Football: Western Springs reach final of Kate Sheppard Cup after mid-season gender-equity row

Megan Lee celebrates after scoring against Coastal Spirit at Seddon Fields on Sunday. Photo / Photosport

Western Springs Football Club have qualified for the 2023 Kate Sheppard Cup final after a season marked by a gender-equity stoush between club and players.

The Auckland-based Women’s Premier side beat Christchurch’s Coastal Spirit 5-1 at home in the semifinal on Sunday and will meet Wellington United next month for the cup.

Despite the convincing final scoreline, Springs needed extra time to beat the South Islanders, being locked 1-all at full-time. The 2022 National League runners-up then required just 17 minutes of additional time to score four goals.

Now the team will battle it out for this year’s Kate Sheppard Cup – the prestigious club competition named after the most prominent member of the women’s suffrage movement in New Zealand.

Grant Ramsay, the club’s executive chairman, told the Herald “the team is certainly travelling well with Sunday’s semifinal win in extra time being off the back of qualifying once again for National League”.

“Also, [it’s] very pleasing to have our new head of women’s football, Maia Vink, onboard and in the dugout for that game.

“The final will be our first since winning the Kate Sheppard Cup in 2007 and so I expect to see supporters out in force for what should be a superb occasion for the club,” said Ramsay.

Their opponents, Wellington United, will also play for the chance to win a second title, more recently taking it out in 2021.

United knocked out 2022 National League champions Eastern Suburbs 1-0 in the other semifinal. The victory spoiled the hopes of a possible and unprecedented Chatham and Kate Sheppard Cup double victory for Suburbs as both men’s and women’s teams respectively reached the semifinals.

The result comes just months after New Zealand’s biggest sports club almost lost their entire women’s first team following unresolved equality disputes that were resolved after mediation.

In May, the Herald reported some female members were unhappy with the treatment of their team, feeling “completely disrespected” by the “highly misogynistic behaviour” of the club’s predominantly male board.

At the time, the team lost their coach, whose contract was abruptly ended by the club; sat through hours of lengthy legal discussions and tearful phone calls as they fought for equal resources and opportunities.

More than a month later, the club reached an agreement with its senior female players as the board committed to plans to address players’ concerns about gender equity.

Kate Sheppard Cup final:

Wellington United v Western Springs: September 9-10, TBC

Chatham Cup semifinals:

Christchurch United v Eastern Suburbs: Saturday, August 19, 2pm

Melville United v Waterside Karori: Saturday, August 19, 5:30pm