Sammy Murrell: 'I will always be a proud Southlander'

"The excitement in the lead-up to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has made me reflect on [my football] experiences and the huge growth of women’s football in Aotearoa within my lifetime."

NOTE FROM EDITOR: The eyes of the football world will centre on New Zealand this month when we host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup alongside Australia.

The Tribune is keen to help hover a spotlight over the tournament, and we have a treat for you. Former Junior Football Fern Sammy Murrell has come on board as a columnist. Murrell is a Southlander who now lives in the United States. In 2017 she departed to study and play “soccer” at Harvard University.

Today’s first column is a fascinating one as Murrell reflects on her journey from a young footballer in Southland to wearing the silver fern.

We hope you enjoy.

Logan Savory

• Sammy Murrell is a former New Zealand Junior Football Fern from Southland who now lives in the United States.

I got the full range of experiences the beautiful game can impart over the decade and change I spent playing competitive football. The exhilaration of scoring from distance to the guilt of an own goal. The confidence of starting every game in a season to the frustration of barely getting off the bench. The storm cloud of a months-long injury to the joy of the return. And the devastation of missing out on a team to the thrill of singing my country’s national anthem with my hand pressed against the silver fern on my jersey.

The excitement in the lead-up to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has made me reflect on these experiences and the huge growth of women’s football in Aotearoa within my lifetime. 

My football career started in Southland and took me all over the country and beyond.

I’ve played tournaments and seasons in Fiji, Tonga, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, and the United States.

Even though I haven’t lived in Invercargill for over seven years, I will always be a proud Southlander and am grateful for the support my family and community gave me from the morning I first kicked a ball around at Turnbull Thomson Park to the night I lined up at left back for the Junior Football Ferns against Ghana at the 2016 U-20 Women’s World Cup.

Sammy Murrell’s early football days at Turnbull Thomson Park in Invercargill.

I keep up with Southland sports news, and it’s heartening to see the progress that’s been made in girls’ and women’s football in the region since my early playing days. 

I grew up playing on boys teams and didn’t join a girls-only team until I turned 13.

Most of my coaches and teammates were supportive (and the ones who weren’t couldn’t deter me from playing the sport I loved). But looking back on it now, I wonder if the lack of girls-only teams discouraged girls from playing who would have thrived as footballers.

In other words, how many potential future footballers did we lose to netball?

Now, it’s great to see Southland Football programming just for girls, like the Girls Only League on Friday afternoons and events that run as part of New Zealand Football’s Girls and Women’s Week initiative. 

The growth of women’s football isn’t limited to Southland. Participation in girl’s and women’s football is on the rise across the nation, with a 35% increase over the five years preceding 2018, and a 5% increase between 2021 and 2022.

Sammy Murrell ended up in the United States studying and playing football.

Hosting one of the biggest sporting events on the planet alongside our mates from across the ditch is expected to spur this growth even further, and the impact will reach far beyond Aotearoa and Australia.

Currently, around 30 million girls and women across the globe play football. FIFA wants to double this to 60 million by 2026. The 2023 Women’s World Cup will play a huge role in this effort. 

The tournament will kick off on July 20 when the Ford Football Ferns play Norway at Eden Park. I’ll be setting my alarm for 2:58 am to tune in from my flat in Washington, D.C, and will watch with great excitement (and a lot of coffee) as the action unfolds.

Dunedin is one of our four host cities – alongside Auckland, Christchurch, and Hamilton. So, if you can, you might want to think about snagging some tickets and making the drive up! 

• You can read more from Sammy over on her Substack, Murrell of the Story