Not only is women’s rugby making an impact on the field in Canterbury, women are also about to make an impact around the board table of that organisation. Recently Lynda Coppersmith and Gillian Simpson were appointed as independent Board members of the Canterbury Rugby Football Union.  Chairman Pete Winchester said they were the preferred candidates from a comprehensive list of applicants. Both women will bring quite bring different sets of skills, but also compliment those of the existing board members.

Winchester said there is a push from organisations such as Sport New Zealand for sporting organisations to have more diverse boards and that message has also come from New Zealand Rugby to provincial unions as well.

‘However, despite that message we were determined to have the best people for our organisation and in this case, it was by chance that these two women came up trumps,’ Winchester said.

Gillian Simpson has been very involved in sport at community level for a long time at all levels as a parent and a coach and as headmistress at St Margaret’s College. While at the head of the school Simpson was involved with Schools Sports Canterbury which looks after the competitions for all secondary sport in the Canterbury region.

Simpson said the real draw card for her was to be part of this organisation was her passion for community and the well-being of young people.

“Following the earthquakes, the decision was made by School Sport Canterbury to make sure young people remained playing sport, so this is an opportunity gives me another opportunity to make sure this continues to happen,’ Simpson said.

Simpson has been a Rowing New Zealand board member and said that has given her an understanding of sport at a national level and for the need for pathways for young people. She said she has considerable governance experience but as a member of New Zealand Global Women she felt she also has a responsibility to promote diversity at the governance level. 

When discussing what skills Lynda will bring to the table Winchester said that while she comes from a business background, she also has an understanding of rural New Zealand as she has been connected with a variety of agricultural businesses in the past.

‘Currently Lynda is the CEO of New Zealand Young Farmers, in fact is the first ever female CEO of that organisation, which was obviously a milestone as well as a challenge,’ Winchester said.

Winchester likened the Young Farmers organisation to sport as it has small clubs for young people dotted around rural New Zealand and, in the end, clubs are clubs and they won’t be too dissimilar to sports clubs. He added that her understanding of what young people want will be valuable too.

Winchester is looking forward to having more women assisting with the decision making, and said it just happened that there were two spots available this time. The two new women will join ex player Natasha Wong on the board. Julie Patterson was also recently elected as President which is another first for Canterbury Rugby.

Article added: Monday 06 May 2019