Chelsea F.C. Women became the first Women’s Super League club to play in New Zealand on Saturday, beating Auckland FC Women’s Invitational XI 7-0 in front of 15,411 fans at Eden Park, a crowd that made clear the appetite for professional women’s football in this city.
The result was never really in doubt against the eight-time WSL champions, but the occasion was always about more than the scoreline.
Auckland FC don’t yet have a women’s team in the A-League, so Head Coach Jenny Bindon and Assistant Coach Kirsty Yallop built a one-off squad from scratch, pulling together current and former Football Ferns, A-League Women players, players with NWSL experience, and promising local talent from Auckland United, Fencibles United and Melville United.
The group had ten days together before kick-off.
Leading them out was former Football Ferns captain Abby Erceg, the 36-year-old with 146 caps and four World Cups to her name.
England international Aggie Beever-Jones scored three times inside the first 23 minutes (11′, 13′, 23′), and Sandy Baltimore added a fourth just before the break to make it 4-0 at half-time.
Giulia Dragoni (56′), Maika Hamano (65′) and Mayra Ramirez (87′) completed the scoring after the break for a 7-0 final margin.
The scoreline told only part of the story. The Eden Park crowd stayed with the home side throughout, a reminder of the audience this fixture was really designed to build, and to inspire the next generation of young talent and fans.
The real value of the fixture for Auckland FC was always going to be measured in what it gave the fans. For young fans watching on, seeing a Chelsea side stocked with World Cup and European winners at Eden Park was the point in itself.
As Assistant Coach Kirsty Yallop said: “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.”
For the players, the value was just as real.
Sharing a pitch with players who have won World Cups, European titles and WSL Championships is not an opportunity many New Zealand-based footballers get, and several in the squad spoke openly about the confidence and opportunities that come from testing themselves against such quality.
Dr Barbara Cox, the first-ever Football Ferns captain, reflected on the occasion on Friday, ahead of the game:
“Never before have we had a women’s team, a well-known, top-class women’s team, Chelsea, so it’s a historic occasion, and I hope all the people that go will actually recognise this, and hopefully this will be the first of many.”
Jenny Bindon on what the occasion means for the players involved: “You have the likes of players domestically and professionally, Kiwi and Aussie players, get an opportunity to be on the pitch with Chelsea, and the more that we are in these environments, the more we belong, and I think it’s amazing.”
For Erceg, taking the captain’s armband against one of the world’s best sides was about more than Saturday’s result. Speaking before the match, Abby said,
“Turning out for the Invitational XI was a chance to show young girls in this country what’s possible.”
Auckland FC are targeting entry into the A-League Women in the 27/28 season, and Saturday’s crowd was the biggest New Zealand has seen for a standalone women’s club football fixture outside a World Cup.
