Cherry on new path for women in rugby
Former Black Fern Taranaki’s first female president
After 136 years of a male-led rugby union, former Black Fern Cherry Blyde is Taranaki Rugby’s first female president. “I am very confident that it won’t take another 136 years for there to be another female in the same role,” she said.
Chief executive Mike Sandle said she was right for the job.
“She has a great personality, she knows rugby, she has an understanding of the environment we live in, so I think she is a very-well-rounded person to be our president,” he said.
Blyde, the mother of sevens superstar Michaela Blyde, converted to rugby after missing out on a netball team.
Cherry tied her laces and never looked back.
From a sprinting background, she said she “liked the freedom to be able to go” as well as the team environment.
She said every step women took in a male-dominated sport was a win.
“There’s a lot of outstanding female athletes in the world regardless of what sport,” she said.
Cherry has played, coached, and managed teams in Taranaki and loves the uplifting stories of young girls getting involved.
“I had a lot of parents come up to me and say, ‘Oh I didn’t want my little girl to be playing rugby but she loves it and is so good at it’.”
Others have said they wished their daughter “gets to be able to do what your daughter’s done”.
Daughter Michaela is an Olympic gold medallist for the Black Ferns Sevens team, and was picked up for sevens when she was 16.
“She is a hard-working girl and will go and do whatever the coach says she needs to work on.”
Michaela played in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games, but the event of the year for her mum is the Women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, from October 8 to November 12. “Get behind it, our Black Ferns are going to do very well,” she said.