FIFA Women’s World Cup surprise for Gisborne Thistle AFC

The Gisborne Thistle AFC women’s football team have faced many challenges this year. Major weather events including Cyclone Gabrielle, dwindling women’s team numbers, and they might be at the bottom of their table, but they are flying high after being surprised with brand-new kit, and a trip to the FIFA World Cup quarter-final.

The team turned up to training at Childers Road Reserve on a “horrible, freezing” Wednesday night, with the only co-captain and interim club secretary Eden Schollum knowing what was going on.

She thought it was a joke when she first received an email about it, but had to keep it a secret from her teammates – including her sister Jade, and best friend and workmate Jessie – since late May.

When they arrived to training they were taken into a pop-up shop to choose new shirts, shorts, socks, boots and balls. The surprise made them feel valued, she said.

It was funded by the TAB, a FIFA Women’s World Cup sponsor, as part of the Free Kicks activation. $11,000 was also donated to the club for its 100-year celebrations, making it one of the oldest football clubs in New Zealand. The women’s side however only came into existence in the 1980s.

And the entire team – all 22 of them ranging in age from 18 to 52 – will be flown to Auckland, all expenses paid, for the FIFA Women’s Football World Cup quarterfinal at Eden Park next weekend. For many, including team captain and centre back Bridget Bethel, it will be their first game of the tournament.

“I think all of us just had our jaws on the floor by the end of surprises. It was incredible. I still kind of feel shaky when I’m talking about it,” she said.

“We are incredibly grateful.”

She said it’s nice to have a “positive focus” on women’s football. The number of women’s teams in Tairawhiti has dropped from eight to five in the last couple of years, so she’s also hopeful the World Cup will inspire others to strap on the boots.

The region has also experienced a “rough year” with serious weather events, including Cyclone Gabrielle, with many in the team, friends and families impacted. Some have lost everything, she said.

The weather also cut off main routes in and out of the city, making access to training difficult. She said through adversity the side has been positive and are “still smiling”.

“[They] get stuck in, so to have something like this … for such a deserving group of ladies who show up every week to play this game that we all love, this is so cool. What an experience,” she said.

For Bethel football is a chance to reconnect with friends and do something just for her. She’s a busy mum of one, and works part-time as an audiologist. She said the side is made up of doctors, nurses and people busy working in the community, but sport brings them together.

“[Football] ticks all the boxes. It’s social, it’s fitness, it keeps us outside in the winter, connected to other people. [It’s] something that’s just completely for me, outside of motherhood and for those that aren’t mums, outside work. It’s just something for ourselves.”

She’s looking forward to strapping on her new boots and so too is Schollum. She’s hoping it gives them an extra edge this Sunday against one of top ranking teams.

“It’s 100% boosted morale. The girls are on an all-time high now. This weekend’s game is going to be very interesting… playing Campion College, but hopefully the new boots will make us run faster,” she laughed..