Football fanatic relishes role inRio
A Raumati Beach woman’s passion for football and events acumen has taken her from Kapiti to the Olympics, rubbing shoulders with some of the game’s brightest stars.
Emma Luxton is working at the Paralympics in Rio as a sponsorship and hospitality manager. She was a Fifa athlete services manager at last month’s Olympics.
Her love for the game began when she was 14, when her father Paul’s team was short on numbers.
‘‘Next thing I knew I had a pair of footy boots on and off I went,’’ she said.
‘‘I enjoyed it so much I kept playing.’’
On the field, she has represented Paraparaumu College and several Kapiti clubs.
She has featured for the Southern United national women’s league team, and most recently played for Ellerslie AFC in Auckland.
However, it was during her physical education studies at Otago University, which has a strong sports business and policy focus, that she began to explore off-field roles.
The former Paraparaumu Col- lege student was offered the Fifa role while she was catering and hospitality manager at last year’s under-20 world cup in New Zealand.
The role involved managing all footballers in competition and the Olympic village, she said.
‘‘A typical match day would involve kit van management, team bus departure and arrivals, changing room management, 65 volunteers to manage, match timing and player movements, flag-bearers and youth programme management.
‘‘After the match the players go back to the changing room.
‘‘Some go to doping control and others to press conferences.
‘‘All players then go through the pressed mixed zone and on to the bus.’’
Luxton said seeing the win’s effect on her Brazilian colleagues was her Games highlight.
‘‘For Brazil to lose to Germany in the World Cup, and in the women’s Olympic tournament, it was very important for them to win the men’s final.
‘‘Some colleagues have been working on this event for years,’’ she said.
‘‘It meant a lot for it to be a success and also for Brazil to win, especially with such a big football culture here.’’