A lack of female football stars in the media didn't stop Claudia Bunge on her journey to the top; now the Football Fern hopes a new campaign helps girls see what they can become
The first time Claudia Bunge watched a women’s football game, it featured some of the Football Ferns she now calls her team-mates.
Playing with boys until around the age of 14, Bunge didn’t have too many football role models growing up, rarely seeing the Football Ferns on TV or in the media.
But when she went to see the U17 Women’s World Cup in 2008, when New Zealand hosted the inaugural tournament, it changed her life.
“That was the first time I went to a women’s football game and I thought it was awesome,” Bunge says, just nine years old at the time.
“Some of the girls I play with now were on that team … seeing them play was really cool for me and kind of got me into it.”
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Current Football Ferns Annalie Longo, Katie Bowen and Vic Esson were all part of that team, plus recently-retired Rosie White – one of Bunge’s first role models.
“Rosie came to one of our national talent centres and we did a Q&A with her and that was like the first time meeting a Fern up close,” she says.
Bunge (Ngāi Tūhoe) moved clubs to play with more girls, and was part of an all-girls team who played in a boys' league when she was around 15.
But around that age, there was “a massive drop-off” in participation numbers.
“A lot of girls would go play other sports, or didn’t really see where football could take them,” Bunge explains.
“The paths were pretty limited and if you weren’t watching the Ferns, you didn’t really have anyone to inspire to be. There were heaps of girls who were dropping out.”
This aligns with the recent research that inspired Visa’s PlayOn campaign, which features Bunge, with a goal to make female role models more visible and encourage more girls to stay in sport.
From their young female respondents, it was found 64 percent don’t have a female sports star to look up to. Fifteen is the peak age girls drop out of sports, citing reasons like lack of role models, body confidence and social and study commitments.
Bunge can see why these things would cause girls to give up, finding the balance most difficult after she left school.
Not sure what she wanted to study, she would work from 7am-3pm in an office job, customer-facing for a nursing service company, before going to training in the evenings.
“Balancing that with going to trainings, that was pretty hard mentally and physically,” Bunge recalls.
“You had to be pretty switched on, you were dealing with unhappy clients and unhappy families so it was quite a lot to do at a young age.”
A gifted athlete, Bunge chose football over tennis when she was a teenager, partly due to the team aspect having become close with teammates over the years.
“For me, the reason why I fell in love with football was because of the people I met and the friendships I made,” Bunge says.
“I’m best mates with my teammates in the Ferns and overseas too – that’s the real reason why I love the sport.”
The Visa research, in partnership with Year 13, a digital youth engagement platform, found girls were most influenced by their friends when it came to choosing sport.
“Us girls, we’re quite social I feel, generally, so I know feeling comfortable and feeling safe around people who you value and you care about is a big thing,” Bunge says.
“I encourage girls to give it a go; you’ll meet some amazing people along the way.
“If you’re not enjoying it or there are some things hindering you, there are places and clubs and schools that do value you. So just be brave and if you’re not happy with something, then try go somewhere else.”
Bunge thinks that while the negative side of social media can see young girls pressured to look a certain way, it can also show women succeeding.
“We’re starting to come into a new era where you’ve got these amazing women who are winning world titles, like Serena Williams, Val Adams, all those amazing women who are still feminine but also they’re bosses at their sport,” says Bunge.
The Visa research showed 29 percent of girls who don’t play sport listed body insecurities as a reason for dropping out – or not playing at all.
“I feel there’s a lot more visibility for those sorts of athletes for younger girls nowadays. But back then, even further along, when they were kids, I just don’t think there was much visibility.
“There wasn’t a lack of role models but the visibility was lacking for sure, girls didn’t really know what they could be or what they could become.”
Bunge says it’s important to show a range of role models so girls can find someone who looks like them, or has qualities they can relate to.
“Having Indigenous players across Australia and Māori players in New Zealand is really big; having players that identify with LGBTQI groups is really big, and something that’s starting to become a bit more normalised now which is really cool,” she says.
“Representation’s really huge and if people can see athletes who look like them, then it goes to show they can also do that too.”
Being a part of the Visa Play On campaign alongside Dame Valerie Adams and Matildas player Ellie Carpenter is a privilege for Bunge.
“I feel very lucky and very privileged to be helping promote this campaign with Visa Play On and hopefully do what I can and be as present as possible. Even if it encourages one person to keep playing, then I see that as a win.”
Bunge made her Football Ferns debut in 2019 and has 20 senior caps. She was part of the U17 and U20 teams, and the Tokyo Olympic team.
The opportunity to be selected for the World Cup and play in front of a home crowd would be overwhelming.
“I think I would just cry, I do think about it sometimes and obviously we’ve still got quite a bit of work to do before that opening game … but it would be incredible,” Bunge says.
“Even playing in Christchurch, at the end of last year, that was my first time playing for the Ferns at home, just to have my parents at that game, to see the kids in the stands was really, really cool, you just feel really proud.
“We spend so much time playing overseas, with the Ferns, we travel a bit and we play away a lot so to be home is just different, playing in front of a home crowd, so I think the game on the 20th against Norway will be really special.”
It’s estimated over two billion people will tune in to the World Cup – double the viewership of 2019's Cup in France. They’ve also set a goal of over one million tickets to be sold between New Zealand and Australia.
At the Rugby World Cup, more than 42,000 fans packed out Eden Park to watch the Black Ferns beat England in the final –something the Football Ferns hope to repeat in their opening match against Norway in July.
“You saw what the Black Ferns accomplished. Nine months before the World Cup, not many people were on board, they were playing in small stadiums with small crowds, but that can change really quickly,” Bunge says.
“Obviously them winning the World Cup helped with that, but they had really good role models and amazing athletes and a good team to help drive that.”
Bunge used to play football with Black Fern Renee Holmes, so followed their whole tournament very closely.
In Europe in the past year, a number of women’s football matches have drawn more than 80,000 fans, evidence of the recent investment put into the women’s game.
“We haven’t quite had the same recognition here yet but I think with an event this big, hopefully that can drive a bit more change and New Zealand can get behind us like they did with the Black Ferns,” says Bunge.
“The fact that Kiwi kids can literally go to games in their local towns, and not even just Ferns games, any game – I really encourage parents to take their kids to any game and hopefully it can inspire some kids to give football a go, or just sport a go in general.”
