The Football Ferns are about to play their first game at the Women’s Football World Cup in France. How deep into the tournament could they go? Alex Braae has a cheat sheet. What’s all this then? The beautiful game, the world’s game, poetry on grass, and so on. It’s football, it’s a World Cup, and … Read more
Times have changed, writes veteran sports journalist Trevor McKewen, and so should rugby. Steve Tew was a man for the ages in rugby. But that age is over. Tew’s quarter century of rugby administration is marked by strong success by the All Blacks. When it came to the shop window, he was the perfect administrator … Read more
Some people simply love to compete. Madeleine Chapman writes in defence of competitiveness. “Oh my god you’re so competitive.” Said by my friend in primary school after a particularly intense game of lunchtime rugby. Said by multiple girls at different college athletics days after I actually tried hard to throw the javelin properly. Said by … Read more
The Olympic women’s marathon was first held in 1984, largely thanks to one woman and her historic run 16 years earlier. On February 7 1984, two men walked untethered in space for the first time. Six months later on Earth, women were allowed to run the marathon at the Olympic Games for the first time. … Read more
The government announced a $10m strategy yesterday to boost women and girls in sport. Madeleine Chapman wonders if the nice sentiment will turn into action. When I was seven, and eight, and nine years old, I did athletics at my local club. Every Wednesday there would be club meets at the park literally behind my … Read more
It’s literally impossible to buy Black Ferns merchandise. Madeleine Chapman still tried, and got very angry in the process. You can learn a lot about me by looking in my wardrobe. The first thing you’ll learn is that I dress poorly and it’s a real issue. The second thing you’ll learn is who I support. … Read more
The debate around girls playing in boys’ sports teams has resurfaced. Just let them play, says Madeleine Chapman. When Pennsylvania beat Tennessee in the opening round of the 2014 Little League World Series, it made the news. The Pennsylvania pitcher, who pitched a shutout, was congratulated by world famous athletes and invited to appear on … Read more
Advertising a double header rugby event means you have to treat all four teams equally, which Rugby Australia failed to do, says Madeleine Chapman. On Saturday afternoon, before playing an international test match at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium, the World Champion Black Ferns warmed up on a small patch of astroturf by the road. Warming up … Read more
In which a current MVP is made to play against a former benchwarmer. There’s a lazy confidence in watching sports on TV. Intellectually, we know we’re watching people do something better than we ever could. But emotionally we struggle to comprehend just how much better. There’s a tiny part of every Olympics spectator that whispers this … Read more
A petition has been set up calling for Debbie Hockley to be removed from the Sky cricket commentary team – and the creator and every single commenter so far is male. RNZ’s Zoe George reports. The president of New Zealand Cricket, Debbie Hockley, has been threatened with physical violence and referred to in sexist terms … Read more
Rebecca Wood is a force of nature in a striking new Rebel Sport commercial. But ‘how many lives you live is up to you’? Nah, not for female rugby players. There’s a lot to like about Rebel Sport’s latest foray into the world of selling stuff. A powerful Black Fern is seen charging through a … Read more
Ross Taylor scored an unbeaten 181 runs in yesterday’s ODI victory against the England men’s team. Madeleine ChapMAN accurately reports. After his heroic innings, Ross Taylor stood on the boundary rope at University Oval and stared adoringly at his wife, Victoria Brown. She was largely to thank for this moment, having also been a top … Read more
There are more problems than solutions when it comes to the integration of Sevens World Series events, but, as Scotty Stevenson discovered in Sydney, it is clearly the way forward for the sport. They crushed it in front of their home fans. The Australian women’s sevens side, in a prime afternoon spot, hammered New Zealand 31-0 to … Read more
With New Zealand’s rugby-playing women cleaning up at today’s World Rugby Awards, the head of New Zealand’s largest sports management agency outlines why pay parity is a red herring and the Black Ferns are the steak knives of our generation. 2017 might just be remembered as a breakout year for women’s sport. A capacity of … Read more
The national secondary school basketball champs have been newly crowned, but more importantly, a star was brought to the fore. Madeleine Chapman introduces New Zealand basketball’s newest superstar. Charlisse Leger-Walker, a year 11 student at St Peters College in Cambridge, is the best school-aged basketball player New Zealand has ever seen. The Grand Final of … Read more
The next women’s Rugby World Cup should be defended by a team named the All Blacks, argues Jamie Wall. The Black Ferns won the World Cup on Sunday, beating England 42-31 in a highly entertaining advertisement for women’s rugby. Not only did it spark celebrations for an unprecedented fifth Rugby World Cup title, it also … Read more
Following a stellar campaign, the Black Ferns play England in the Rugby World Cup final tomorrow. Former Black Fern Melodie Robinson urges the New Zealand Rugby Union to properly back the only major growth area in the sport in NZ. The future of the Black Ferns will be determined following Sunday morning’s Rugby World Cup … Read more
Traversing through the seven circles of hell that is social media has been made a journey of redemption this week, thanks to a beautiful, beautiful try at the Rugby World Cup. Madeleine Chapman breaks it down frame by frame. Is there anyone on this godforsaken planet who doesn’t enjoy a highlights video? It doesn’t matter … Read more
Both the Black Caps and White Ferns had impressive wins yesterday on the cricket pitch. But while the Black Caps are all over the news, the White Ferns performed a greater feat and were arguably more entertaining, or so says women’s sports apologist Madeleine Chapman. On Wednesday afternoon, while avid cricket fans were at work with … Read more
The weather at North Harbour Stadium on Wednesday afternoon was almost as bleak as the Wallaroos’ first performance against the Black Ferns at Eden Park – a 67-3 hammering that would have sent a lesser team packing. But a four-day break makes a massive difference it seems, and the home side were made to work … Read more
Madeleine Chapman tunes into DUKE to watch their new sport chat show Short & Wide, and amazingly doesn’t find a particularly comfortable place for women. When TVNZ announced their new male-skewed channel, DUKE, at the start of this year, it was unsurprisingly met with disdain. But programmers were quick to note that it wasn’t a channel for … Read more
The Rio Olympics are over, but how can we keep up our medal run in Tokyo? Madeleine Chapman says we have to invest more into female athletes. The 2016 Rio Olympic Games were the first where New Zealand sent more female athletes than male to compete. Linked: it was also our most successful Games ever, with 18 … Read more
Getting upset at terrible refereeing calls is a Kiwi tradition. So why aren’t people foaming at the mouth in fury over the terrible calls in this morning’s Women’s Sevens gold medal game? I remember watching the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal between New Zealand and France. I remember the controversial calls from referee Wayne Barnes. … Read more
Sportswomen are consistently marginalised in today’s media but the Olympics are a beacon of hope for equal, quality coverage, writes Toni Bruce. For the next few weeks, I’ll be glued to the television and Internet enjoying the quadrennial Festival of Sporting Women. Even though it has another name you might know better – the Olympic … Read more