New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is yet to announce a start date for this season's Farah Palmer Cup and players are worried that a lack of details means that the two-tier women's provincial competition will be the next competition to be cut as the governing body takes cost-saving measures.
Photo: Photosport
The domestic rugby calendar has had a shake-up. Heartland Championship, under-19 and national sevens tournaments have been called-off for 2020, Super Rugby has morphed into Super Rugby Aotearoa and a re-jigged men's provincial competition will kick-off in September.
But representative women's players, backed by their predecessors, want to know what is next for their game.
'You wouldn't expect the All Blacks to have a Test match without any kind of preparation'
Former Black Fern Erin Rush played in an era when the women paid their own way to represent their country.
She knows the sacrifices needed to pull on the black jersey and she shares current representative players' concerns about the prospect of a domestic rugby calendar devoid of any provincial competition - especially in the lead-up to a World Cup.
New Zealand will host the World Cup next year and Rush says the Farah Palmer Cup will be vital build-up for the Black Ferns who will be defending their title on home turf.
"They have to have meaningful competition and time to prepare for it just like the men, you wouldn't expect the All Blacks to have a Test match without any kind of preparation," Rush says.
Rush is surprised NZR have not come out with a plan for the Farah Palmer Cup yet.
"They have the Mitre 10 Cup locked in, I know that's only just been announced, but I still shake my head to think why could the women's programme not have been thought about at the same time. What is the obstruction here, what is different?
"I thought the women's game had a better status within New Zealand Rugby than it appears to and it is not a good look."
Rush praises the work of NZR's head of women's development Cate Sexton but she says Sexton might struggle to be heard within NZR.
"Perhaps she needs some support from the public, like me and others, to voice enough disquiet and help her fight for the women's and girls' game."
Wellington Pride forward Alice Soper is one voice that is calling NZR out for a lack of transparency around the Farah Palmer Cup.
Soper says the women's game faces uncertainty every time NZR was under financial pressure but she did not want to their competition to be the latest casualty.
"Our game is only going to get better, we are not even near the full potential yet so don't cut us off now we are just getting started," she says.
Despite raising her voice and directly calling out NZR online, Soper says she still doesn't know when or if she'll turn out for the Pride again this season.
"Look I am too old, a black jersey isn't going to be in my future but the Farah Palmer Cup is what keeps me going because I am not really going to be able to achieve much more at the club level, I've already done that, but to keep pushing myself against the country's best that's what keeps me fired up.
"So if you take that out, what am I doing, why I am I still doing this, why am I waking up on a Sunday unable to turn my head, these are silly decisions if you don't have something to work towards."
Soper has been playing for the Pride since 2014 and says women's rugby faces challenges when compared to the conditions of the men's provincial competition but she was starting to see change that she is concerned will be lost.
"People were really starting to look at what our potential was and now it is not a question of will we play on a main field, it's a question of will we get to play and that sucks."
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
'Women are not the priority'
Izzy Ford was on the board of Wellington Rugby for three years and she says every year it was a "frustration" waiting on NZR to release the draw for the women's competition.
Ford can see the same thing happening this season.
"It seems like women were not the priority, the fact that they haven't considered them or are leaving it to what seems like an afterthought is really poor I believe on the part of NZR," the former Wellington and New Zealand representative player says.
"In my opinion Farah Palmer and Mitre 10 should always be considered alongside each other, they are both the at same level of competition. If you've already done the work to get the men's competition underway, why haven't you done the same for the women?"
A revised Farah Palmer Cup would be better than nothing, Ford says.
"As much as you don't want it to not to happen, I think it is critical that they have something happening at that tier, given that it is a Rugby World Cup year next year."
Ford is concerned that if no provincial competition gets off the ground in 2020 it would set a bad example at a time when the rest of the rugby world would be looking at New Zealand ahead of the World Cup.
"What signal are we sending out to the world if we're not even going to have a Farah Palmer Cup running this year that would be the steppingstone for some of those potential girls who might get into the Black Ferns squad."
'It would deter me away from rugby if there was no competition this year'
Thamsyn Newton has played for the White Ferns and aspires to be a Black Fern.
She has represented Wellington in both cricket and rugby and is planning on using this year's Farah Palmer Cup competition as a chance to impress selectors ahead of the 2021 World Cup.
"I was under the impression if there was going to be a Mitre 10 Cup there'd for sure be a Farah Palmer Cup," Newton says.
"Club rugby is not going to make you a Black Fern really, we do that at the next level which is Farah Palmer, so it makes things really difficult and it is pretty demotivating to hear that may not be a season.
"It would deter me away from rugby if there was no competition this year. I can't afford to wait another season to push for higher honours."
Newton's involvement with rugby began at an early age and she was a ball girl for the Pride.
"I looked up to those girls, they were my idols growing up and I loved watching them play. It was a huge motivator for me and that is why I fell in love with the game."
The prospect of another generation of players not getting the same opportunity concerns Newton.
"I don't know how you can expect to encourage young girls to even take up rugby if you can't provide a competition at that [Farah Palmer Cup] level."
Despite it being the cricket off-season, Newton says she has heard more from her cricket coaches than her rugby coaches.
She has felt a stark contrast between the two sports and how she says women players are treated.
"In terms of domestically the professionalism in women's cricket domestically I would say is leaps and bounds ahead of the professionalism in women's rugby."
The longer it takes for NZR to make a decision on the Farah Palmer Cup, the more thought Newton gives to her playing future and whether or not she'll keep up her rugby training.
"Do I just start training for cricket again because I know there's definitely going to be a season on or I know that there's going to be some communication around it and that they'll do what they can to ensure that there is a competition for us to play in."