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https://theconversation.com/the-black-ferns-review-shows-again-why-real-change-in-womens-high-performance-sport-is-urgently-overdue-181144>
"New Zealand Rugby’s just released report into the culture of the Black Ferns
national women’s team is damning, but sadly all too familiar.
Like a number of previous investigations into elite sporting codes – including
football, cycling, rowing and gymnastics – it reveals abuses of power and
inadequate systems that are failing sportswomen. Despite significant investment
in women’s sport over recent years, its rapid professionalisation is exposing
problems in systems designed by and for men.
Rugby may be New Zealand’s national game, but it is the women’s team that has
brought home more World Cup titles. Historically under-funded and under-valued,
the women’s game (both 15- and 7-aside) has become a source of national pride
and mana with a strong player culture.
Until very recently, the Black Ferns have dominated the international game. But
the team’s disappointing end-of-year European tour did not go to plan. Back
home and stuck in quarantine with no support, Black Fern Te Kura
Ngata-Aerengamate used social media to express her concerns about the coaching
culture:
My confidence and self esteem was so low that it made me play like I was
walking on egg shells and was constantly too scared to express myself […] I
let the words over the years get to me, the words became the flesh.
The Instagram post prompted internal and external demands for an inquiry, with
New Zealand Rugby commissioning the “cultural and environmental review” that
hit this week like a hard tackle."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
