EVENT
heard. Thus, the Capital Cup is a great
opportunity to remind people where
the capital of New Zealand is and
what we have to offer — sport,
education, a lovely environment for
people to visit as tourists and a great
friendship with Beijing.”For the Phoenix, the benefits go even
further. A relationship such as the one
between the two diverse cities can
create global opportunities in
professional sport, as well as in
business. Rob Morrison, the Chairman
of the football club, says that sport and
culture can indeed play important roles
in strengthening and building closer
economic ties between countries.“I think the Chinese, even though there
is massive disparity in size — not just
in population numbers but in
economic terms too — treat the
relationship with New Zealand
incredibly seriously,” he shares. “When
we were on a Mayoral Tour last year,
we were exploring different ways of
building on those ties and coming up
with events that would hold some
significance. That was the idea behind
the Capital Cup, an annual football
match between the Beijing and
Wellington football sides. When you
have such big disparity in terms of
demographics and economics, you
need to have a couple of things in
the relationship where there is
common ground.“Football is a game that is developing in
China as well as in New Zealand. It’s a
very level playing field and an easy way
to build a relationship that’s not overly
influenced by size or numbers. It’s sort
of like a mutually-agreeable place, the
football field.”The idea for the Capital Cup strongly
supports a strategy of the Chinese
government, led by President Xi
Jinping. By 2050, he wants to see thecountry as a superpower when it
comes to football, and there are plans
in place to encourage 50 million
children and adults to take up the
game well before then. “This is a really
bold plan around China becoming one
of the top football nations in the
world,” Rob explains. “To do this they
have engaged in a massive change
program with regard to football
education for children, and
infrastructure of football pitches at
schools and in parks. There’s a massive
sea change happening in football, and
a game like the Capital Cup is an
important part of being involved in
that, certainly from New Zealand’s
point of view, as well as from the
A-League’s point of view.“One of the things that the A-League in
Australia has been keen to do is to grow
its presence into Asia, and
unquestionably this event is not only
helping New Zealand but it’s helping
Australia as well. It’s not an isolated
thing for Wellington, it brings benefits
to the A-League in general, and it’s a
starting point to unlock some of the
potential here. There are growing links
between China, Asia and the A-League,
and that’s important for the overall
growth of football.”Major sponsor of the Phoenix, Huawei
— a global telecommunications
company with headquarters in China
and operations in New Zealand — has
felt a string of benefits too. As well as
the obvious brand awareness that
comes from sponsoring a popular
sporting team, there are plenty of
business gains too. Andrew Bowater,
Huawei’s Director of Public Affairs, says
the company became involved with the
Phoenix about four years ago, shifting
from its B2B marketing strategy to a
more customer-focused approach.“A lot of people asked why we didn’t
sponsor a rugby team because it’s such
a big thing in New Zealand,” Andrew
says. “That’s true, it is, but football is
actually played by more kids than any
other sport in the country. So it’s a bit
of an anomaly, and a way of reaching
deeper into the community than a more
traditional rugby sponsorship. Rugby is
a great game but — probably a bit like
the AFL in Australia — it is very much a
New Zealand-oriented sport. It is
played around the world but not in the
same way football is.“Thus, being a Chinese company,
football is somewhat of a universal
language. Having the logo on the frontBeijing Vice-Mayor Zhang Jiandong (left) shakes hands with former Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown.