Here come the Football Ferns, with defender Meikayla Moore coming back in more ways than one. Kristy Havill reports
You can be forgiven for being swept up in Rugby World Cup mayhem this week.
But a public service announcement for all: the Football Ferns are coming home.
And thank goodness there’s not going to be a horrendous schedule clash with our Black Ferns in the World Cup final.
Not since 2018 have the Football Ferns played in New Zealand, but for defender Meikayla Moore, it’s been an even longer wait to play for the national team in Christchurch. In fact, this is the first time she's played an international in her hometown.
It's been a year of two halves for the 26-year-old, who found herself in global headlines back in February after conceding a hat-trick of own goals for the Ferns against the all-conquering United States at the SheBelieves Cup.
The television coverage clips did the rounds of social media, and she was grilled on the subject in every interview or public appearance thereafter.
It even features in the first paragraph of her Wikipedia page. Kudos to anyone who goes and edits that out.
After featuring in Liverpool’s championship-winning campaign to take the Reds back to the top-flight of English women’s football, Moore not re-signed by the club at the conclusion of her contract in May.
But with all great setbacks comes even bigger comebacks.
By July, Moore was signing on the dotted line up north of the border at Glasgow City FC in the top tier of Scottish women’s football.
And in September, she was back at the same venue in Los Angeles as the infamous hat-trick, this time vanquishing her demons as she scored from the penalty spot to bring the Ferns level with the Philippines before teammate Ali Riley scored the winner in the 83rd minute.
“For me I look back on September now, and realise it gave me the opportunity to give me a full circle moment,” Moore reveals.
“Within the timeframe I had between February and September it was always going to be tough for me to go back, but I worked immensely with my therapist who I’ve worked with previously as well.
“We did so much work, and I’m pretty darn proud of how I handled going back. So that September tour was definitely one of redemption. Although I didn’t go there looking for it, it evidently played out that way.”
Moore isn’t one to shy away from speaking about hard times, and sharing the importance of asking for help from a professional to navigate tricky waters.
“I did get ridiculed after the hat-trick, and it was a challenging time so I wouldn’t have got through it without my therapist’s support, which I appreciate I’m in a fortunate position to receive,” Moore says.
“But he also thanked me, because it was such a crazy period no player has ever really had to face before so we were charting uncommon territory together. We didn’t know how best to attack it, we just had to take it day-by-day.”
Together they created an action plan for the tour in September. “I remember playing the first game not on the same pitch but on one next door, so it was the same bus entrance and we were in the same changing room,” Moore says.
“It just all washed over me and I started getting flashbacks of everything, but because I had my plan it was about making it as simple as possible.
“The tour was about flipping the narrative, but also about enjoying my football again. LA definitely offered me the opportunity for that, and I remember after the game I could go to the edge of the pitch, and I just sat down and had a cry. And it felt like the end of a chapter.
“I was very fortunate that could happen, because I could easily not have played in LA for another couple of years so would I have been carrying it around with me for all that time?
“But now it’s about what can I do to leave a different legacy for myself.”
Reflecting on her time at one of the most famous sports clubs in the world, Moore freely admits it didn’t go to plan on the field with limited playing opportunities afforded to her.
But what it gave her will always ensure the club and city hold a special place in her heart.
One memory that will stand the test of time for Moore is the men’s and women’s teams victory parade on top of buses through the streets of Liverpool, the place awash with adoring fans.
The women were celebrating their Championship win, while the men were enjoying the spoils of another successful season under the tenure of Jurgen Klopp after securing the FA Cup and the League Cup.
“It was absolutely phenomenal, I can’t really put into words the feeling we all felt,” Moore recalls.
“They talk about people making a city, and Scousers certainly make Liverpool what it is. On that day you wouldn’t know there are two clubs there [referring to Everton]. It was blanketed with red, nearly 750,000 people there and went for almost six hours.
“I don’t remember looking at my watch once, it was insane.”
Klopp also played an integral role in another of Moore’s highlights from her time at the club, as the pair sat down together for an important chat last November for the annual Rainbow Laces campaign.
It’s a movement extremely close to Moore’s heart as a self-described ‘out and proud footballer’, who dedicates a lot of her free time to raising awareness of the rainbow community and encouraging allyship with it.
In a relaxed and charismatic chat over a cuppa, Klopp and Moore traversed topics ranging from the importance of educating yourself, being authentic and also the significance of inclusivity and awareness for the LGBTQI+ community in sport.
The video clip published on Liverpool FC’s YouTube page received a lot of traction around the UK and further afield, with the genuine nature of the conversation between the pair evident.
