In a rugby-infused country such as New Zealand, and with England’s cricketers in town for a Test match this past week, Hamilton on the winding Waikato river could feel every bit the other side of the world from the Premier League that it, well, very much is.
Yet right now English football’s dream factory has never been closer. Chris Wood, their boy and New Zealand’s captain, is leading a stirring rise at Nottingham Forest this season; one that has them fourth in the league, ahead of the champions, Manchester City. Driven by Wood’s 10 goals, and with Anfield and Old Trafford having been conquered, hopes of a first European adventure since 1995-96 have been rekindled at a club with a little bit of history there.
“The effect [on football in New Zealand] has been awesome,” says Mike Groom, a former All Whites international who witnessed Wood’s formative years in Hamilton. “Chris was born to score goals in a way that cannot be coached. He is a lighthouse, a neon sign, and for all those young kids here the possibilities could be infinite.” Those kids were keen already, in fairness, with football not the niche pursuit in New Zealand some in England could assume. It holds its own against the major team sports participation-wise, sitting among a tight top five at secondary school level. Recreationally, for ages five to 17, it is No 1. The All Whites have appeared at two men’s World Cups – the last an unbeaten group stage exit in 2010 – and the Football Ferns have played on the highest stage of the women’s game an impressive six times.
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Things are stirring domestically too. Auckland FC have made their own bullocking start in their first season in Australia’s A-League and are top, going unbeaten with six wins from seven. A recent victory over the Wellington Phoenix in the “Kiwi Clasico” drew a record crowd of 26,253. Amusingly, in something of a war of capacities, it was one more than the reverse fixture’s attendance five weeks earlier. Local commentator Jason Pine called it a “cauldron”.
Kiwis are not new to the Premier League either, Ryan Nelsen at Blackburn and Winston Reid at West Ham to name a couple from the past. But Wood sitting among its leading scorers this season is a level not previously witnessed: ultimate poster-boy status, to the point of being one of the first you see on arrival at Auckland airport.
It is the apex of a nomadic and largely prolific career in England that began at West Brom and has spanned 12 clubs, including Burnley, Leeds, Leicester and Newcastle. Wood, 33, has spent more than half of his life in the UK but has never forgotten his roots. As New Zealand’s record scorer – 41 from 80 caps – he dutifully undertakes the 23,000-mile round-trip as the All Whites strive to make the 2026 World Cup in North America.
The most recent, in November, was a homecoming special of sorts, Wood scoring twice against Vanuatu at Hamilton’s Waikato Stadium, then a hat-trick against Samoa in the city of his birth, Auckland. The Oceania semi-finals and final are in March and will dictate the one automatic World Cup spot. New Zealand, hosting, appear favourites.
“You can see what a figurehead Chris is on and off the pitch,” says Groom. “All of the guys are pros but his effect on the team, as captain, is profound. The connection to his country runs deep. As an English teacher, I love the etymology of words and inspiration – from the Latin inspirare, breathe into – is so fitting here. He breathes life into them. The timing is just perfect too. We have Wellington and Auckland in the [mainly Australian]A-League, then this Kiwi in the Premier League whose name is up there in the charts with Erling Haaland and Mo Salah. Everyone in New Zealand knows who Chris Wood is now. I once had an unsuccessful trial at Manchester United and so to see Chris score [the decisive third] at Old Trafford recently … well, who would have thought it?”
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As a striker, Groom won 22 caps for New Zealand in the 1980s and first came across Wood, aged nine, while running a Brazilian-style football school in Hamilton around the turn of the century. A huge admirer of Ronaldinho, Groom wanted to imbue kids with the spirit of jogo bonito, blending futsal and street skills, and making joy the foundation of the sport. He is now aged 66, and that joy still sees him take to the field every week.
Groom was also the football coach at nearby St Paul’s Collegiate School, which Wood attended from secondary age. “We weren’t in the top echelon at the time but we started the journey and Chris was part of that rise,” he says. “Only certain schools play in the national competition and we had to get through a satellite tournament.
“It came down to our last game and I told the boys: ‘We need to make a statement, win and we’re in the top 10 and go through.’ We were losing 3-0 with 15 mins to go, then Chris scored a hat-trick and we won on penalties. Afterwards he calmly walks over and says to me: ‘There’s our top-10 finish, coach.’ I was just astounded.
“I remember another game against Cambridge, watching on the sidelines on a [cool box]. We got a free-kick inside the centre circle, I thought nothing of it, only to look up as Chris struck it over the keeper’s head. I mean, who does that? He had that blend of audacity, self-belief, awareness and skill. But it has always been underpinned by humility.”
Around this time, aged 15 and already filling out to his now imposing 6ft 3in frame, Wood was also playing senior football for Hamilton Wanderers at the Porritt Stadium. A pristine, suburban setting, like the cricket grounds of New Zealand it boasts a beautiful grass bank for spectators – a vantage point that proved the catalyst for Wood’s professional career.
Roger Wilkinson, a seasoned English coach and a disciple of John Cartwright at Crystal Palace, was working as assistant at Hamilton Wanderers; the latest role in a career that had taken him to New Zealand and the US. The head coach, Mark Cossey, ran things from the touchline, while Wilkinson preferred to watch the movement from the hill. What he saw in Wood, all physicality and anticipation, was a cut above.
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“Chris was just a natural,” says Wilkinson, 79, and still local. “It was like magic. Any time he was in the box he’d find a yard – or make a yard – and just finish. I was going back to England to work for West Brom around that time [in 2007] and recommended him for a trial. They liked what they saw straight away. They had a great academy, really good kids.
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“I remember them picking him up for pre-season one time and he was walking outside barefoot, they had to tell him ‘you can’t do that in England with all the rubbish on our pavements’. Having his mum, Julie, moving over at the start helped him too. Tony Mowbray, an excellent manager, had no issues sticking him in the odd first team at 17 and away he went. But he was always so mature and level-headed.”
For a cricket correspondent off piste on tour, these are the kind of character traits observed watching New Zealand’s remarkably resilient Black Caps over the years. See also Newcastle’s Eddie Howe expressing his delight at the selfless Wood succeeding with Forest, even if that £15m sale in 2023 – what looks like a snip right now – was followed by a sublime hat-trick on his return to St James’ Park last Christmas.
“The goals make people sit up,” says Groom. “But as Eddie said, it’s that selflessness. He was like that at school, where even as the standout he never looked at his teammates differently or shirked. When he misses a chance his focus does not diminish one bit. He is ready for the next one. So level. I just wish I’d been the same when I played.
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“Football is an uncompromising world and with all those clubs, he has had ups and downs, times when he has been booed or questioned. But he has always stayed so resilient. I just wonder if all that has polished a gem that is now glistening. The great Wynton Rufer [Werder Bremen and New Zealand] was voted Oceania’s player of the 20th century. But you could argue Chris has surpassed him.”
The plaudits makes this particular Forest fan a bit twitchy, however, with Wood’s contract up for renewal and so technically able to negotiate with overseas clubs from January. “He has been good for Forest and Forest has been good for him,” says Groom, reassuringly. “Maybe it will be a simple case of: ‘Let’s renew our vows.’” From the meandering Waikato to the banks of the Trent, Wood’s story with Forest does feel like one with chapters still to be written.
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