A young girl, wearing a pressed school uniform and carrying a purple backpack, stops to watch as a group of boys plays a casual game of rugby.
It's is a brief moment in the documentary Power Meri, but it speaks volumes about the biggest issues facing women in Papua New Guinea.
Directed by Joanna Lester, Power Meri (‘meri’ has multiple meanings in PNG’s official language, Tok Pisin, but essentially means ‘woman’ or ‘girl’) captures the journey of the country's first national female rugby team,
Lester, an Australian sports journalist says the “proud, strong and hopeful” players are not just elite athletes but powerful role models.
“These women have overcome more challenges than most to take the field in their much-loved national sport,” she says.
“I could see there was huge potential for female rugby league players - the pioneers in PNG’s traditionally male-dominated national sport, to change attitudes about the status and treatment of women.”
Although PNG is home to some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world, rugby is a salve that brings people together and gives them hope.
Two-thirds of women in PNG report being attacked and more than 80 per cent of men have admitted to sexually assaulting a woman in the South Pacific country.
Despite the fact the rugby is the country's national sport, PNG had never had a national women's rugby team until a group of passionate women rugby players, along with some senior Australian coaches and staff decided to band together and form the PNG Orchids.
The game hasn’t just empowered the players themselves, but has the potential to inspire a whole generation of young girls and women.
Cathy Neap is the inaugural Orchids captain and in late 2018, was appointed the manager of the National Rugby League in PNG. She says that the team was established, trained and played in the 2017 World Cup within the span of just three months. It’s an achievement she’s immensely proud of.
“It’s an amazing feeling to be part of the first national team. Rugby is so popular here in our country and to be among the first players is something I will always treasure,” she says, speaking to SBS Life from Port Moresby.
The film follows the team's journey with no coach, funding or support to the global sporting stage. They are shown doing endless drills, pushing their bodies to work even harder, all against the backdrop of people telling them that women can’t play rugby. The players had immense pressure to succeed and prove their detractors wrong.
Neap says for men to see women playing the national sport, especially at the highest level, helps break down gender barriers. The creation of the Orchids hasn't just been a boon for the players themselves, but has acted as a powerful symbol for all women in PNG.
“Rugby is loved by men and it's a male-dominated sport, so for people to see women play the sport, and to play it at the world stage, it's certainly breaking barriers and men can see that women are equal to men; that we're not just here to wash their jerseys or watch them from the stands.”
The team has gone from strength-to-strength. Most recently, they played a game against the Brisbane Broncos that acted as a double-header along with the Broncos and the Manly Sea Eagles at Suncorp Stadium. They have signed up sponsors and are due to compete in the 2019 Pacific Games after women’s rugby league nines was introduced four years ahead of its originally scheduled debut.
Neap says playing rugby has bolstered her confidence.
“I used to think this was a man’s word and growing up, I could only wish to play the sport like this, so when the chance came up, I went for it and I realised that it’s not a man’s world, it’s for women, too.”
Alana Schetzer is a writer. You can follow Alana on Twitter @schetzer.
