What to watch: Forever Auckland FC - how a football team got so good, so fast
How do you make something compelling if you already know what happens? Sky’s new football documentary avoids the pitfalls that hold other sports docos back.
‘All access’ has been a loose term to describe sports documentaries, which often end up being nothing more than PR-heavy advertisements for teams and players, but Sky’s new offering may well break that mould.
Forever Auckland FC follows the debut season of Aotearoa’s newest professional sports team, with the memory of their heart-breaking semi-final loss still painfully fresh for their rapidly growing fanbase.
But now we’re into an almost painfully as long A-League off-season, going back over what happened is an interesting insight into the inner workings of not only a football club, but a startup business.
Really, Auckland FC shouldn’t have worked as well as it did, given that the team followed on from two infamous failed attempts at establishing professional football in the city.
The series doesn’t dwell on any of that, and while it follows a well-trodden sports doco path that is heavily reliant on direct to camera interviews, it does shed light on how the club came to exist in such a short space of time.
That’s because it gives us a healthy dose of part owners Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams, who do the lion’s share of the exposition.
Coach Steve Corica and his staff give insights too, but the overarching feeling is that because Auckland FC have no history, they have no restrictions, or backroom forces restricting, what’s getting said.
What Forever Auckland FC does well is setting up fellow A-League side Wellington Phoenix as not just rivals, but enemies, which is something that is refreshingly honest from a New Zealand sports team. Things did take a dark turn fanwise at a couple of points last season, so it will be interesting to see how the show addresses online abuse.
The most important thing about this show is that it keeps Auckland FC – and by extension the Phoenix and A-League itself – in the public discourse during what is a far too long off-season.
The trick now is to make sure there are enough quotable clips and meme-worthy images to help it transcend its TV slot and push it into wider popular culture.
That’s not going to be easy, but then again Auckland FC has already established a culture of confounding a lot of expectations.
The memory of Auckland FC's heart-breaking semi-final loss still painfully fresh for their rapidly growing fanbase.
SKY
Don’t watch it if … you don’t like start-up culture speak or Ali Williams.
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