When a trio from the Hauraki Plains Football Club kicked off the From the Plains to the Pitch Podcast in July last year, they never imagined how far it would reach.
Club president and podcast host Matt Vendt, vice president and co-host Jack MacDonald and co-host and producer Alex Langton are the dream team behind the podcast, which hosts conversations and interviews with people about sports, mental health and community.
“We’ve got listeners in China, Japan, Australia, the UK,” Matt told The Profile.
“We’ve already hit over 400,000 listens. So yeah, it’s pretty out of it.”
The idea came about when Matt said he was at home brainstorming different things the club could do and an ad for a podcast popped up on the television – “basically I just thought, I wonder if that’s something we could do”.
He approached Jack and Alex who were keen to jump on board with the vision and the rest was history. “We’ve started this podcast because we believe strong communities are built through shared stories and connection.”
Now 12 episodes in, the grassroots podcast has interviewed people from the football-mad Rawnsley family at Hauraki Plains FC to FIFA Club World Cup star and Auckland City Football Club’s Alfie Rogers and Thames Valley Vixen and Women’s Rugby advocate Natalie O’Neil to a mental health series with Craig Bulloch of MATES Matter NZ and Robert Dunne of Movember New Zealand. “I think that’s been such a big buzz for us, and obviously the amount of people from around the world and from New Zealand that are listening,” Matt said.
“Four hundred thousand listens is people that have listened to it fully, like the whole episode, so for us, they’re obviously getting something out of it and listening to the whole thing. We’re obviously having an impact on someone worldwide.
“It could be something simple that ends up helping someone out or resonating with someone and maybe changing their thinking or maybe giving them some ideas.”
Matt said a few “massive episodes” were in the works, with well-known names from cricket, rowing and even the All Blacks.
“We’ve got some pretty big names coming up, which is just crazy. I literally just messaged some of these people on Instagram and suddenly they’re messaging me back saying they want to jump on board.
“As soon as you mention you’re just a small grassroots club and this is what you talk about – people are just like ‘lets do it’.”
Matt said they were away for a few football games last year and players from the opposition told them they listened to the podcast.
“It’s so amazing, we’re getting recognised now, which is pretty weird, but it’s cool.”
DETAILS: Listen to the From the Plains to the Pitch podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and iHeartRadio. To get in touch with the hosts, email: fromtheplainstothepitch@gmail.com.
By DAVIDDA HIKATANGATA
