Bargain- basement Kiwi Ferns get ready to cash in
Teuila Fotu- Moala’s journey to the pinnacle of women’s rugby league typifies the hard road taken by many of her teammates to tonight’s World Cup final against Australia in Brisbane.
A hard- hitting back- rower who has already named player of the tournament, Fotu- Moala has broken through cultural and gender stereotypes as well as religious barriers to win her family’s support and approval.
The 24- year- old explained her family initially frowned on her playing league, before it became clear she was destined to reach the top of her sport.
“I wasn’t allowed to play on Sundays and because I was a girl my family would stop me from playing, but I kept sneaking out of the house and just going anyway,” said FotuMoala.
“It wasn’t feminine to be out of the house training at night and stuff.
“They’d [ say] ‘ you’re supposed to be at church’. They wanted me to be real traditional but I just rebelled against everything and kept playing.
“Later on, as I made the Kiwis, I started being supported and [ they] started pushing me to do the best I could.
“They saw me play and saw I was doing well and they just let it go because they got tired of saying no.”
Beating the Australian Jillaroos will be a tough assignment but Fotu- Moala and her fellow Kiwi Ferns are used to overcoming adversity.
Each of the 24- woman squad has had to make huge personal sacrifices in balancing their playing careers with work and family commitments during their build- up to the tournament over the last year.
The side has been well- supported and provided for by tournament organisers and the New Zealand Rugby League, but like the struggling second- tier nations in the men’s World Cup, the players have had to get by on the minimum $ 30 daily allowance, with bonus payments for reaching and winning tonight’s clash at Suncorp Stadium their only significant financial reward.
“It’s the first team in a long time I’ve coached where they’re not being paid,” said coach Tony Benson. “They were training three times a week and some of them are travelling pretty big distances to do that, sometimes with kids, or finding babysitters and dropping them off and then racing off to training and picking them up afterwards . . . not getting home until 9.30 or 10pm at the earliest three times a week.
“They’re superb — they don’t ask for anything and appreciate everything they’ve got.”
It’s a different story to the com- paratively cashed- up Jillaroos, who are contracted to, and paid by, their club sides, respective states and the Australian Rugby League. The reigning champions also enjoying the luxury of high performance training programmes and team camps.
The Kiwi Ferns’ financial struggles are nothing new for retiring captain Laura Mariu, who will make her last test appearance tonight after playing in all five women’s tournaments since 2000.
“It has been tough over the years but I’m used to it,” said Mariu.
“We have had to fund- raise to go over to World Cups in the past and that’s become a part of the whole women’s rugby league lifestyle.
“It’s been a year of tough training on top of working nine- to- five jobs. We’ve got our families to worry about and our kids to go to school.
“There’s so many sacrifices we’ve had to make and the commitment to this campaign does take its toll, but at the end of the day we’re doing something that we love.”
With the end of the campaign now in view, Benson said it had been difficult breaking the news of team selections to players who have missed out on a spot in the game day 17.
“Getting to the business end and some of them are not making it and it’s devastating for them because they’ve worked so hard for nearly a year.
“In the past it’s not really worried me too much but it’s quite emotional for everybody at this stage. The commitments we’ve made, now it means so much to gets something back from it on Saturday night.”