Motions — Black Ferns—Women’s Rugby World Cup Victory

I seek leave to move a motion without notice relating to the Black Ferns’ world cup victory.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is no objection.

I move, That this House congratulate the Black Ferns on their outstanding result in winning the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup.

On Monday morning the Black Ferns won an unprecedented fourth consecutive Women’s Rugby World Cup title. In the final at Twickenham they beat England 13-10 despite being down to 13 players for a time. The final was a highly physical game. The Black Ferns showed the immense pride they feel in wearing the silver fern by responding to England’s challenge in emphatic fashion. Coach Brian Evans, captain Melissa Ruscoe, and the whole team can take great pride in their win. I am sure that all New Zealanders will join me saying how proud we are of them.

It was a tremendous team effort, but I make special note of Otago winger Carla Hōhepa, who scored New Zealand’s only try in the final. Carla finished as the tournament’s joint top scorer and was later named the International Rugby Board’s women’s personality of the year for 2010.

Rugby is our national game and one of our most popular sports. It gives us an opportunity to celebrate passion, skill, dedication, teamwork, and success—all attributes demonstrated so well by the Black Ferns. They are great ambassadors for New Zealand. They have shown the world just how strong rugby is here and what New Zealanders can achieve when they set their minds to it. The Black Ferns are also great role models for us all. I am sure their achievements will inspire and motivate future generations of rugby players in New Zealand.

The New Zealand Government and the people of New Zealand are extremely proud of the Black Ferns. We thank them for their outstanding performance at the Women’s Rugby World Cup and we look forward to following their continued success in the years ahead.

On behalf of the Opposition, may I join with the Government—[Interruption]—

💬 Mr SPEAKER: The member has barely uttered a word. That level of interjection is totally unacceptable.

On behalf of the Opposition, may I join with the Government in extending our congratulations to the Black Ferns on their fourth consecutive victory at the International Rugby Board’s Women’s Rugby World Cup. The Black Ferns had some emphatic victories during this year’s competition, setting a clear path to the finals with huge wins over South Africa, Australia, and Wales in the pool matches, and a convincing victory over France in the semi-finals. But last Sunday the Black Ferns once again did all New Zealanders proud with their 13-10 victory over England in the grand final.

All Kiwis love to see our teams win on an international stage. As expected, news of the Black Ferns’ victory quickly hit the headlines in New Zealand, and we all rejoiced in it. I do lament, however, the tendency of our broadcast media to give greater prominence to men’s sport in their schedules than that of their women counterparts. Surely, a world champion rugby team is worthy of the same attention regardless of whether men or women took to the field.

Achieving in sport strengthens our national pride, and last Sunday the Black Ferns showed once again that the New Zealand rugby community is the best in the world. But we should never forget the path that led that team there. Once upon a time, each of the members of that team would have been perfecting their skills on community sports fields, either as children or as young adults. They may well have been coached by mums and dads in local communities, or teachers from their local schools. Their success reminds us all that we need to recognise that sporting success often begins at the grassroots level, and we should acknowledge that grassroots sports and high performance sports complement each other.

Once again, on behalf of the Opposition, I say how proud we are of the Black Ferns and congratulate them wholeheartedly on their win.

Tēnā koutou katoa. The Green Party is delighted to join our parliamentary colleagues in congratulating the Black Ferns on their extraordinary fourth successive Women’s Rugby World Cup win. We congratulate all the New Zealand players; the captain, Melissa Ruscoe; the coach, Brian Evans; and the team staff. Winning the world cup is a fantastic achievement, and winning it four times in a row is simply outstanding. We congratulate also Carla Hōhepa, who was standout player of the tournament and on Monday was named the International Rugby Board’s women’s personality of the year.

Of course, this is not the first time Parliament has moved to congratulate a Kiwi sports team for its awesome achievement on the world stage this year. I am especially delighted today that we are congratulating a women’s team. I hope that the extraordinary success of the Black Ferns will help to promote and encourage women’s rugby and women’s sport in general in Aotearoa New Zealand.

