DEBBIE CHASE – KIWI FERN #33

Triple international Debbie Chase represented the Kiwi Ferns in 1998 from the Woolston club.

In 1989, she had starred for Sydenham in the CRL Grand Final against Kaiapoi and faced a battle to be reinstated to then-amateur union code (she had played union for Canterbury since 1984).

Kawerau-born Chase played for the New Zealand softball team in 1986 and made her debut for rugby union’s Black Ferns in 1990 and led the first haka at the inaugural – but ‘unofficial’ – women’s World Cup in 1991.

Playing the last of her 11 matches (three Tests) for the Black Ferns in 1993, the midfield back later returned to league and played in the Kiwi Ferns’ home series against Great Britain as a 32-year-old in 1998 at five-eighth.

Chase’s remarkable sporting résumé includes representing Canterbury at athletics, volleyball, basketball, rugby sevens, football and volleyball. She remained involved in rugby league for many years, including serving as the Canterbury team’s trainer at multiple National Women’s Tournaments.