here. I just say "a cr*p soccer team from the north west"

Play Xpert Eleven online instead - join the Kiwi League - search for league ID 107181. New season starts in about three weeks, so new members welcome over the next few weeks.

PM me if you want more info.

[kellyfamily]

I stayed up and watched man city hammer the geordies the other night and the roar of the crowd was so loud it caused a quake it matata which i felt here in Tauranga :)

[kellyfamily]

I stayed up the other night and watched man city hammer the geordies , the roar of the crowd was so loud it caused a quake 4.7 in Matamata which i felt here in Tauranga :)

[kellyfamily]

ooh double posts looks like im spamming:)