Black Ferns

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The Black Ferns is New Zealand's national women's rugby team. The name comes from the use of the colour black and the silver fern as New Zealand sporting symbols. For example, the All Blacks is New Zealand's famous men's rugby team, while the Silver Ferns is the national women's netball team.

The Black Ferns are the current Women's Rugby World Cup champions. They have won three consecutive World Cups, winning the first IRB-sponsored Cup in 1998, the 2002 World Cup in Barcelona, and the 2006 World Cup in Edmonton, Canada, defeating England 25-17 on September 17. The Black Ferns have participated in most WRWC events since its inauguration in 1991, only missing the 1994 championship in Scotland. They also won the Canada Cup in 1996, 2000, and 2005.

Farah Palmer, who had been captain since 1997, lost her captaincy in 2005 due to a shoulder injury. She was honoured as International Women's (Rugby) Personality of the Year at the IRB Awards in 2005.

In October 2005, when the England women's rugby team again toured New Zealand, Rochelle Martin, then vice-captain, led the Black Ferns in the first test match against England. In that match she got injured. Veteran flyhalf Anna Richards was named captain in the second match against England. The Black Ferns won the two-match Test series, 2-0.

For the 5th Women's Rugby World Cup in Canada, Farah Palmer fought her way back into the Black Ferns team. After again leading the team to World Cup victory, Palmer announced her retirement from the Black Ferns in September 2006.^[1]

While rugby is the most popular spectator game in New Zealand, the Black Ferns have suffered in the past from similar problems to any women's sport—under-funding, lack of support and lack of publicity. The NZRFU and IRB have been criticised for not doing more to promote women's rugby, although support is beginning to build in those organisations. The NZRFU started funding the Black Ferns in 1995, thus giving a great boost to their game. In more recent times, the team's profile has risen greatly at a grassroots level, due in great part to their string of successes, and it is increasingly seen to be a national team on the same basis as any other.

1. ^ http://www.allblacks.com/index.cfm?layout=displayNews&newsArticle=4781

[edit] External links

• http://www.allblacks.com/index.cfm?layout=showBlackFerns&id=12 - Black Ferns team page at AllBlacks.com
• http://www.rwcwomens.com/homepage.htm - 2006 Women's Rugby World Cup
• http://uk.geocities.com/nzwomensrugby/ - a fan site about New Zealand Women's Rugby