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Watch: Black Fern tells brave story of overcoming prejudice after playing junior rugby with boys - 'We don't want girls'

May 23, 2018

Grace Booker, 18, has gone through plenty of trials on and off the field to earn the black jersey.

Canterbury teenager Grace Brooker realised her dream today when she was named as one of New Zealand’s first contracted Black Ferns.

But while the 18-year-old winger said she is thankful to the Black Ferns before her for paving the way to this historic day, Brooker herself has had to face some tough obstacles on her way to realising her dream.

Brooker told 1 NEWS she grew up playing rugby in boys' teams simply because there weren’t girls' teams to register for.

"I grew up playing junior rugby with the boys," she said.

"The teammates were really good – the boys were really good but I got asked to go to a rep trial one time and my dad got a call the night before saying, 'don't turn up because we don’t want girls in the team'.

"That was a big shock to the system but it just drove me even more to get me to where I am."

Brooker is happy such obstacles don’t exist anymore with an under 16s grade set up for young women in Canterbury.

"There's about four teams for that so it's really good."

Brooker was one of 28 players offered a Black Ferns contract today – a dream she's had even since first picking up a ball.

"It's never been about the contract. It's always been about wearing the black jersey."

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