Rugby: New Zealand’s Black Ferns in trouble after Farah Palmer’s glorious reign
Rugby is the national, and, one of the most famous sports in New Zealand. Rugby is in discussion everywhere and it is the land where rugby is the king.
Like the All Blacks, who represent the Men’s Rugby Union of the country, Black Ferns are the current Women’s Rugby Union of New Zealand. During its long career, the team has seen many ups and downs. Just after its emergence the team had to face many challenges, they had limited resources for their activities and not enough funds available to afford expenses. The team during that era was untrained, and, failed to achieve their objective during many international events.
During this period of depression and hopelessness, Farah Palmer, the Ex-Captain of the team, rose to the challenge and took a hold of the reins of the team. Farah Palmer, was born in a Piopio community of New Zealand. She started her rugby career from the Piopio College, where she played rugby as a fun game.
Farah Palmer was not only a sportswoman, she was at the same time an educationalist, a sports woman, and an employee at a different organization.
When she joined the Black Ferns, she was also working as a lecturer at Sports University Club. In 1992, she completed her Bachelors and joined the Octagon University where she did her PhD, in Sports Sociology. She played the role of Director at the Massy University.
When she took on the responsibility of the Black Fern in 1996, the team was in a depressed condition. They had failed to achieve many targets during 1995 and 1996.But it was Farah who elevated the team’s position from a depressive state up to the World Champions level.
Within one year she raised the teams’ position to that of World Champion. The team won the 1998 IRB-Sponsored Cup, they won the 1996 Canada Cup, 2002 World Cup, 2005 Cup and finally the 2006 World Cup.
The team was now among the top rankings. During the reign of Farah Palmer, the Black Ferns had dominated the world of international Women’s’ Rugby Union. But in September 2006, Farah retired.
It was hoped that the team, which attained a top ranking position, would continue to maintain their winning form even after the departure of Farah. But as luck would have it, the team once again fell prey to the same problems which they had been through before Farah’s period, or, 1996.
History has once again repeated itself, the Black Ferns are once again in the same trouble. Their performance against Australia in Dubai showed their declining position among the top ranking teams. The New Zealand Rugby Union has been blamed for not doing enough for the team. Similarly, the IRB has also been blamed for not taking much interest to improve the condition of the women’s team.
Although, the team is still considered to be the World Champions and occupies the top ranking position in the world of Women’s Rugby Union, their performance has not been satisfactory. During recent years, the Black Ferns have failed to achieve their goals in most of the international level competitions. Their management is considered to be poor, and lacks funds to carry on activities abroad.
It can be said that the Black Ferns, who are the current Women’s Rugby Union of New Zealand, were in great trouble after inception. Due to their poor management and lack of resources they had failed to achieve their goals during a number of events. But during the reign of Farah, the team was elevated to the top of the World rankings. The team became so strong during Farah’s period that, many people in the country had hoped that it will maintain its position even during the post Farah era. But people’s hopes were dashed, as the Black Ferns failed to maintain the position they had gained during Farah’s time.
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