On the field Rebecca Rolls was a Football Ferns goalkeeper and cricket World Cup-winning wicketkeeper with the White Ferns. Off it, she's worked as a police detective, a general manager with the Serious Fraud Office, followed by a stint with Corrections. Currently the director of the organisation tasked with establishing the new Integrity Commission for Sport and Recreation, she talks to LockerRoom about this role, which combines two areas she's passionate about.
Let’s start with the news of the day: what have you made of the FIFA Women’s World Cup so far?
It has completely blown away everyone’s expectations including mine. It’s not just the attendance and the profile, which has been outstanding, but also the quality of the play. With 32 teams for the first time you’d expect a lot more of a broad range of skill and ability. There have been some blowouts but not necessarily the games you’d expect.
It shows that if you invest in anything – be it women’s football or anything else – you’ll start to see results when the potential is there.
How do you sum up the Football Ferns’ campaign – lost opportunity or big step forward?
A big step forward. Mainly for the younger players. If I’m honest, I thought it would be a tough ask for them to get out of the group. But the path by which they dropped out was certainly not the one I expected. It was a much prouder path, and a much harder one to take. For the most part they played out of their skins.
There is so much to be proud of. They wanted to inspire girls – and I think they inspired everyone.
Who's going to win it?
I want to say the United States but I think they have been playing within themselves. Sweden are looking particularly dangerous, and maybe Norway are timing their run perfectly after a poor start for them against the Ferns and the draw with Switzerland.
When we get into extra time and penalties it will start to come down to experience. It’s anyone’s tournament.
This is the third major women’s World Cup in New Zealand in the space of a couple of years. What impact do you think that's had in terms of elevating women’s sport here?
Cumulatively it has been enormous. And then throw in other things like the netball and the basketball, with the Leger-Walker girls for example, you just can’t argue with it now. It used to feel like you had to convince people. Now, if you are not on board then you are missing out. That’s the shift – that FOMO piece and not just in terms of fandom but also commercial opportunities.
There’s also a social impact. In terms of values – what do families want to see in their households? What kind of things do they want their kids involved in and what sort of behaviours do we want them looking at? There’s a knock-on effect for all sports there I believe.
Timely that you mention behaviours! You’ve had an interesting career outside of sport – Police detective, Serious Fraud Office, Corrections, and a spell at Sport NZ. You’re currently director of the Integrity Transition Programme. Tell us about that role.
It’s a collision of passions. I spent a lot of my non-work time on the football field and cricket fields and my professional career has been spent pretty much in the justice sector. So I guess this is where the two passions collide.
Also, as a female coming through in two different sports where we were very much the minority, I certainly had my fair share of less than ideal experiences.
Do you mean like being treated as second-class citizens – even though you were competing at international level – by any chance?
People were kind of on autopilot with women’s sport – just assuming because it had never been a focus or a priority then it never really should be. No-one has ever been able to explain to me why not.
Some have said it is not as exciting or ‘you don’t bring money in the gate’. We’ve seen lately good examples of that being a classic case of chicken and egg. If you have only ever promoted and pushed one thing – e.g. men’s sport - then that is all you are ever going to see.
We’re at a time in New Zealand where you get a sense that things are shifting. People participating in sport and recreation want good experiences. They want fairness, safety and inclusion, and they want to be able to do things that are beneficial not just for them but also for society.
In some cases that leads up to a podium and excelling at high performance level, but for most people it is about just enjoying their chosen activities.
So where does the Integrity Transition Programme and the Integrity Commission for Sport and Recreation come in?
The ITP’s role is to establish the Commission in line with the legislation that is now before Parliament. The Commission will provide what the sector has been asking for in terms of independence and a place to go to get support. It will set standards for how organisations and individuals should act. When things go wrong, it will be there to help deal with complaints and find resolutions.
It won’t be an immediate panacea. Sports bodies will still have a duty of care and a responsibility. They have to have settings in place to give it the best chance of being fair, inclusive and safe. But if for some reason that doesn’t work out then the Commission can hopefully provide some alternatives or expertise to help sort it out.
It will be something that provides that regulatory oversight - and also walks alongside and helps people who genuinely need it.
Part of the ITP’s work is the drafting of a ‘Code of Integrity for Sport and Recreation’. What is the Code – and where are you at with the drafting?
The Code will seek to provide basic standards to define what is acceptable and what is not in a consistent way that everyone understands. The legislation sets out threats to integrity – so it should be really clear what is acceptable and what is not. And it sets out processes for what should happen if there is a breach of the code or if people need help.
In terms of drafting, it is early days. We have a public survey out that closes on August 10. So get on to integritytransition.org.nz and check it out and pass it on to your friends and whanau. It’s so important to get the public’s opinion on what a safe and fair experience should look and feel like.
We’ve seen a number of issues surfacing of late regarding male coaches actions towards female athletes. Are those the sort of issues that will be covered in the Code and dealt with by the Commission?
The Code is intended to have the same effect for everybody. Discrimination, bullying, harassment – those things impact everybody. And so they are the things we need to take the most notice of.
We are seeing that women and girls are often the ones who are subjected to inappropriate behaviour and suffer the impacts of that. That is one of the reasons it is so important women and girls contribute their views on the Code. So please do complete the survey. Your view really does matter.
