From a Kiwi perspective, no sporting event or achievement in 2022 came close to matching the women’s Rugby World Cup. The Black Ferns’ uplifting journey to becoming world champions gave rugby in this country a high-dosage shot in the arm – and, goodness knows, it needed one.
More significantly, it was a breakthrough moment for women’s sport. The outpouring of support for the Black Ferns – spontaneous, uncomplicated, unqualified – upended the longstanding rationale for according women’s sport second-class status: that it doesn’t have a big enough public following to warrant the resources and media coverage lavished on men’s sport.
The gripping final at Eden Park was played out in front of a 42,579-strong crowd, the largest ever for a
