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After a Year Stained By Misogynistic Scandals, New Zealand Rugby Appoints its First Female Board Member

Dr Farah Palmer's appointment is a small, but significant step for New Zealand Rugby.
Te Karare/Youtube

For the first time ever, New Zealand Rugby - the ultimate old boys club of Kiwi society - has elected a woman to its board.

Former Black Fern captain Dr Farah Palmer was unanimously elected to the NZ Rugby board as the new Maori rugby representative, replacing Wayne Peter's - brother of controversial Kiwi MP Winston. Peters retired from the board due to ill health.

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The nomination of Dr Palmer - who won the Women's World Cup three times with New Zealand - was made by Manawatu RFU, and secondly by the Hawke's Bay RFU.

"My hand has been itching to go up for a while but it hasn't because of where I was at in my life with my young family and also because I thought, if it was going to be a woman, there are lots of other women out there who have the potential to be great board members," Palmer told the New Zealand Herald yesterday.

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"I do see this as opening the door to encourage other women to put themselves forward for board positions at provincial and Super Rugby level. I wouldn't like to think that I will be the one and only representative of diversity on the board."

The first female board member in the 125 year history of New Zealand Rugby, Dr Palmer's appointment is a small but significant step forward by NZ Rugby in a year that, time and time again, highlighted the sport's misogynistic culture in New Zealand.

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Indeed, 2016 has been pockmarked by scandal for New Zealand Rugby, from the Waikato Chiefs stripper scandal to the Losi Filipo initial assault non-charges to the Aaron Smith airport toilet sexcapades.

Linking every event was New Zealand Rugby's seemingly inability to deal with it proactively, or with any dignity at all, resulting in rugby's reputation in New Zealand arguably never being worse.

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On the field, the All Blacks lost to Ireland for the first time in 111 years, the New Zealand Rugby Sevens team bombed at the Rio Olympics and former captain Richie McCaw released a corporate-messaging heavy feature documentary that neglected to look at any of the really important issues in Kiwi rugby culture.