Sunday's match between Canterbury United and Team Wellington at Trafalgar Park in Nelson has been a great success. The published crowd figure is 2500, an extraordinary figure for a regular season match away from either side's home ground. Wellington took the game out 2-1 despite a late Canterbury fightback.

Also, a crowd of 1537 came to enjoy the Supercity derby in Whenuapai. Auckland City's nine men emerged the victors by a solitary goal in what proved to be a fiery encounter producing three red cards. The race for the minor premiership heats up, as Auckland, Wellington and Waitakere are within six points of each other with five games to play. At stake is a lucrative O-League spot, awarded to the minor premier.

All in all, a good weekend for the ASB Premiership. Over 4500 fans attended the weekend's four games, with Otago fighting out a 2-2 draw with Waikato, and Hawke's Bay picking up a valuable three points in the race for the fourth finals spot with a 2-1 win over Manawatu.

Edited by thewestisland: 16/1/2011 04:02:57 PM

good news sounds like a healthy crowd..?

That's bloody great. If I lived in NZ I'd be at ASB Premiership matches every weekend.

Apparently the 2000 estimate was a bit off. Near game's end and the official attendance is 2500.

Those figures are good and part of the reason why I argue that, ultimately, NZ should be self-sufficient in its soccer development.