The New Zealand fan was despondent. He had just witnessed history in Paris, where rugby’s best team, the New Zealand All Blacks, had suffered their first defeat in the World Cup group stages. But when asked if he had a message for his countrymen back home, he looked into the TV camera, grinned and cheered: “Up the Wahs.”
That would be a reference to the New Zealand Warriors, long a footnote in the sporting history of this rugby-mad country. But in recent weeks, as the All Blacks, the once-mighty national team, have struggled, New Zealanders have found inspiration in the Warriors, a professional side.
A rare run of victories has put the Warriors within reach of their first title in Australia’s National Rugby League, where they are the only foreign team. Their rise is in stark contrast to the recent fortunes of the All Blacks.
“The All Blacks are performing at a World Cup, and everyone at home is wearing Warriors jerseys,” says Uzair Kalim, a longtime Warriors fan living in Auckland. “It’s great to see.”
As Warrior mania grips New Zealand, home games at their 25,000-seat stadium in Auckland are consistently sold out. Even casual fans are flaunting themselves with the team’s tiki mascot, a team dance has gone viral on TikTok, a local brewery has produced and sold an unauthorized tribute beer, and the “up the Wahs” cheer has become part of everyday conversations, even proclaimed by the speaker in parliament.
Although both teams technically play rugby, in many ways they couldn’t be more different. The Warriors play rugby league, a variant of the game that is essentially a different sport from rugby union played by the All Blacks. They have a much smaller profile, while the All Blacks play on an international stage.
The All Blacks have a monochrome look, while the Warriors wear an eclectic blue kit with stripes of red, white and green. And the All Blacks perform their famous, ceremonial haka before every match, while the Warriors typically only allow their fans to perform it before big games.
In their thirty years of existence, the Warriors have not won a single league title. The All Blacks are one of the most successful teams in sporting history, with a winning record of almost 80 percent.
But for some fans, the Warriors’ underdog status is the point.
“They’ve been through some harrowing lows, but they’ve got you in their grasp,” said Will Evans, co-host of a fan podcast called “This Warriors Life,” who cried tears of joy as the team took the field in the most recent game . “There’s a sense of wanting to be there for the success that seems so tantalizingly close.”
The Warriors have reached the championship game twice before: in 2011 and 2002. Last season they finished near the bottom of the ladder. The new season brought a new coach, Andrew Webster, who came into the job with limited experience. But thanks to his guidance, the skill of key players like captain Tohu Harris and a good dose of luck, the Warriors are now in the semi-finals of the competition this weekend.
“It’s one of the big turnarounds,” Mr Evans said. “It was so great to have them there, with a packed stadium and a feeling of unity. It was euphoric.”
The team has even become a talking point, however minor, in national politics ahead of next month’s elections. At a recent press conference, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was asked about his favorite chant – he chose ‘up the Wahs’ over the less popular ‘let’s go Warriors’ – and agreed to appear in a video with his main political rival to give the team a to give you a push. on.
For many longtime Warriors fans, the sudden support was disorienting, but satisfying. “Everyone loves an underdog, and the Warriors are a perennial underdog,” Kalim said. “I have no problem with it. Welcome to the bandwagon!”
While many fair-weather fans and recent converts seem to take for granted that the team will succeed in their quest for its first league title, some veteran supporters are finding the cynicism created by years of losing harder to shake.
“We’re winning, but we don’t trust it,” said “Fonzie,” Mr. Evans’ anonymous co-host. “It always feels like something goes wrong and we fall off the wagon.”
However, encouraged by the wave of enthusiasm, he could not help but be hopeful. “The analyst in me says we have zero chance of a snowball, but all your previous assumptions go out the window that day.”
As Mr. Kalim put it: “Anything is possible, right?”