Double life of All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen
The Dominion Post
Last updated 05:00 15/05/2010
It's 11.30 on the night of Blackburn Rovers' glitzy end-of-season awards function, but All Whites star Ryan Nelsen is missing the party.
Instead he's at home, speaking to me in blunt terms about our prospects at the World Cup.
It's late, he's tired, and you wouldn't have blamed the player – who earns an estimated $5 million a year – had he wanted to reschedule the interview.
But New Zealand's most decorated footballer since Oceania player of the century Wynton Rufer is every inch a professional, on and off the field. Conscious that soccer is riding a wave of popularity back home, Nelsen is always happy to oblige the New Zealand media and, as Blackburn have one more match to go, we are not interrupting any big team celebrations.
Besides, when it comes to alcohol, Nelsen, 32, has been abstaining since that crazy three-day party in Wellington in November after leading the All Whites to victory over Bahrain – and World Cup qualification.
Nelsen notes in his book, Ryan Nelsen's Road to the World Cup, that he has hardly touched a beer since.
"It was a huge two or three days to be honest, it probably took three or four years off my life. But I've confessed my sins and detoxed during the past few months. I'm ready for the World Cup now."
But before we look forward, it's hard not to look back. Nelsen is still basking in the glow of the November 14 night when New Zealand beat Bahrain 1-0 in front of a record crowd of 35,194.
It is a night that piques his excitement, even now. Our interview is the day after Blackburn's shock 2-1 home win against Arsenal, the best possible way for a mid-table team to finish a premier league season at home, but Nelsen brushes the latest win off as small fry by comparison.
"Bahrain, that rates way, way up there, and I can say that quite confidently after just beating Arsenal.
"That game typified everything Kiwis love, a winner-take-all situation with heaps of pressure and us punching above our weight to take down the favourites.
"It was the first time the New Zealand public saw what generally happens week in, week out around the world in football. It's that kind of excitement, pressure, and media attention that makes it the biggest sport in the world and we were lucky enough to get a glimpse of it."
For a country the size of New Zealand, qualifying for the World Cup is akin to a footballing power winning it. With all due respect to the squad – which in most people's eyes is one of the most talented this country has produced – beating the likes of world champions Italy, South American high-fliers Paraguay or under-rated Europeans Slovakia would be one of the big upsets in World Cup history.
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The latest world rankings, released this week, put New Zealand at 78 – that's 40 places below Slovakia, the next lowest ranked team in our group.
Still, football has a history of producing great upsets. Just eight years ago, African minnows Senegal stunned defending champions France 1-0 in the opening match of the tournament.
But are New Zealand on a hiding to nothing in South Africa?
"In all honesty, we could be," Nelsen says bluntly.
"That's the brutal reality of the World Cup; the other teams are going to be fantastic. But the one thing I like about this New Zealand team is that, no matter what happens, we're going to be competitive. We're experienced, we've got good firepower, good balance, good goalkeepers.
"At the World Cup, we could get smashed in all three games. But if we have a good day and all play at our absolute best, and maybe the opposition are not at their best, we could win."
Nelsen spent five weeks on the sideline after injuring his knee in late February, missing New Zealand's first World Cup warmup match, against Mexico in Los Angeles. He returned to action in mid-April, and believes the forced layoff could be a blessing in disguise, given the English season finished just last weekend and the All Whites head into camp on Wednesday.
Nelsen says he feels more pressure captaining New Zealand than Blackburn, believing the country expects more of him than his club does.
He loves both jobs with a passion, though leading his country at a World Cup will be something he can enjoy only after the tournament. "Before and during, the pressure and the tension and trying to achieve our goals is all I'll think about."
He acknowledges comparisons are being made between the current team and the only other New Zealand side to make a World Cup finals, in 1982.
Nelsen was just four in 1982 – he doesn't recall anything of the tournament other than getting up to watch the odd match on TV – but he describes the team's journey to Spain as a "fantastic story and an incredible achievement".
But "it's a time when we can make our own history", he says.
Any other result than three losses would probably be enough to achieve that but Nelsen has set himself a simpler goal – to do the country proud, whatever the scoreboard says. "I know these Kiwi boys will give it everything, we'll die trying."
Football is in the blood for Nelsen, a largely self-taught player from Christchurch who has made the most of his talent to achieve at the game's highest level.
His father, Wayne, is a rugby man so he gets his footballing pedigree from mum Christine's side of the family. His grandfather, Bob Smith, was a talented player and a member of the Western side that played in the 1939 Chatham Cup final.
However, Smith's playing days were cut short when he was shot in both legs during World War II, so he turned his hand to administration, serving on the NZFA council and as chairman till his death in 1964. He was influential in expanding New Zealand football's horizons outside Oceania and a key figure in paving the way to enter the World Cup fold, which New Zealand did in 1969.
"I didn't understand what he had done till I was older," Nelsen says, "but it's funny how it has gone full circle with him starting it off and now his grandson getting to the World Cup."
