The vanguard of women's football in Aotearoa is amazed by how far the game has come over the last 50 years, with the FIFA Women's World Cup leading to near sold-out stadiums.
The sport has come a long way since the first Football Ferns team was established in the '70s — before that, women's football was considered nothing more than a potential 'hobby' for 'young ladies'.
Seven Sharp caught up with Barbara Cox, New Zealand's first ever Football Fern, whose passion has paved the way for today's stars.
The number one fern played her first game aged 26 in 1973, encouraged by her husband — and she's been hooked for 50 years.
"My mother would be mad because I would ladder my stockings and things like that but there's just this freedom to be able to run... I just fell in love, and the love has stayed for a long time," she said.
But it hasn't always felt that way for female footballers in New Zealand.
Barbara's daughter Michele had a hard time fitting into the footballing landscape when she was younger.
"When I played as a five-year-old, it was me and 500 boys.
"It was so uncool to play football for a girl at my age, and I was stopped at 10 years old from playing with the boys and had to go into senior football as an 11-year-old playing against 30/40-year-old women."
However, the football fraternity didn't bank on Michele's fierce footballing mum — who fought tooth and nail to allow her to play with her peers.
"They wouldn't allow girls and boys to play together, so I went to the Human Rights Commission, and they agreed, but unfortunately the JFK took no notice… I think it was 1984 before girls and boys could play together," Barbara said.
Michele said that back then, women wanting to play football had to face a number of roadblocks to get into the game.
"I wanted to start a football team at my high school. They said it's not ladylike to play football," she said.
"It's taken a long time to get to where we are, and that's why I am so glad to see this World Cup."
Once the two women proved their prowess on the pitch, international games were often played — wearing hand-me-down uniforms from the male All Whites team.
Michele has now turned her life experiences into a series of books for kids.
"I thought, why don't I write something really cool about football and girls' love of football but it's not just about girls. It's about boys as well," she said.
She's got a captive audience now, with young eyes glued to the spectacle of football and dreaming big.
"To see how this is changed and the development in the game is amazing," Michele said.
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