Bullied girl’s big moment with the Black Ferns
At the end of Black Ferns training in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, the large group huddles in and breaks into a rhythmic song that involves much clapping and the swaying of hips. A little girl is hustled out in the middle to join them.
This is a standard end to a Black Ferns training session, where the players gather in and mark another hard day’s work with a musical expression that’s special to them. Except this time it’s just a little different, with the inclusion of the young bystander, Mateja, from west Sydney.
She had been identified by the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Jamie Tout, as someone who had apparently suffered some bullying at school because she was a rugby player.
The Black Ferns could not have that. As soon as they heard about Mateja’s story, they invited the youngster, and her mother, to attend training and meet the world champion side that’s about to take on her own country’s finest this evening at the Olympic stadium.
It’s what these Black Ferns do. They play mighty fine code. But they also understand this responsibility they carry as ambassadors, not just for their country, but for their sport.
So the wide-eyed little girl gets a firsthand lesson that playing rugby is not something to feel embarrassed about, but proud of. It’s a far greater message than anything a bully can impart.
Coach Glenn Moore, who guided the Black Ferns to their fifth World Cup title in Ireland last year, says the bond of the group and the spirit they engender remains a vital part of the team’s identity.
‘‘It is so important to us. The culture is something we’re really aware of and it can drive us, particularly when we’re in difficult situations. It’s something we’ve got to keep evolving.
‘‘We don’t just want to let it be what it’s been. We try to make it better every year, and some of that is growing leaders as well and growing better people.’’
Moore is well aware of the pressure and expectation that now hovers over his players every time they take the field. Having reclaimed the world crown, after England’s success in 2014, and now going down the pathway of professionalism with contracted XVs players, they are seen as the standard-bearers of the new wave of this sport.
Young Kiwi girls are coming to rugby in their droves (numbers place the distaff side as the fastest growth area), and it’s the Black Ferns they now look to as role models.
‘‘I think it’s good pressure,’’ says Moore, who has really found his coaching niche with these talented women.
‘‘We want them to be under pressure, we want them to be comfortable being in that position. It’s something we talk about, something we try to expose even when we’re training.
‘‘We talk about that pressure and the fact we’ve still got to be able to operate at a high level even though that’s on us.’’
To that end, these next two Laurie O’Reilly Memorial Trophy tests against Australia’s Wallaroos, when the women will share the Bledisloe stage in both Sydney and Auckland with the men, are hugely important for the Black Ferns.
‘‘It’s critical really,’’ Moore said. ‘‘We haven’t played for a few months other than the ‘Game of Three Halves’, and we were a little bit rusty at the front end of that. But we built into it, ended up scoring some good points, and we saw a group of players execute some pretty special skills.
‘‘We want to get the international games off to a good start. We need to win here but we need to overall put out a really good performance that will keep people talking about us.
‘‘We’re happy with where we’re at, we’re happy with the effort and the ethics the group has got, and we’ll get better each week, I’m sure.’’
With five debutantes in his 23 for today, and two – first fiveeighth Ruahei Demant and wing Alena Saili – making their first test starts, Moore is conscious that he is continuing to evolve this Ferns side as the next wave of talent starts filtering through.
And he’s certain there is more to come, as New Zealand’s young female athletes become more and more aware of rugby as a viable sporting, and career, pathway.
‘‘There’s a lot of interest coming from people in other sports. We have a contracting model now that encourages that, and we’re hoping it also will help build some more numbers and depth in the Farah Palmer Cup which will be good for the international side.’’
And once they get to these Black Ferns, a pretty special experience awaits.
‘‘We’re happy with where we’re at, we’re happy with the effort and the ethics the group has got, and we’ll get better each week, I’m sure.’’ Black Ferns coach Glenn Moore.