While he enjoyed football as a youngster, he also had a passion for other sports, most notably cricket. He counts former Black Cap Craig McMillan, who he grew up with playing cricket in Christchurch, as a mate.
From the time he started getting serious about football, Nelsen describes the rest of his career as "going from one dream to another".
He was a star at Stanford University in the United States and, after graduating with a political science degree in 2001, Nelsen was drafted into America's Major League Soccer with DC United. He was named in the league's best XI in 2003 and 2004 before receiving his big break when Blackburn Rovers came knocking.
He was signed by manager Mark Hughes as a free transfer in early 2005 – becoming the third Kiwi to play in England's top flight – and after six months had done enough to earn a three-year contract. He signed a five-year deal with Blackburn in 2007.
Now firmly established and respected in England, Nelsen remembers the pressure he faced as a New Zealander trying to prove his worth in the Premier League. He felt he had to work harder than others to win the respect of his manager, team-mates and the fans.
"Right now, Blackburn would go to Antarctica to get a player, but back then there was a stereotype of a player who had to play in the Premier League," he says.
"For a New Zealander, it was difficult. Even the fans, they wanted their Italian defenders or their French midfielders.
"So I made sure I was the first out at training and the last one to leave. I made sure I asked the coach to stay back and work on things. Even when I was tired ... I stayed behind to help other guys out. I did everything I could to get better and gain respect around the club."
That extended to putting the All Whites on the backburner – a decision made less painful after he was told by New Zealand officials that the national team did not need him anymore.
Nelsen had been involved in the dismal 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, which included a 4-2 defeat to Vanuatu in 2004, and had made his views on the campaign widely known. "They pretty much told me to start walking. I don't think they knew I was going to Blackburn at the time so I said `not a problem'. I probably went a bit selfish then but I wanted to look after myself after what had happened.
"I wanted to play week in, week out and make it boring to people in New Zealand that I was playing in the Premier League."
Mission accomplished. The tension between him and the national body became water off a duck's back when a new regime came in, and Nelsen had established himself at Blackburn.
Though he has missed several internationals in the past years he remained passionate about the All Whites and always dreamt of making it to a World Cup. Proof dreams come true. And for Nelsen, more than once.
IN QUOTES
On adapting to the English Premier League "I was probably so naive that I just rolled with it. I was a fresh-faced lad running around and loving every minute of it, not really knowing what was going on around me. That helped me, I think. I was lucky enough to go into the league with a bit of experience and that helped me, too, particularly with the off-field stuff. I see it all the time, it can really distract players from what they are trying to do."
The money "Money's funny. When you don't have it, you absolutely crave it, but when you have it you realise it's not really worth anything. It doesn't give you good memories, or determine what type of person you are, or the achievements you've done. Money has never driven me, it just comes with the territory. As soon as you start playing for money – and I've seen it with a lot of players – you start to fall down."
The glamour "Most of the Blackburn players have families, they do their job and they go back and can't wait to see their families. But if you want to put your face on magazines and TV and go to nightclubs, it's there for you in abundance."
The wags (Wives and girlfriends) "Some players need that kind of attention and some wives and girlfriends do as well. Good on them, that's their prerogative and I'd never judge them, they've got an easy access to fame and doors open up for them with careers and that sort of thing. What it does though is create stereotypes, but I'd say 95 per cent of wives and girlfriends on every team are just everyday mothers or girlfriends who love to do everything women like to do."
English soccer fans "I've got on the bus after an away game and I've had bricks and pints of beer thrown at us, and even our own fans will absolutely abuse you if they don't think you've put in a good enough performance. I can't believe that when Dan Carter is at Eden Park and he's about to take a penalty for the Crusaders, all you get is a couple of guys booing him, and that's it."
His Blackburn team-mates "Since I've been at Blackburn, as a team we've gone through most things, and once you've done that you realise there's just no time to have an ego. Of course, you get some interesting characters, but Blackburn is built on an honest and hard-working core that is all through the club, so it's been quite easy for me as captain."
Life after soccer "As soon as I retire from football I'll be walking straight into a job, because I just can't do nothing. I've been living in a utopian football world that really is a fake place, it's not the real world. I'd like to get my hands dirty. I have to have something to work towards, that's what drives me. When I was young and stupid I always thought I'd love to get to 35, end my career, retire and just do nothing. It was the ultimate dream. But when you get close to it you actually realise you enjoy working and succeeding in goals you set yourself."
A future in coaching "I'm taking my coaching badges but I'm not too sure. I'm really keen to get into business, so we'll see."
His book "I really wanted to get the journey we're on out in the public – a bit about what's going on behind the scenes so people can know more about us and have an affiliation with the players, so they sort of know them. It's always better to support a team when you know some of the personalities involved."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/football/3701361/Double-life-of-All-Whites-captain-Ryan-Nelsen