Professional female rugby players of Pacific and Māori descent in Aotearoa New Zealand are being treated as an afterthought.

That is the view of rugby advocates coming to the defence of Black Ferns players following a scathing report into issues surrounding their treatment.

The report reached some damning conclusions about New Zealand Rugby and made 26 recommendations for improvements.

It found Māori and Pacific Island players within the Black Ferns have been poorly served.

A failure of New Zealand Rugby and its team management at the hands of head coach Glenn Moore.

The review highlights issues into problematic culture set by Moore who showed favouritism to players while excluding others.

Māori/Pasifika community rugby representative Chantal Bakersmith said the latest New Zealand Rugby (NZR) report highlighting issues surrounding the treatment of Black Ferns players is not surprising.

A scathing review released this week by NZR raised concerns within Black Ferns’ culture and environment and said Māori and Pacific players have been badly served by both team management and the governing body.

Bakersmith, who has developed pilot programmes for women’s rugby within NZR, said the issues are not new.

“Planning for women’s rugby, it was always an afterthought, and you really had to push your case for it to be thought about,” she said.

“And then there was always this feeling that because I’m questioning things I’m an agitator or being a pain – but there’s a population that hasn’t been served or thought about.”

The review was a result of Black Ferns hooker Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate, who shared a social media post saying the Black Ferns head coach Glenn Moore told her she did not deserve to be on the team, and was “picked only to play the guitar”.

Rugby advocate Alice Soper said Pākehā coaches need to understand cultural competency and be able to relate to their players.

Source – Radio NZ