She’s New Zealand football’s golden girl, with her generation-inspiring goal in the opening World Cup match against Norway sending the nation into raptures. But as the afterglow of the Football World Cup fades, Hannah Wilkinson opens up to Capsule about where to from here for women’s soccer in Aotearoa, her own ‘bittersweet’ feelings around missed goals, and how she’s helping other young girls keen on sport.
Kia ora, Hannah! So nice to chat to you again. The increase in the number of girls and women playing football in recent years is amazing – how do you feel about the rise?
It’s super exciting. Thinking back to when I started playing, having only male players to look up to, and no women’s teams to play in, we really have come such a long way. It’s been a privileged responsibility to become one of the women’s players I needed when I was younger. The investment in women’s football has granted the same platforms as men, which in turn has provided more access to the game for young girls and women to watch. As a result, we are seeing an incredible rise in popularity for the women’s game – it’s terrific!
Why do you think football is the best sport for Kiwi girls in particular to play?
It’s the world’s most popular sport, and one that can encourage and foster important life skills such as resilience, communication, teamwork, perseverance, and self-belief. The game itself is beautiful to play, and so enjoyable to watch. Football also offers so many opportunities, from college scholarships to creating meaningful networks all over the world.
How has life been post-World Cup? What’s changed the most for you since we last caught up?
Post-World Cup was bittersweet – on one hand we created a bit of history and sparked a real love and excitement for football in New Zealand, which is exceptional. On the other hand, we failed to achieve the goal we set for ourselves, which was to progress beyond our group in the tournament. While it was painfully close, missing goals by inches and experiencing the cruelty of VAR, that is World Cup football for you. Regardless, I try to recognise the impact we made by just one successful performance, and I’m grateful we were able to do at least that for Aotearoa.
The Milo Fantails project is a cool initiative – do you wish something like this was around when you were a kid, and do you reckon it would have made a difference to your pathway?
Yes of course, it would’ve helped me recognise that I can develop in this sport and make it a career for myself. Any dreams I had of playing professionally were fostered through the world of men’s football and learning and playing in boys teams. I lacked the identification with that goal because I wasn’t male. Young girls and women are now able to see women’s football is an achievable profession, and it starts with amazing projects like the Milo Fantails initiative.
[Recent figures from New Zealand Football found a 25% increase in both football and futsal in women players from 2022-23, with that number expected to reach record highs following the Women’s World Cup. It’s becoming increasingly evident that we need to invest more into not just female sport, but with an additional focus on uplifting young girls to participate in order to gain the valuable life skills team sport can teach. Milo has joined forces with New Zealand Football to support their grassroots sports programme, now known as the Milo Fantails, which enables and encourages young girls aged five-12 to participate in team sport.]
It’s cool to align with a brand like Milo who has the same philosophy around sport being a great teacher. I think it’s important for young girls and women to have the opportunity to learn skills from a group sport like challenging yourself and being held accountable to a team.
The World Cup proved that Kiwis – and the world! – are keen as to watch women’s sport. Do you feel like there’s been progress made in the recognition and celebration of women’s sport?
Yes, huge progress. All it really took was more investment into women’s sport and removing some of the barriers such as accessibility and visibility, by displaying it on the same platforms as the men’s game (on TV, hosting matches in huge stadiums, advertising etc). It was never the argument that no one watches women’s sport – it was that no one could actually watch women’s sport, as it wasn’t being shown anywhere! The progress here is absolutely amazing, and what I’d always dreamed of.
Is there anything that still irks you around sport inequality or equity, and what do you think we should be doing more of to make sure as many girls and women have access to sport?
I think the most important thing is for football entities, or any sporting entities, to be held accountable and keep the promises they make when it comes to equality in sport. PR moves and media tactics are great ways to promote equality and get public credit, when a lot of the time it isn’t necessarily the reality. It’s very important to keep pushing for the same rights as men’s teams and holding those at the top accountable when they slip up.