“He was so personable, and it was actually meant to be one of the male players doing it. But they were unavailable, so he stepped in,” Moore remembers.
“It was just so natural, there was no script. The media team had pointers for us to hit but we didn’t need it. He knew about me, he knew I’d played in Germany, and it was such a beautiful conversation. I left that interview with the biggest smile.”
It was a friendship that would continue, with Klopp sending Moore a message of support and encouragement following her setback in LA.
Reflecting on her own journey to LockerRoom about becoming comfortable in her own skin as a publically-out footballer, Moore shares it would have been a much more difficult task without the support of loved ones.
“I was very fortunate to have a family that wanted me to be myself,” Moore says.
“I came out very young, so that definitely helped because I’ve had nearly 10 years now to really be with myself after coming out. The biggest thing with all of this is I want to encourage people to be their true selves.
“The world is already such a tough place and if I can do my part by sharing my story and being openly honest about who I am, and I can help one individual, then that’s something right?
“It took me a while to get to this place, and it’s only in the last couple of years that I’ve got to be really out and proud.”
Importantly for Moore she’s found an equally supportive environment on the field up at Glasgow City, a club purely dedicated to women’s football.
Founded by two friends, Laura Montgomery and Carol Anne Stewart, in 1998, the club went from having one senior team to now having 13 sides, including a thriving girls youth academy.
Today, Montgomery is the CEO of the club while Stewart is a director, and also head of operations for the club’s foundation which aims to create opportunities for women and girls.
So despite the days getting shorter and the relentless rain Scotland is renowned for making its presence known, the joy isn’t far from Moore’s voice speaking about her new team.
“A big thing for me moving here was to find a place where I could really be comfortable and get back to where I was, and Glasgow City uphold a lot of values that I do as an individual,” Moore admits.
“In this day and age it’s impressive that it’s a standalone women’s club without a male team. Their motto is to empower women, which is what I’m about, so it’s a very cool place.
“Laura and Carol are amazing, and I think it’s so cool to be part of a club like that. They’re our trailblazers for women’s football, and I love the team as well.”
She doesn’t have to look far to find a familiar Kiwi face in the city, with cousin Josh McKay also there plying his trade for the Glasgow Warriors rugby team after playing for Canterbury, the Crusaders and the Highlanders in New Zealand.
But needless to say, she’s looking forward to swapping hemispheres for some warmer weather in Christchurch this week, as the Football Ferns link up for the first time since the FIFA Women’s World Cup draw a couple of weeks ago.
With the garden city missing out on hosting FIFA Women’s World Cup fixtures next year, it’s an opportune time for sport-loving Cantabrians to see international football up close.
There are not many more looking forward to the two matches against South Korea than Moore, who’s amassed over 50 caps for the side after making her debut in 2013.
“It’s pretty exciting to come home,” Moore says. “And I think my family is most excited about it – especially my grandma, she is absolutely buzzing.
“It’s a cool opportunity for us to play there and hopefully put on a good show, and then the people from that region can go to Dunedin or Wellington or further north to see us at the World Cup.”
New Zealand will open the FIFA tournament with a Group A clash against Norway on July 20 at Eden Park, before then lining up against Switzerland and the Philippines to round out the group stages.
“I think a lot of footballers will agree that you wait for the draw to happen, and who you’re going to get,” Moore shares.
“The coaching staff have probably had a few things on hold for the coming months about who we could play, but now they can cement those and we can prepare for who we’re going to face and plan even more.
“Fortunately we’ve played two of those sides recently [Norway and Philippines], and yes, it’s a more favourable draw than we’ve had in the past since we’re hosting. So we need to take advantage of that.”
It hasn’t been lost on the Football Ferns just how brilliant Aotearoa has been at mobilising behind the Black Ferns during the current Rugby World Cup, and Moore has no doubt Kiwis will turn up in their droves again for women’s sport next year.
“The Rugby World Cup has been another great example after the Cricket World Cup of great women’s sporting tournaments being held in New Zealand,” Moore says.
“A World Cup is a huge event, and football is a worldwide phenomenon, so I think New Zealand will definitely show up and you can already see that in the ticket sales.
“Where women’s football is right now is just so exciting, and Kiwis love sport anyway, so I’d get behind any team because the game is in a phenomenal period at the moment and it’s going to soar again after the World Cup.”
More tickets have been sold in one month for the 2023 edition than were sold in the first four months of passes going on sale for the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France - with buyers coming from 100 countries around the world already.
One World Cup journey comes to an end this weekend, but for Moore, another is just beginning.
* The Football Ferns play the first of two matches with Korea Republic, in Christchurch on Saturday at 2pm, live on Sky Sport 1.
