New Zealand have submitted a bid to host the 2023 Women's World Cup with Australia. Photo / Photosport
COMMENT:
New Zealand's female football stocks have never been this high.
Participation numbers are soaring for girls, and in December last year, in striking while the iron hits melting point, New Zealand Football confirmed its joint bid with Australia to host the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup - the first time the tournament will feature 32 teams.
The winning bid is to be announced in June in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Fifa officials were expected here this month for ground and facility inspections.
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To be included in the bid is partly strong vindication and recognition of the massive growth of girls' and women's football in this country. Add in heroes to the coming generation like Anna Leat and the under-17 women and the only trajectory is up. Female Football is, these days, a very important tenet of New Zealand Football's long-term strategic planning, but not all that long ago it wasn't even a centralised part of the national body. It wasn't until 2005 that the women's association finally fell under the overall jurisdiction of NZ Football.
A New Zealand national women's football side didn't even exist in an official or ratified capacity until 1975. Yet girls and women had been involved in football in this country as far back as the early 1920s.
The formation of New Zealand's national women's team was thanks to a letter from out of the blue from halfway across the globe - in the form of an invitation sent in the post for New Zealand to compete in the Asian Federation Cup women's tournament, to take place in Hong Kong in 1975. A national women's association wasn't part of New Zealand Soccer's setup at the time, however. Whoever sent the letter would have known they had to address it to a significantly smaller body - the Northern (later Auckland) Women's Football Association.
Then, as unlikely as their participation was, it seems more astonishing that the Kiwi women actually managed to win the Asian Cup; beating Australia 3-2 in the semifinal along the way. Captained by Barbara Cox and coached by Dave Farrington, the team also saw off Hong Kong and Malaysia, before winning the final 3-1 against Thailand.
A victory achieved when, even as Cox lifted the trophy, the brand new women's national body existed as a piecemeal entity between only the Northern (also comprising Auckland) and Canterbury women's associations. Wellington wasn't even a full member because of differences with the Northern committee. The whole narrative when coupled together must place this event near the top of unusual or surprising happenings in New Zealand sport.
One of the central figures in that victorious team was one of our great sporting all-rounders and New Zealand Sports Hall of Famer, Marilyn Marshall. Marshall was a double New Zealand football and softball international (and double international captain, an extremely rare occurrence). Marshall also holds the distinction of being the first-ever goal scorer for the team known nowadays under the moniker of the Football Ferns. This came on August 25, 1975 when she netted first in a 2-0 victory against the hosts, Hong Kong. She also finished as leading scorer in the tournament with six goals.
While the victory in the final may have shocked some, Marshall can still recall the team were always confident that they could foot it with the others.
"Most of our girls, including myself, came out of Wellington, and we thought we could give a reasonable account of ourselves as we had been the best provincial team since we started playing," she related.
"We were a determined bunch of girls who had experienced sport at a good level together for some time already and some had international experience in their other chosen sports. Myself and a lot of the other Wellington girls had also played softball together so we didn't feel intimidated much at all going into the Asian Cup."
In women's provincial football at the time there was also a strong Auckland-Wellington rivalry.
"We used to beat them regularly and we'd often get a hard time up in Auckland. Actually provincial rivalry was definitely alive and well among the women back then," remembers Marshall. "Some of us Wellington girls were a wee bit surprised when the captaincy went to an Aucklander actually."
It was with a touch also of nice family symmetry that Marshall and her sister Debbie Leonidas made their national team debuts together in that first match versus Hong Kong. Marshall recalls her sister as being a high-energy player.
"Debbie was one of those little players who was into everything and never stopped running - a bit like Alan Ball of England."
Marshall and her sister became prominent as members of the powerful Hungaria team of the early 1970s. However, the dream of a national team going abroad to a bona-fide tournament was still a way off, at least until 1975 rolled around and the Northern FA came into possession of that letter.
"We heard whispers there was a chance of a New Zealand women's team being part of a tournament in Asia, so it was great when we found out that we'd be going for sure."
In the tournament final of '75 against Thailand, Marshall scored a brace of goals, with Nora Heatherington getting the other. Unfortunately, the merits of a quite unexpected tournament win were overshadowed by the equally surprised shock of the crowd at the New Zealand win.
There was rubbish and fruit thrown in the players' direction as they performed their victory lap of the ground with the cup; the projectiles reportedly being launched by local high-rollers who had just lost stacks of cash. Missiles of a more dangerous kind also came their way - the Kiwis' bus was assailed with stones and beer cans on the way out of the stadium. Naturally enough, reports of how the victory was achieved got superseded by articles on the adverse reaction to it by the gangs of gamblers.
Marshall has very vivid memories of the final. "I recall that the game was quite even really. They were quite skilful, but could not match us for height or strength and we were mentally tough. Everyone seemed to play out of their skins that night. We really wanted it and we had knocked Australia out of it in the semifinal. It was our time to shine."
She also recalls the scary goings-on at the match's completion. "It was quite frightening after the game. None of us had experienced having things thrown at us and being booed. Rocking our bus when we were leaving the stadium had us all very upset. We all felt we were in danger. But we got over it; we won."
Fast forward to the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup and following some mostly underwhelming displays over the past couple of years and the hangover of the short, yet turbulent period under coach Andreas Heraf, the Football Ferns will still be expected to reach the knock-out stage of the tournament. Moreover, should they host, wait for the public's expectation of a berth in the final 16 to morph into becoming practically a requirement.
But how best to firstly meet that pressure of demand head-on, and how to best ensure that the Ferns have the playing capability and personnel to make it to the 2023 knock-out phase - as a hosting nation or otherwise? Should those picking the team a couple of years down the track put their faith in the youth - the third best in the world under-17s?
Marilyn Marshall thinks possibly, but it's in no way a panacea. "Stars will shine through regardless of age. I think they are going in the right direction. More international fixtures always helps, but they are doing New Zealand proud."
From now and into the lead-up to 2023, one can't help feeling that if today's crop of women could take a leaf from the 1975 playbook, they could approach their task with confidence and not feel overawed by even those ranked quite a bit ahead of them.
Auckland FC have won their first match in Australia in difficult circumstances.