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Kōrero: Rugby union

Women playing men's rugby team

Image
Women playing men's rugby team

During the Second World War this group of women, dressed in old-fashioned hobble skirts (long, narrow skirts), played a men's team at Athletic Park, Wellington. Their dress and footwear suggests that the game was not taken seriously and was put on as light entertainment. This condescending attitude towards women playing rugby continued until the 1980s, when women rugby players began to be treated more seriously.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

New Zealand Rugby Museum

Reference: 96.285.23

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Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Ron Palenski, Rugby union – Women’s and Māori rugby, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/40045/women-playing-mens-rugby-team (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Ron Palenski, i tāngia i te 30 November 2012, updated 1 September 2016.