Football Ferns: the power of redemption

New Zealand’s forward #17 Hannah Wilkinson celebrates her team winning the Australia and New Zealand 2023 Women’s World Cup Group A football match between New Zealand and Norway at Eden Park in Auckland on 20 July, 2023.
Photo: MARTY MELVILLE / AFP

Opinion – The looks on the faces of the Football Ferns in the tunnels of Eden Park on Thursday night said it all. The roar of the crowd was still echoing around the concrete walls as the players filed through to face the media, not really believing what they had just accomplished.

The 1-0 win over Norway was New Zealand’s first victory ever at a FIFA Women’s World Cup. It was the Ferns’ first victory over Norway. Somehow, it was the Ferns’ first win in a competitive fixture for quite some time.

That did not stop 42,137 people from coming into Eden Park this week. That figure is a record for any women’s sporting event in the country, just shading the Black Ferns’ Rugby World Cup final crowd last year. Those two games are also the last two times Eden Park has been full – an unthinkable prospect for two national women’s sports teams only a few years ago.

To put it into context: this was only the Ferns’ third win in their last 15 games. Back in January, they lost five games in a row, conceding 17 goals and scoring none in return.

There were serious questions asked of coach Jitka Klimková, of the team’s mental fortitude, of New Zealand’s right to be even co-hosting a football World Cup at all.

This is why Thursday night’s result was the redemption arc the public needed, via a dramatic game.

The Ferns had to fire early and they did, not letting the Norwegians settle into the match. Pressure was built from the back and it was no surprise that Hannah Wilkinson’s goal came that way, after Jacqui Hand latched onto a long ball and sent it into the area for her striker to caress home.

NZ’s Hannah Wilkinson scores the opening goal of the tournament.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

There has been talk about Eden Park getting a roof but that moment, in the 48th minute, would have blown it off. The crowd, another healthy mix of families, hardcore football fanatics and people that had never set foot inside a sports event before, made a noise that reverberated solidly through every gentrified villa in Kingsland.

That same noise rose and fell like a wave after the fourth official held up the board saying there had be an agonising nine minutes of added time at the end. That is an extra 20 percent of playing time in a half, and every time the ball was cleared upfield the need for the Ferns’ legs to keep moving, keep pressing, keep winning became more urgent than ever.

Remember, this was a team that came in having only won one game all year and scored only three goals. Two of those were against lowly Vietnam in a warm-up game. Since automatically qualifying for the World Cup by virtue of hosting it, the Ferns have barely played any competitive fixtures – mostly friendlies.

A lot of that had to do with Covid-19, but their very poor showing at the Olympics in 2021 seemed to bode poorly for the World Cup, with their subsequent results more than backing that assessment up.

Maybe that is why it became apparent across the crowd as the game drew to a close just how big a deal this was. There were heads in hands, nervous breathing, anxious looks. This was sport as theatre and the audience being part of the show, every single person in attendance felt like they were playing a role in the final outcome.

That is the emotional connection we need to invest in a team like the Football Ferns. There is skill, fitness and belief, but it is the courage that we need to see to fall in love with them. Not long after full time, word came through that the Ferns’ next game, against the Philippines in Wellington, had sold out.

New Zealand’s Hannah Wilkinson celebrates her goal during the Football Ferns win over Norway.
Photo: Photosport

Upon being informed of that, the likes of Wilkinson, Katie Bowen, CJ Bott and Vic Esson could mostly just smile and take it in. After a game like that, even just leaving the pitch, they knew that they had earned the attention that is now going to be on them like a blazing sun.

Everything fell into place. Wilkinson got her goal, keeper Vic Esson kept a clean sheet, the crowd came in and were rewarded for their belief. Even the forecasted rain stayed away until well after the stadium had emptied out.

There will be more challenges at this World Cup, for sure. But after the sort of results that the Football Ferns had put up leading into the tournament, this is a turnaround that deserves to be celebrated long and hard.