2023: Hissing straight out the gate

Nothing is slowing down for women's sport

All the wāhine that competed at the third annual Surely Shred competition

I’m going to be honest with you, I was pretty damn exhausted after the emotional rollercoaster that was last year’s Rugby World Cup. I never thought we would get that far, both as a team and an audience, to build to something that big.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same. While Aotearoa was rushing to bookshops to get their hands on *the* summer read, Ruby Tui’s book, we are still left in a bit of a vacuum in what comes next.

All the momentum we built over those six week’s is feeling a little flat with no Black Ferns head coach announcement, no home test confirmed and no Ruby Tui in action. Does that mean that women’s sport is going to go back quietly to the sidelines? Abso-fucking-lutely not.

Team, I know I owe you an apology for the length between posts but the reality is, I have never been busier. I’m out here without the safety net of a part time job now and on the hustle to make this freelancer thing work for me and the suspicious thing is, it seems to be coming together.

That in itself has to be a sign of the changing tides for women’s sport. I would love to think I am this charming and hireable but I’m nothing without an engaged audience and more folks are switching on to women’s sport.

I thought I would be easing into the year but no. I’ve already been to three major wāhine sports events just last week. The US Women’s Soccer team played our Football Ferns, the Surely Skate Surely Shred competition up in Gisborne and the Super Smash-ing of all the records for the Wellington Blaze last Monday.

Every where you look, there are things to plug into. So while we wait for our favourite team (okay, my favourite team) to get themselves together, here are a couple of things you can get amongst right now.

The Unstoppable Wellington Blaze

It’s really nice of cricket to make my home team the best one. Currently the Wellington Blaze are on a 19 game winning streak. That’s even without the mighty shoulders of Sophie Devine to carry us through. Two debutants from across the ditch, Laura Harris and Charli Knott, turned up and whacked a century off 37 balls last match. WHAT??

If you live in Pōneke, you can next see them in action on Sunday 5 February.
Tickets are here!

This was the moment I realised I had jinxed my mate and Blaze player, Thamsyn Newton, once again with my presence.

The Fabulous Phoenix

This season the Phoenix finally got to play at home after being based in Aussie for their inaugural season. They are playing out of the Sky Stadium in Wellington and with the FIFA Women’s World Cup just around the corner, now is the chance to get yourself acquainted with some of the wāhine that will be suiting up for the Football Ferns.

Brianna Edwards, Mackenzie Barry, Grace Wisnewski and Paige Satchell all went back to back within 20 hours (which feels dodgy but ANYWAY) turning out for the Football Ferns then the Wellington Phoenix.

They are battling away but managed to locked in their first win last week, so now is a good time to jump on the bandwagon!

Next game is 5pm this Saturday against the Brisbane Roar, live on Sky Sport 7.

Over 12,000 of us turned out to watch the Football Ferns take on the World Champs, USA last Wednesday.

Aupiki just around the corner

I spent the most part of yesterday making a series of very geeky spreadsheets to track all the signings, omissions and transfers that have taken place in the lead up to second season of Super Rugby Aupiki.

There is some really juicy stuff in there which I’m going to write up for you over the next few weeks before the season kicks off on Saturday 25 February.

In the meantime, there is a game of three halves that has been organised between the defending champions the Chiefs Manawa, the Blues and the Super W’s Waratahs. This will be televised on Sky on Friday 17 February with the first half starting at 2.40pm.

Those in red weren’t announced in original team lists but then ended up playing. Those in grey didn’t get to play at all. But with only two matches and COVID ripping through the camps, non-selection was hardly indicative of performance.

And while you’re here…
You may have seen the brilliant work of Team Heroine and their #CorrecttheInternet campaign which is seeking to address the bias built into to our search engines when it comes to women’s sport.

If you haven’t seen it yet, please take a look. It’s fantastic stuff and something I’m sure we can all get behind!

With you,

Alice