The Football Ferns family

After a decade together, their best is still yet to come, writes Andrew Voerman

Football Ferns coach Tony Readings calls them his side’s backbone and they consider themselves a family.

Together, they are seven players who have been at the heart of women’s football in New Zealand for the past decade – Kirsty Yallop, Abby Erceg, Ali Riley, Annalie Longo, Katie Duncan, Ria Percival and Sarah Gregorius.

They first represented their country at the 2006 under-20 World Cup in Russia.

Yallop made her Ferns debut before the rest of the group, playing a pair of games in 2004. Erceg, Percival, Duncan and Longo all joined her in 2006, just months after their campaign in Russia, promoted by John Herdman, who was their coach with the under-20s then the Ferns. Riley followed three months later, but Gregorius had to wait until September 2010.

Erceg is the side’s captain, having amassed a record 126 appearances despite being yet to turn to 27. She says the team, and the core of seven in particular, are ‘‘like family,’’ and her fellow stalwarts agree.

‘‘Because we were so young, it’s like you’re growing up with this bunch of girls, and that’s why we’re so close,’’ says Duncan.

‘‘It’s like they’re your sisters. I’ve probably spent more time with them than I have my family in the last 10 years.’’ Yallop agrees. ‘‘It’s cool to be able to play with each other,’’ says Yallop.

‘‘We’ve all known each other for such a long time and we’ve shared a lot experiences – good ones, bad ones, indifferent ones. We’ve been in all sorts of different places all over the world, and it’s amazing to share experiences like that with people you know really, really well.’’

Over the past decade New Zealand women’s football has made plenty of progress.

The Russia seven’s final game in 2006 was a 0-0 draw with Brazil. Five years later, at the senior World Cup in Germany, the Ferns won a historic point against Mexico. The following year, at the London Olympics, they beat Cameroon