Brooke is in the travelling 16. Rubi’s next opportunity to make the travelling squad will be the game against Canterbury United at English Park, Christchurch, on September 22.
Unlike the various versions of the men’s national league over the years — which have been based on club or franchise systems — the women’s equivalent is structured around the federations that administer New Zealand football. That means the competition goes closer to stretching the length and breadth of the country.
The teams are Northern Lights, Auckland, WaiBOP (Waikato/Bay of Plenty), Central, Capital, Canterbury United and Southern United.
Teams will play every other team home and away (12 games), and the competition will wind up with a grand final between the first and second placegetters on December 15.
Brooke, a Campion College Year 13 student, has played Central Federation League football for Hawke’s Bay side Taradale for the past three years.
She was 14 when Taradale player Aleesha Heywood — now the club’s player-coach — invited her to join them.
That first year, Taradale won the Federation league; this year, they were second to Palmerston North club Hokowhitu.
It has meant weekly winter travel all over the Central Federation area — Napier, Hastings, Palmerston North, Whanganui, New Plymouth — but she has enjoyed it.
Brooke’s father Carl did most of the driving in the first year, and in the past two years her mother Jo has been driver.
Brooke made the Central squad for the NWL two years ago and played one game at the start of the campaign. She used her inclusion in the squad as a watch-and-learn experience.
This is likely to be her last season in the Central Federation team for at least a few years, because she plans to study physiotherapy or sport and recreation at the Auckland University of Technology. Her aim in football there is to get into a good Auckland team.
Rubi, a Year 12 student at Lytton High School, won the local league and (Braybrook) cup double with Heavy Equipment Services Gisborne United this year. She has been with United for two and a half years.
Rubi was a striker for Lytton in the first half of her first season in the women’s league. A regular in Central Federation age-group teams, she was training with United, her father Kim played for them and her mother Gabrielle had played for them. They were her “family club”, so halfway through that first season in the senior ranks she joined them.
Rubi used to play as a winger or striker, and was put into the centreback position because “no one else was able to play there”.
This is the first time Rubi has made the Central Federation NWL squad.
She and Brooke responded to a Facebook call for expressions of interest from players wanting to trial for the squad.
From those expressions of interest, the selectors invited players to take part in a trial game at Palmerston North late last month.
Rubi and Brooke learned of their inclusion in the squad the following Wednesday evening, by email.
They’ve been told team selection will be based on attendance at training, and performance.
Training sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the Gisborne pair are expected to attend at least once a week. Driving duties are likely to be shared between the two families.
Rubi and Brooke are both in the Gisborne 16-plus girls’ team, so their NWL training will be supplemented by local representative practice sessions.
Rubi plans to stay at school another year. She would like to see how far she can go in football but has other things she would like to do as well. She plays cricket in summer and is keen to join the navy.
Brooke plays beach and twilight netball, but not to the intensity at which she plays football.
Both Brooke and Rubi started playing football when they were five, Brooke for Central School and Rubi for Te Wharau, and in recent years their skill and application have marked them as players for the future.
