In a “tide-turning” moment for sport, the Black Ferns are set to become fully professional rugby players.
By Anna Whyte and Dewi Preece
It means many of the athletes will not have to juggle training with other employment – a huge development ahead of the 2022 home Rugby World Cup.
It could see some of the top players earn more than $130,000 a year and means just over 30 athletes will secure the full-time contracts.
Black Fern Kendra Cocksedge said it was a “real exciting time and a massive step forward”.
“We've always been professional without being professional, and the Black Ferns have been really successful in that space.
“Now we can make rugby a priority every day the future of the game is looking bright.”
Many of the team members began their first day on the full-time contracts on Monday.
“I always wanted to be a pro-athlete and a pro-rugby player, and a dream came true for me yesterday, and I'm excited for what the future of the game has to come,” Cocksedge said.
The Black Ferns secured semi-professional contracts in 2018. Prior to the new full-time contracts, players would fit in a training session before and after work.
“I did struggle to wake up at 5.30am to get to training before work,” Cocksedge said. “You get to the weekend and you're a little bit exhausted. But at the same time it allowed me to get my career outside rugby as well.”
Former Black Fern and current MP Louisa Wall told 1News it was a tide-turning moment.
“They don’t have to worry about putting bread and butter on the table and a roof over their head.
“They won’t have to think about employment. When I played, it was cleaning, I was a student, and that’s what helped me get through.
“They can now 100 per cent focus on being a Black Fern and preparing for the Rugby World Cup which we will host in October this year. From their perspective, it means a lot of relief."
She said the environment for the Black Ferns had evolved hugely.
“We had no remuneration, we used to get a compensation per day when we were away. But essentially, we did it because of a love of the sport.
“The era we are in now is that rugby is a professional sport and obviously a professional sport for women means we need dedicated athletes.”
New Zealand holds the title as 2017 World Cup winners – but England sits as current world number one, while New Zealand is second and France is very close behind at third.
The Black Ferns came back from their recent European tour without a win in the four games against England and France.
“England and France have leap frogged ahead of us,” Wall said. “It’s through direct investment and the ability for those players to be professional athletes and to focus 100 per cent on performance.”
“England and France will be incredibly difficult to beat, but we now have an opportunity to be in the best position we can to win the Rugby World Cup.”
Kendra Cocksedge called it a “tough tour, but we’d rather it happen then than the World Cup”.
“We were just underdone, not having test footy for two years… and credit to England and France, they played outstanding.”
New Zealand Rugby’s head of professional rugby Chris Lendrum said the new contracts were planned in advance of the European tour and was not a reactive step to the response, and that it was a “hugely important milestone”.
He acknowledged there were people who had the view the Black Ferns should have been made fully professional earlier.
“We knew going into a World Cup year, a year where we were launching Super Rugby Aupiki… we were simply going to be asking much more from our leading women's fifteens players.
“This was the right thing to do right now.”
He said announcements around the squad and players would be made in the next few weeks.
Assistant coach Wes Clarke conceded in November there had been a large difference in recent international experience due to Covid, describing the European teams as “battle-hardened”.
He was adamant there was enough time before the World Cup, citing a poor run in the lead up to the successful 2017 campaign as evidence it can be done.
New Zealand will also launch a new Super Rugby Championship – Aupiki – with the Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes and a South Island team governed by the Crusaders set to take off in March. It means the clubs will contract players for the competition, with an aim to bridge the gap between provincial players and the Black Ferns.
An independent report of the culture in the Black Ferns’ environment is currently underway. NZR announced a review into the women's national side would take place after veteran Black Fern Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate alleged comments made by coach Glenn Moore over the years led to her having a mental breakdown.
Lendrum said they were aiming for completion in the first two months of this year, and it would “probably carry some important recommendations for us moving forward”.
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