Serena Williams after playing her final career match at the US Open. Photo / Getty
Serena Williams after playing her final career match at the US Open. Photo / Getty
OPINION:
There is a wave of high profile retirements sweeping through women's sport, with icons such as Serena Williams, Sue Bird and Allyson Felix calling time on their careers. Their mark on their sports is undeniable. Their presence transcends the boundaries of their chosen code, becoming emblematic of the forwardmarch of progress.
All these women inherently understood their job was to be a champion in the arena and champion for all women's participation outside it.
They have smashed glass ceilings and stuck around to sweep up the floor afterwards. Much of the growth of women's credibility within sport up until this point has relied upon their exceptionalism.
However, individual achievement is only a part of the mythology we wrap around our heroes. It's also about marketing and politics, projection and idolisation. The athletes become bigger than who they are, belonging to the moment as much as their community.
This was on display last Saturday, when two legendary halfbacks of New Zealand rugby played their last provincial game. Emma Jensen retired with three World Cup titles, 10 provincial championships with Auckland and now one with the Hawke's Bay Tui. Jensen's number of provincial games is listed as 139, but comes with an asterisk as she debuted in 1993, six years before New Zealand Rugby took control of the competition.
Meanwhile, her successor, Kendra Cocksedge, has also announced her retirement. She'll hang up her boots after she chases her third World Cup title this October. Going out on a high for her chosen home, Cocksedge locked in her fifth provincial title in her 100th game for Canterbury. The contrast in these two players' final match shows how far we've come and how far we still have to go.
Kendra Cocksedge of Canterbury celebrates after winning the Farah Palmer Cup Premiership final. Photo / Getty
Cocksedge's retirement was announced through press releases put out by New Zealand Rugby, Jensen's via a social media post on her account. Cocksedge ran out on to a field renamed to farewell her and her teammate Steph Te Ohaere-Fox. Jensen ran out of a repurposed storage room, past the portaloos at the Clutha Showgrounds in South Otago.
Cocksedge's side had the benefit of a TMO for their match, Jensen had no such luck. Both world-class athletes, titans of women's rugby but only one given the send-off she deserved.
The only thing that really separates these two halfbacks is timing. Cocksedge came into her best form just as there was a marked shift in the visibility of the women's game. This profile then further enhanced as New Zealand Rugby sought to recognise the achievements of their wahine, naming Cocksedge as the first woman to receive the Kelvin Tremain Memorial Trophy.
And yet, there would be no Cocksedge without Jensen. No Jensen without Monique Hirovanaa before her. It is never the efforts of one person alone, they are all links in a long chain that have all pulled for progress. This lionising of personalities makes sense in terms of marketing but leaves so much of the story untold. For women's sport to really come into its own, it needs to stop picking favourites and instead celebrate the range of role models on offer.
So when Cocksedge finally takes her bow after this year's World Cup, let us not seek to replace her and not put the burden of being the ambassador of the sport on just one set of shoulders. It is time to recognise that a diversity of champions is the way forward, that allowing a wider range of our community to see themselves in their heroes and their accomplishments will take the game in a new direction. One player to break the line and a team to secure the way forward.
