Fan gets Black Ferns on cards

A 6-year-old Christchurch girl has scored the ultimate try for women’s sport – getting the Black Ferns on the Sanitarium Weet-Bix Stat Attack collectable cards.

Rugby-mad Daisy Dawson questioned Sanitarium on why the world champion Black Ferns did not feature on the collectable cards when the All Blacks, who are only third place, do.

Stat Attack cards come in 750g and 1.2kg boxes of Weet-Bix. The playing cards feature statistics of the All Blacks players in the team, including their height, weight, test points, test caps and how many Weet-Bix they can eat.

Daisy wrote a letter to Sanitarium asking it to consider putting the female team on the cards in October but was disappointed with the response.

The makers of Weet-Bix said the Black Ferns had been included in a one-off set of cards in 2018. It said it had a 20-year-long partnership with the All Blacks, and also focused on sponsoring the Weet-Bix TRYathalon every year.

But all Daisy wanted was to see her favourite player, Kendra Cocksedge, on one of the cards. ‘‘She’s small like me,’’ she said. So Daisy teamed up with the consumer affairs television programme Fair Go to get some better answers.

‘‘Don’t get me wrong – I’m an All Blacks fan too,’’ she said in the show, which aired on Monday night. ‘‘But why can’t we collect Black Ferns Weet-Bix cards for a change? It’s not like Weet-Bix would lose customers.’’

And Daisy was right. Her touch team of youngsters, including her friends Bella Mills, 6, and Briley Bellam, 7, also wanted to see the female team on the cards.

In response to Daisy’s campaign, Sanitarium portfolio brand manager Hayley Scott sent a video message to Daisy to reveal that the Black Ferns would feature on the Stat Attack cards next year.

‘‘We’re really proud to announce that in 2023, you’ll be able to collect both All Black and Black Ferns cards in your Weet-Bix boxes.’’

Sanitarium and the Black Ferns have been approached for comment.

Daisy said the success was a ‘‘try for women’s sport’’.

And if Sanitarium was stuck for ideas on what the Black Fern stats could be – team Thunder and team Lightning might be able to help.

‘‘We’ve already got ideas for what the Black Ferns special stats could be,’’ Daisy said, which included power and speed.

‘‘And with the Black Ferns back on Weet-Bix cards – it might not be long until you see us on them too.’’

A Christchurch girl has scored, in her own words, ‘‘a try for women’s sport’’ – getting the Black Ferns on the Sanitarium Weet-Bix Stat Attack collectable cards.