Rugby helped Tui McGeorge rise out of a dark place in her life. Now the Northland Kauri player is giving back to the sport, as a volunteer at the Rugby World Cup.
Gutsy Northland Kauri forward Tui McGeorge can picture herself playing for the Black Ferns in a Rugby World Cup one day.
“But if I don’t get to, hopefully one day I’ll be watching my girls playing there,” says the mother of three daughters - Michaela, Kyla-Anne and Summerbreeze.
Until then, McGeorge is happy to wear the uniform of a different team on her home ground - taking up the opportunity to play her part in this Rugby World Cup, the first ever played in New Zealand.
She’s working as a volunteer at the Northland Events Centre in Whangārei – which will host 11 games, and 11 of the 12 nations in this tournament. And she hopes her daughters – aged between 10 and 14 – will be involved, too.
She wants her daughters, all sporty like their mum, to be inspired by the rugby wāhine gathered from around the globe. To see where dedication and perseverance can take you.
But then, McGeorge’s life story is inspirational all on its own.
Tui McGeorge and her whānau after a Farah Palmer Cup match this season.
Growing up in the small rural community of Tauwhare, on the outskirts of Hamilton, McGeorge was your typical sporty kid - playing league and doing karate, swimming and athletics.
“I played league in the boys’ teams up until I wasn’t allowed to. By then, I was at high school and played one year of schoolgirls rugby. Then I fell pregnant with my eldest girl, so I wasn’t able to play,” she says.
McGeorge had her three daughters by the time she was 21. Then things got tougher – she escaped an abusive relationship, then lost her supportive mum to breast cancer. Her brother died unexpectedly soon after. Feeling lost, lonely and struggling with grief, McGeorge "spiralled downhill".
Then one day, knowing she needed a change to be happy again, she phoned her best friend in Whangārei said she and her girls were going to move north. One of the first things she did was sign up to a rugby club. “I just really wanted to play sport again,” she says.
She joined Hora Hora, and in that first season, made the Northland Kauri side and played in the Farah Palmer Cup.
“I didn’t know all the rules of rugby, but I still played. It was so cool,” McGeorge says. “I just love the contact side of it.”
She’s just wrapped up her fourth season for the Kauri and has become a vital player in the side. And for the fourth year in a row, Northland lost to Hawkes Bay Tui in the championship semifinals.
“Maybe next year we’ll come back fitter and stronger to take the win,” she says. “But apart from that it was a really good season.”
McGeorge’s versatility was put to the test in that semi, when she started at lock, then moved No.8, and finally flanker (she’d been a loose forward most of the season). “I really don’t mind what position I play, as long as I’m out on the field,” she says.
She dreamed of playing at a World Cup as a kid, and hasn’t ruled out wearing the black jersey one day.
“Making a Black Ferns side would be awesome, but I’d also be grateful for the opportunity to play in Super Rugby Aupiki. We’ve put our names forward for that,” McGeorge says. “It’s so cool they have that competition for women now – it’s another pathway.”
With three daughters, McGeorge is all about having pathways so they can achieve their goals. Two of them play rugby, the other played league for the first time this season (having to travel to Auckland each weekend to play).
“It’s cool for me to make it and have my girls coming through the rugby pathway as well. They come to my trainings and to the games, and they get to mix and mingle with some of the Black Ferns, so it’s cool for them to be around that. There are some great role models among them,” she says.
“My youngest has run the ball out at times. She gets excited by those opportunities.”
McGeorge would love to see one of her girls carry the game ball onto the field in one of the Rugby World Cup matches.
After putting her name down to volunteer so she could give back to the game during this tournament, McGeorge will be an event assistant during the four weeks the RWC is played in Northland.
“It’s just a cool opportunity to be involved in, to be amongst it all. It comes back down to my passion for playing,” she says.
McGeorge is all about giving back – she’s an ambassador for Rugby for Life, a community rugby partnership programme in Northland, helping others to escape domestic violence situations and encouraging Northlanders to be vaccinated against Covid.
The Canadian team have been training at her Hora Hora club in the build-up to their opening game, against Japan at Whangārei on Sunday. McGeorge's club team coach, Katie Bowmar, has taken on the role of team liaison officer for Canada while they're in New Zealand. The trainings are another chance for McGeorge’s daughters to watch an international team at work.
More than 400 volunteers are spread out between the three venues for the World Cup – Northland, Eden Park and Waitākere Stadium.
Northland will host 11 of the 12 nations in the tournament, with the first triple-header played on Sunday: the United States taking on Italy at 12.45pm, Japan v Canada kicking off at 3.15pm, and Wales meeting Scotland at 5.45pm.
Defending champions, the Black Ferns, will play their second game in Whangārei, against Wales on October 16.
