Champion Black Fern receives damehood

Dame Farah Palmer of Palmerston North, DNZM, for services to sport, particularly rugby at the Investiture Ceremony at Government House, Wellington.
Photo: Photosport

Former World Cup-winning Black Fern Farah Palmer has officially received her damehood at an investiture ceremony in Wellington on Wednesday.

Dame Farah was recognised for her services to rugby in the New Year honours.

Born in Te Kuiti and raised in Piopio, Dame Farah, of Ngāti Maniapoto, won three Rugby World Cups during a decorated playing career, before becoming the first woman elected to the New Zealand Rugby board. She is also the first wāhine Māori deputy chair of an organisation long known as a bastion for male administrators.

While she has forged a reputation as an advocate for women’s rugby, Dame Farah told RNZ she has a new cause in 2023 – probably her last on the NZR Board – pushing to have the Māori All Blacks recognised with international caps.

Initially unsure whether to accept the damehood, she said the honour is recognition of more than just her individual efforts.

“It never feels completely comfortable to me. I don’t really like the limelight. I do things because I feel it’s helping others and that’s what drives me,” she said in December.

“I had to think long and hard about it but I decided that it was all those people that had gone before me – who didn’t get the recognition that they deserved – that I was representing.

“You’ve got to put yourself out there so that others can see something like this is possible and something that you should be proud of.”