One thing that makes the Black Ferns’ win so impressive is the limited resources with which they have been able to achieve it. These world champions also hold down full-time jobs and balance their high performance sporting lives with other professional commitments. Their opportunities to practise their skill through club rugby and provincial competition are limited and they must fund-raise intensively. Not long ago I recall buying a raffle ticket to support our world champion Black Ferns. As we look towards 2016, when both women’s and men’s Rugby Sevens will become an Olympic sport, I hope that increased gender equality in the sport, greater opportunities for competition, and more exciting success stories like this one will help to secure ongoing support, recognition, and funding for women’s rugby here in Aotearoa.

This team is well named. The mamaku or black tree fern is the tallest and fastest growing fern in Aotearoa, and it unfurls to produce a stunning umbrella canopy of fronds. I again congratulate the Black Ferns, and everyone who supports them, on their stunning achievements. I tell them to enjoy their well-deserved celebration. Nō reira, kia ora wāhine toa. Kia kaha. Kia ora koutou katoa.

The ACT Party rises with the rest of New Zealand to congratulate the Black Ferns. Like the rest of New Zealand and this Parliament, the ACT Party supports all sportspeople, men and women—

💬 Hon Darren Hughes: Oh!

I know that it is confusing for Darren Hughes but we support all sportspeople, men and women, particularly our world champions, who show what New Zealanders are capable of.

As the outstanding playmaker and try scorer when I play rugby, it gives me great pleasure to stand on behalf of the Māori Party to support all the discussion today in respect of the Black Ferns’ win. I congratulate, as others have done, Carla Hōhepa from Te Awamutu for becoming the International Rugby Board’s woman personality of the year for 2010. It is pretty awesome to wake up to victories like this one and that of the basketball team, although that success was short-lived; they help to offset the catastrophes that we have had in the last couple of days.

I endorse the remarks about the team’s amazing achievement of victories over Australia, Wales, South Africa, and France, and—as the Prime Minister noted—beating England 13-10 in the final. It puts this Black Fern team among the very best, having recorded world cup wins in 1998, 2002, and 2006. That history is quite important. It means that we need to take a little more note of Dr Farah Palmer, the captain of the Black Ferns in her time, who has asked the Rugby Union not to drop the ball. She believes that women’s rugby got a slap in the face this year when its national championship was dumped. Women’s rugby, along with New Zealand Māori rugby, has been a big casualty of the cost-cutting measures of the New Zealand Rugby Union. That is against the fact that—and I know, having refereed a couple of games—Māori and Pasifika players have a huge influence amongst these particular teams.

Earlier this week there was an article with the headline: “Black Ferns conquer odds to win World Cup”. It is bizarre that women’s rugby most definitely is the poor relation, as mentioned by other members, when it comes to national support. While the English have poured millions of pounds into supporting their side, it seems that the New Zealand Rugby Union is a little bit reluctant to put the same investment into the Black Ferns. In fact, it is an indictment on our national game that women’s rugby did not have a national provincial championship this year. It is limited to club level, budgets have been slashed, and even the franchise-based secondary school competition is gone. That is hardly the best platform we could expect to prepare the team for the women’s rugby sevens event at the 2016 Olympics.

Against that background, we acknowledge the remarkable achievement of the Black Ferns on the international field. Despite everything—the lack of funding, the sin-binning, and the withdrawal of support—they brought the cup home. Ka nui te mihi ki a rātou. The Māori Party is delighted to celebrate their fantastic success.

I join with others in congratulating the Black Ferns on their unparalleled fourth Women’s Rugby World Cup victory. It is an achievement that is enviable and speaks volumes for their commitment, their skill, their dedication, their preparation, and their tenacity in overcoming what seems to be the bane of New Zealand teams, male and female, competing in international rugby competitions—the ubiquitous yellow card of the referee.

I join with others in commending the Black Ferns on their achievement and lamenting the lack of support and coverage that their achievements and ongoing competitions receive. Now that we have a four-time world champion team within our midst, I hope we can start to see some of the credibility they have achieved on the international stage reflected in the way they are treated and respected at home.

They are all wonderful people in terms of the occupations and careers they hold and their dedication to their sport. They are exemplary role models. This country can be extremely proud of their achievements.

Motion agreed to.