Why Kiwi blokes love rugby, sheds and ... netball

Published on Sunday 21 July 2002 01:00

BLOKES in New Zealand love rugby and garden sheds. They also love supporting the women’s national netball team, the Silver Ferns. Or perhaps that should be brand rather than team. In New Zealand almost everyone is a consumer of international sport and the coaches and players of the various teams try to develop a brand that people will buy into.

The All Blacks are the best selling brand with the hapless football team, the All Whites, the least popular. But the Silver Ferns, who arrive in Manchester ranked No.2 in the world behind their arch rivals, Australia, are almost as popular as the famous male counterparts who ply their trade with the oval ball.

The Silver Ferns played a three-test series against Barbados at the end of June as preparation for Manchester. They comfortably won all three games, but perhaps more significantly, enjoyed a bigger TV audience for the first test than the All Blacks did two weeks earlier when they thumped Italy.

And it was not just women tuning in. More than half the audience was male. New Zealand men are buying into a Silver Ferns brand which represents total commitment, athletic excellence and unscrupulous professionalism at all times: largely the same as the All Blacks.

The big difference is that netball is non-contact. That, however, is very much part of the attraction.

Rugby is the staple of the male sports consumer in New Zealand, and is relentlessly physical and occasionally brutal. The Silver Ferns are a welcome distraction, offering the same levels of athleticism, skill and excitement, but without the blood and guts.

According to Dr Farah Palmer, a lecturer at Massey University who also captains New Zealand’s World Cup-winning women’s rugby team, The Black Ferns, this was the original reason the early settlers promoted netball as a suitable sport for girls. Palmer says: "Netball is a huge part of the social and cultural fabric. It was promoted in schools as appropriate for girls, as opposed to hockey, which met with resistance from the head mistresses because it was perceived to be too physical, dirty, and dangerous.

"Netball was seen to promote teamwork, was non-contact , and the uniforms accentuate the femininity of the players."

Palmer’s last remark may cause some to conclude that men are only tuning in to ogle at well-toned athletes wearing outfits that showcase their hard-earned curves and bumps.

Not so. The 11-hour time difference between the UK and New Zealand has got economists worried about how productive the nation will be when so many workers have been up half the night watching the Silver Ferns in Manchester. Thousands of men will get up at 3am to watch not for cheap thrills but because they are sport junkies, and the Silver Ferns are a fix to which they have become addicted.

The positive culture in New Zealand is largely due to the Sport and Recreation Councils (SPARC) decision to initiate the Winning Women Role Modelling programme at the start of the 1990s. Female athletes across the board were asked to help push the profile of women’s sports. New Zealand now boasts 120,000 registered netball players with another 80,000 playing the game socially and both women’s rugby and hockey are gaining in popularity.

The role model programme in New Zealand has not only helped inspire huge numbers of women to take up netball and other sports, it has also helped some of the best players to become high-profile celebrities.

Julie Seymour is arguably the best known of the current crop of Silver Ferns. The 69-times capped Centre has been at the heart of the New Zealand team for the last five years and features regularly in women’s magazines and lifestyle shows. She is instantly recognised everywhere in New Zealand.

Her fame has unquestionably been bolstered by being married to Dallas Seymour, a moderately well-known former All Black who still ranks as one of the best sevens players in New Zealand.

Although she has failed to make the squad for Manchester, 23-year-old Adine Harper is another who enjoys a huge media profile partly as a result of her choice of boyfriend. She goes out with former All Black Jeff Wilson, and the couple rank as New Zealand’s equivalent of the Beckhams.

Irene Van Dyk, the 6ft 4ins goal shooter is the third face of New Zealand netball. Originally capped by her native South Africa, she famously switched allegiance in 1996. Since qualifying for New Zealand through a three-year residency rule she has won 25 caps and will be the Silver Ferns’ main source of points in Manchester.

Intelligent and fun-loving, Van Dyk has embraced the New Zealand way of life and has become one of the most popular players in the squad.

There are also plenty of women no longer wearing the all black Silver Ferns outfit who have built new careers on the back of their success in netball. Former Silver Ferns captain Bernice Mene now presents her own TV show and her former team-mates April Ieremia and Julie Townsend have become well-respected sports broadcasters.

Indeed, it will be Ieremia who will keep New Zealanders abreast of the Silver Ferns’ progress in Manchester, where they are a shoo-in for a semi-final against either Australia or Jamaica.

Having lost the 1999 World Championships to the Aussies by one goal that was scored in the dying seconds, revenge would be all the sweeter if it could be tasted in the final. Given the Silver Ferns good form coming into the tournament - as well as dispatching Barbados, the Ferns comfortably defeated New Zealand A in three tests - it would be a massive disappointment if they failed to secure a berth in the final.

None of Sri Lanka, Canada or Wales should cause them too many problems, leaving the game against England as the most crucial group stage encounter.

Victory against the No.4 seeds would see the New Zealanders most likely face Jamaica, who are expected to finish second in their group behind the Australians, in the semi-final.

Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken is, however, not thinking that far ahead. "It would be great to go all the way," she said. "But this is a huge event and we will face some tough challenges. England, who we meet in the group stages, are on the improve and they will be very hard to beat at home where they will have such great support.

"We are not making huge predictions at this stage. There are a number of players in our team who know what it feels like to be pipped at the final post. To win the Commonwealth Games would be just outstanding."

• Did you know?

The last time judo was included in the Commonwealth Games, 12 years ago, husband and wife Billy and Loretta Cusack won bronze in the under-71kg category and gold at under-54kg respectively. Now Billy’s younger sister, Karen, is hoping to continue the family’s winning association with the Games when she competes at Manchester.