This article was first written and published for the Roar.
W
hen you experience something good, your natural reaction to that experience is to want more of it.
That’s certainly what has happened in women’s rugby league. After seeing the quality of the women’s State of Origin at North Sydney Oval last year and the Women’s Rugby League Premiership which started in September, people have been left wanting more.
This article was first written for and published by NRL.com.
I want to introduce you all to two incredible women. Sophie and Emily Curtain are twins from Sydney’s west who represent the next generation of women playing rugby league.
Sophie first started playing rugby league 11 years ago at age seven. When she picked up a footy competitively for the first time, it wasn’t something she had thought deeply about.
This article was first written and published for the Roar.
Last night the New South Wales Blues announced their squad for Game 1 of the 2019 State of Origin series.
There are five debutants in the squad: Nick Cotric and Jack Wighton from the Canberra Raiders, Cameron Murray and Cody Walker from the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Payne Haas from the Brisbane Broncos.
This article was first written and published for The Roar.
With fewer than 30 days to go until the 2019 women’s State of Origin at North Sydney Oval, this week the NRL took the opportunity to launch the game.
Several high-profile players like Kezie Apps, Ali Brigginshaw and Corban McGregor were in attendance ahead of the June 21 match.
This article was first written and published for The Roar.
The 2019 Parramatta Eels are not the Melbourne Storm. They are not the Sydney Roosters and they are not the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Perhaps I deluded myself into thinking they were something more than what they are at the beginning of the season, particularly heading into Round 9, when the Eels were sitting comfortably in the top eight after a come-from-behind win against the St George Illawarra Dragons.
They aren’t even the Canberra Raiders.
This article was first written and published for NRL.com.
For Tahina Booth, having the opportunity to play for the Cronulla Sharks in this year’s Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership has been a game-changer.
Tahina only recently returned to the game after some time away and is enjoying playing alongside some of the biggest names in women’s rugby league.
‘When Ruan Sims speaks, I am just in awe. I am a low-key fan girl. I feel the same way about Corban McGregor. I love the team and I love the culture”, she said.
Whilst Tahina may be in awe of her team-mates, she hasn’t had the opportunity to share her personal story with them. Undoubtedly, if the rest of the team knew that story, they would be low-key fan-girling about her, too.
Tahina grew up in Papua New Guinea and has a deep personal understanding about the levels of gender inequality that exist there.
She was raped at age seven by a person known to her family. She was told that if she told anyone what had happened, they would kill her family.
Out of love for her family and fear of the consequences, Tahina kept this a secret until she was 18.
It was then that she began to comprehend that the depression and anxiety she was experiencing was a result of that trauma suffered as a child.
From that moment, Tahina could begin to get the healing she needed, and sport played a huge role.
‘As the years went by, I used sport and the power of sport to take control of my body, to find my voice and to say that I matter,” Tahina said.
“What those people did to me is not going to break my spirit. I am where I am today because of sport.”
As a teenager, Tahina participated in athletics, basketball, tennis, surfboat rowing, gridiron and rugby league. But it was when she was competing for Papua New Guinea in powerlifting at the South Pacific Games that Tahina realised she could have an even greater impact.
‘On the day of competition, out of the 50 athletes competing, I was the only one with all the correct gear, because I was sponsored,” she said.
“There were all these incredible athletes getting disqualified because they were sharing uniforms and gear and consequently being timed out because they weren’t changing fast enough.
‘So I went back to Australia and asked my social media following if they had any gear to give, because I could hand it directly to the athletes. The post went viral. I thought I would have to organise excess baggage, instead I had to order a shipping container.”
The Grass Skirts Project was born and has now grown into an organisation that looks to help create the cultural and societal change in Papua New Guinea necessary to improve the status and health of women through sport.
One of the most successful programs run by GSP was the Hevea Cup Carnival and Wellness Expo which was launched on International Women’s Day in Port Moresby.
The idea was to connect people in PNG with specialist Non-Governmental Organisations that promote health and well-being.
A total of 24 teams competed – 12 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams – while 20 NGOs were also invited to host stalls.
When Tahina arrived at 6.30am to begin setting up, there was a group of 200 women waiting to enter. They were all waiting to hear from Marie Stopes about cervical cancer screenings.
“In Papua New Guinea we need to be engaging more with sporting events to deliver health initiatives,” Tahina said.
“My goal is for the Hevea Cup to be rolled out nationally, because it is in the rural communities that we have the greatest power to effect change.”
You can see that change in rugby league particularly, which is Papua New Guinea’s national sport.
Tahina has been part of the Papua New Guinea Orchids since their second year.
After the Orchids hosted the Jillaroos in 2018, one of Tahina’s team-mates told her she didn’t want to take part in a lap of honour because the last time they had played at home, a year earlier, people were spitting at them and throwing empty cans at them.
Tahina took that young woman’s hand to support her during the lap of honour. But instead of directing vitriol, people were applauding and asking for autographs.
All this in just 12 months. But Tahina recognises there is still plenty of work to do.
“Women can contribute to society in a meaningful way and I can have a role in changing people’s perceptions, especially in rural communities about the role women can play in developing our society for the better,” she said.
This article was first written and published for The Roar.
Women’s State of Origin may still be six weeks away, but that doesn’t meant that there isn’t plenty happening in the space at the moment, particularly in New South Wales.
NSWRL head of competitions Yvette Downey has seen the women’s space continue to expand at a rapid pace – in fact, so rapid that Yvette is convinced she can see growth every single day.
This article was first written for and published by NRL.com.
For Jillaroos star and St George Illawarra player Samantha Bremner and her husband Wayne, this Mother’s Day will be their last as a family of two.
Sunday is the 26-week mark in Bremner’s pregnancy. Baby Bremner is not too far away.
