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It is not surprising the All Blacks or Black Ferns have never had a female coach. Rugby has historically been amaledominated sport, played and run by males. Similarly the Silver Ferns have never had amale head coach, as participation has been predominantly female, though men are now getting involved in the sport, namely the indoor social scene.

New Zealand Rugby’s head of women’s rugby, Cate Sexton, says one key reason why females don’t hold coaching roles in rugby was because of other work commitments. GETTY IMAGES

‘‘Also it is incredibly hard, as it is in the male space, to be amateur and coach and hold down a full time job – as it is with players. There’s a lifestyle choice there too I believe.

‘‘We have to create an environment where they are comfortable and want to be better coaches. But it is a bit of a juggling act for women who are mums and have families and work full time.

‘‘At the moment we don’t have a lot of women applying for these roles so it is really hard to appoint awoman when they’re not applying.’’

Sexton believed that often women lacked the confidence to apply for roles they were capable of in rugby, while men would throw their name in the hat without thinking about it.

She would like to see this trend change and have more applications from women for top coaching roles. However there were capable men in these positions.

‘‘These women need to put their name in the hat and be part of the coaching scene.

‘‘There are women who want to be in these positions, but they want to be there because they are the best and not because they are awoman. But we have to have those people wanting to step in and we have to have them put their name in the hat.’’

Basketball New Zealand was another of the country’s main sporting organisations where males dominated coaching roles. Paul Henare (Tall Blacks) and Guy Malloy (Tall Ferns) coach the national sides, despite basketball being one of the fastest growing sports for young females in New Zealand.

Chief executive Iain Potter said in both a participation and coaching sense, there is amale skew in basketball.

‘‘We believe basketball could one day rival others as the most popular female sport in New Zealand, but the data we have shows we are many years away from that and we have a lot of work to do.’’

Unlike other top-tier sports, Basketball NZ invests the same budget for the Tall Blacks, as for the Tall Ferns.

However applications for the Tall Ferns to High Performance Sport New Zealand, have been declined while the men receive $150,000 from the government funded HPNZ.

‘‘We believe the Tall Ferns case is a strong one though and that will hopefully shine through in time.’’

Hockey New Zealand has never employed awoman in a head coaching role for the Black Sticks men or women. It is confident women in the game are well supported.

‘‘Hockey is a genuine dual gender sport and Hockey NZ and its associations provide equal opportunities for men and women to participate as players, coaches, umpires and technical officials. So certainly to answer the question, yes everyone, including women, are well supported.’’