With thousands of fans expected to pour into Whangārei's Northland Events Centre today for the RWC quarterfinals, Adam Julian looks back at the proud history of women's rugby in the north, and a special reunion celebrating their wāhine toa.
After the Black Ferns’ 57-0 win over Scotland at Semenoff Stadium a week ago, the Ferns’ head coach, Wayne Smith, remarked he couldn’t recall a larger crowd at a rugby match in Whangārei.
There were 16,571 spectators watching the Black Ferns emphatically secure pole position for the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals. There might be even more in attendance today when France meet Italy, then Wales arrive for a second tussle with the defending world champions.
When did there previously exist such a clamour to watch rugby in Northland?
You'd have to rewind to the beginning of Smith’s own first-class rugby career in 1979. That year Northland (known then as North Auckland) held the Ranfurly Shield.
Crowds flocked to ‘Okara Park’ to cheer on the likes of All Blacks Mike Burgoyne, Eddie Dunn, Joe Morgan, and Fred and Kawhena Woodman (uncle and father respectively of Black Ferns winger Portia Woodman).
Never before has there been such an appetite to watch women’s rugby. Four years ago, Northland didn’t even have a representative team.
Back in 1995, Gangsta's Paradise was at the top of the Billboard charts. ‘Scary,’ ‘Porky,’ ‘Horse,’ ‘Leeva’ and ‘Aunty’ were just some of the characters who were alpha in Northland women’s rugby and would help comprise the inaugural representative side later that year.
Last weekend, some of that gang were back together to celebrate the pioneering days and watch the World Cup together. They even played a match that foundation Kauri player and former Black Ferns hooker Susan Dawson stressed was strictly “unofficial.”
“It started as walking touch, progressed to ‘held’, and then the Northland mongrel came out a bit,” Dawson laughed.
“All players were in bare feet and for the more precious and brittle players, tackles were voluntary to protect them from the festivities at Kensington Tavern the previous night.
“Scary [Shakira Pia] kept her glasses on the whole game. Porky [Awaroa Waikai, a 2003 rugby league world champion] got most of the tries; and there might have been a few ‘accidental’ tackles that slipped in there - but we did adhere to World Rugby protocols. There were plenty of lubrication breaks and some players are even threatening to train for a rematch next year.”
In the early 90s, games were played unofficially and there were North versus South sub-union fixtures.
The Black Ferns first tour of Australia was in 1994. Fullback Leanne Atkins, a recent football convert, was spotted carving up at a sevens tournament and was selected. She was 17 years old, her nickname ‘Leeva’ coined while at Kamo High School out of respect for her talent: ‘Leave her alone or she’ll kill you.’
By 1995, there were a dozen teams playing each other at one club in the senior competition on a Sunday. ‘Club days’ were hearty and not unnoticed by national selectors. In 1998, loose forwards Janet Heenan and Cheryl Smith (nee Waaka) were part of the Black Ferns World Cup winning team in Amsterdam.
Smith is the daughter of Māori All Black Wattie Waaka. Her brothers Brent and Tuck Waaka were also Māori All Blacks with the latter captaining Bay of Plenty to the inaugural NPC first division title in 1976.
Smith played 20 tests, and was good enough to usurp high profile television commentator Melodie Robinson as preferred starter in another World Cup triumph in 2002. English rival Gill Burns, who’s in the World Rugby Hall of Fame, respected Smith so much she traded jerseys with her.
From 1999 to 2005, Northland was a part of the official NPC. Paula Yates played a record 26 games before the team vanished entirely, victims of under-resourcing, a lack of funding and apathy.
The talent still existed; they just had to migrate elsewhere to crack it. Prop Kamila Wihongi and first-five Victoria Subritzky-Nafatali made the Black Ferns out of Otago, the latter player of the match in the 2017 World Cup final win against England. She was in contention for this World Cup too.
Lock Rawinia Everett was twice named New Zealand women’s rugby player of the year. Everett can trace whakapapa back to the Bay of Islands and her parents run a mighty fine seafood truck, too. Hooker Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate is another former Black Fern with Northland lineage.
After her playing career finished, Dawson ran her family architecture business before education and rugby came calling again. She’s now director of boarding at Whangārei Boys’ High School, and coached the 2018 Northland development side. In 2019, she linked up with Smith, who had influence at Sport Northland, and together they helped revive the Northland rep team with a huge amount of support from current and past players to promote the team.
In 2020, Northland won four of six matches and narrowly missed the semifinals in a fiercely competitive Northern division. There were six women’s teams in the 2020 Northland club competition.
Portia Woodman, by now a sevens super star, scored six tries in one game against Taranaki in 2020. Krystal Murray, a former Kiwi Fern, was a sensation as a goal kicking prop and is integral in the present Black Ferns team.
Alexis Nankivell was an early Northland player. Her daughters Daynah and Tyler have since played the Farah Palmer Cup.
For the last two seasons, Northland have won more games in the FPC than they lost.
Any snapshot of Northland women’s rugby history can’t exclude ‘Aunty’ Rana Paraha. She debuted for Hora Hora in 1996, and despite reconstructions of both knees, she played as recently as 2018 aged 50. She’s helped Hora Hora win 18 senior championships. As a coach, organiser and advocate, she’s performed every role in the game from washing jerseys to mentoring leading Black Ferns like Charmaine McMenamin and her daughter Leilani Perese. The senior club competition was named after her this year.
Black Ferns halfback Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu may hold the Counties record for most games with 61, but she’s another Paraha prodigy. Last weekend she was named captain of the Black Ferns against Scotland.
The 30-year-old is from the tiny Northland town of Te Ahuahu, which is about 30km inland from Paihia. She often leads the haka, Ko Ūhia Mai, before kick-off.
“The World Cup in Northland with our own wahine toa, Muzz [Krystal Murray], leading the haka and Ari captaining her country, just awesome!” a proud Dawson says. “Saturday was unreal for us.
“We’ve got our challenges up here but we're not going away. There’ll always be a crowd for rugby here, even if sometimes it’s not that obvious.”
* The Rugby World Cup quarterfinals start on Saturday, at Northland Events Centre, Whangārei with France vs Italy, 4pm, and New Zealand vs Wales, 6.45pm. On Sunday, at Waitākere Stadium, Auckland, England vs Australia, 1pm, and Canada vs USA, 3.45pm. All live on Spark Sport (NZ game delayed on Three).
