Let's nurture women's game

IF YOU want the true definition of the term "poor cousins" then the Black Ferns women's rugby team must be it.

They are about to head to England for a three-test series against their most dangerous foes - they fly out next Thursday - and the silence is deafening.

Certainly when you compare it to what their big brothers, the All Blacks, could expect were they making tracks in the same direction.

Now I'm not suggesting the two should be given equal treatment publicity-wise, after all the ABs have been given iconic status in this part of the world since time immemorial and the Black Ferns are still pretty much in their infancy on the international scene.

But surely to goodness any side which has won four successive World Cups - and there have only been four - deserves better than to be unceremoniously shoved into the background when the oval ball code is up for discussion.

In our very own Wairarapa-Bush union, in fact, there is good reason to suggest the Black Ferns should be feted like nothing else.

Thanks to the efforts of the Eketahuna club, the women's game has made giant strides here, way above the progress achieved by their male counterparts, at least in recent times.

The Eketahuna team was a revelation in the 2011 season.

They participated in the Wellington interclub series and won the two major trophies up for grabs.

Seven of their players were included in the Wellington squad which made it all the way to the final of the NPC competition where they were beaten by the always powerful Auckland combination.

Then when the Black Ferns side to play the three away internationals against England was named it included two Eketahuna players, Rebecca Mahoney and Shakira Baker, along with Kathleen Wilton, who played for Eketahuna in 2010 and will be back with them next season. Two others, Shaan Waru and Maia Tua-Davidson, must have gone very close.

Whereas the strong-running midfielder Baker will be making her Black Ferns debut and prop Wilton last played for them in 2007, first-five Mahoney has the huge distinction of being part of not one but two World Cup winning sides.

And who's to say she won't add a third when the next tournament is played in 2014?

For Wairarapa-Bush rugby officials, the emphasis should be on ensuring the current momentum within the women's game here is not only maintained but turned into something special.

A secondary schoolgirls 10-a-side tournament in Masterton saw virtually all of the colleges represented and Mahoney for one was very impressed at the potential shown by many of the players, and that despite most of them still being relatively new to the sport.

First on the priority list for WBRFU officials then should be visits to all the colleges within their bounds with the aim being to have a meaningful secondary schoolgirls competition up and running in 2012.

This has been tried before with limited success but with the Mahoneys, Bakers and Wiltons being used as role models there is every reason to suggest the timing is ripe to try again, only with greater vigour and resolve than what has happened in the past.

It is important too that the WBRFU ensure the Eketahuna club are not left to their own resources to sustain their senior women's team.

Until the stage is reached where there are enough club sides in our region to run a women's competition, Eketahuna are going to be forced to play in Wellington and, even allowing for some generous sponsorship from the business community, that is an expensive business.

Yes, everybody knows unions like Wairarapa-Bush are not exactly over-endowed with riches these days but when any cash is being distributed you'd have to think that the case of the Eketahuna women for support would be stronger than most, wouldn't you?

The other catalyst for extra promotion of the women's game is that come 2016 rugby sevens will be part of the Olympic Games for the very first time.

That is just five years away and for those, say, 15 to 18-year-olds yearning to become part of that sporting extravaganza that has to make the appeal of rugby even greater.

Grabbing the moment is often quoted as the recipe for success in sporting endeavours.

The WBRFU have the chance to do just that but whether they are willing and able to take up the challenge remains to be seen.