Silver Ferns unveil Manawa Rau dress for Netball World Cup
July 5, 2023
By Suzanne McFadden and Dame Noeline Taurua
The Silver Ferns have unveiled their 2023 Netball World Cup dress, Manawa Rau, representing the connection of Silver Ferns past, present and future through a ‘single heartbeat’ of the team.
Head coach Dame Noeline Taurua describes Manawa Rau as key to strengthening the identity of the team at this Netball World Cup in South Africa.
“We are not the same team as 2019, we are different and we need to be prepared to carry ourselves in our own space in our own unique way. Manawa Rau has helped us to do that,” Taurua said.
“Our P.U.R.E.D values we developed leading into the 2019 Netball World Cup have been intertwined into the design. The team wore parts of the design on the inside of the dress during Commonwealth Games last year.
“Over time we have evolved and for this team, they will have the honour of unveiling and wearing the dress. They will leave something of themselves for the next generation.
“Manawa Rau has become embedded in our performance culture. The many different elements of Manawa Rau helps us to conceptualise what performance is about - the good times, the tough times, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, the duality around performance that sometimes you can’t explain but can feel.
“The ultimate pursuit of dominance in the performance realm while providing meaning, substance, purpose and strength from the spiritual realm and Te Ao Maori. Manawa Rau is the pou – the pillar of guidance and steadfast strength. It’s so uplifting.”
It’s not surprising the design carries so much mana, especially considering the two Māori artists who created Manawa Rau have their own strong connections to the Silver Ferns and grew up surrounded by netball in Aotearoa.
Maia Gibbs and Henare Brooking, respected tā moko artists from Te Tairāwhiti (East Coast), were invited by the Ferns to create a dress design for their Netball World Cup campaign.
Brooking (Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is the nephew of Netball New Zealand President Tina Karaitiana.
And Gibbs (Ngāti Tāmanuhiri, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Kahungunu) is the son of Leigh Gibbs, one of the most versatile and successful women in Silver Ferns history. She played in three Netball World Cups, including captaining the Silver Ferns to victory in 1987, coached the side at the 1995 world tournament and was assistant coach when they claimed the title again in 2003.
Leigh Gibbs had no idea her son was helping to create the design, based on Māori weaving patterns, until it was presented to the Ferns team.
The connection came through her other son, Pera Gibbs - the strength and conditioning coach for the ANZ Premiership champions, Northern Mystics. The Mystics captain and seasoned Silver Fern, Sulu Fitzpatrick, had mentioned the team’s wish to incorporate an indigenous design into their World Cup dress.
Maia Gibbs and Brooking, who work out of the Toi Ake Māori art gallery they established in Gisborne, had just designed a jersey for the New Zealand Warriors, which they wore in their NRL indigenous round match in 2022. Called Te Amokura, it was an “expression of connection, unity and identity”.
The Silver Ferns wanted a design which linked them to the players who’d gone before them, and represented who they are as players today.
“Henare and I are really only pencils to their designs,” Maia Gibbs said.
“We are truly grateful and humbled they came to us.”
But it was important to the two artists that their work might have more meaning than just a drawing on a dress.
“We are tā moko, we move in a Māori space where everything has meaning, everything is inclusive,” Gibbs said.
“We didn’t just want it to be a design. It needed to be grounded.
“That’s what’s really special to us. From when we had the first korero with the team last year, to coming back and hearing their thoughts on what we had delivered, has been really amazing. We’ve learned how they’ve added their own whakaaro [understanding] to what we had given them and seen how it has been reflected as an entirety.”
Fitzpatrick, who is travelling to Cape Town as a Silver Ferns reserve, says the team were thrilled with the way the design captured what their campaign represents.
“Our patterns placed intricately on our black dresses represent Te Ao Marama – light and life – and Te Pō – darkness and hard times – working in tandem,” she said.
“The duality of light and darkness, challenge and clarity, feminine and masculine attributes, Te Ao Māori and our own world views.”
Within the design name, ‘Manawa’ represents the heartbeats of Silver Ferns players of the past, present and future, beating in unison.
“It’s an acknowledgement of Silver Ferns who have passed on, like Margaret Forsyth,” explained Gibbs, who played with Forsyth’s children on netball sidelines growing up.
“And the current team expressing themselves to make their mark on this stage - and what they can do to leave it in a better place for the next generation.”
‘Rau’ is the multitudes - “Not only those who’ve worn the dress, but all those who sit behind every player.” Rau is also a fern frond.
Around the skirt of the dress runs the tāniko weaving pattern Aramoana – which represents the pathway to the sea, symbolising the players’ wider connections, to family, culture and nature.
The sharp angles of the Niho Taniwha pattern reflect the style of Netball played in New Zealand - agile, dynamic and explosive.
“The shark’s teeth represent the rows and rows of Silver Ferns past and present, the strength of our collective,” said Fitzpatrick.
A continuous red thread runs through the design, signifying “a human rope”.
“In a literal sense, we turned our minds back to when we were kids watching the Silver Ferns play -that moment when they all stand together for the national anthem,” said Gibbs.
“In a metaphorical sense, it’s a line of whakapapa that ties them together –the opportunity they have to play together – facing the now while acknowledging the past.”
There are a couple of unique features that sit on the back of the dress, Brooking reveals.
Down the spine run five small Patiki (diamond-shaped designs symbolising “the womb, and the power and strength of women”) - one for each of the Silver Ferns teams who have won the Netball World Cup in the past.
“It’s a pou tuarongo [the back wall post of a meeting house], the legacy on the players’ backs. And now they’re ready to add to that legacy,” Brooking said.
“And not to put them under too much pressure, we mentioned when we presented it to the design to them that hopefully this collaboration will continue, and we can add a sixth patiki after this World Cup.”
A figure that may not be spotted immediately is a small, stylised lizard.
“It represents Maui – the greatest shapeshifter of all,” said Brooking.
“It’s about being able to adapt, problem solve and be elusive under pressure.
“That’s the narrative for the team – when they are in pressure situations, they have a solution to overcome any challenges in front of them.”
Both Brooking and Gibbs are proud of the dress design, putting toi Māori on the world stage, and representing their iwi, hapu and the people of Te Tairāwhiti. They’re grateful for the mentorship of their artist fathers - Jack Brooking is a tohunga whakairo (carving expert), and Dr Tipene Gibbs is an accomplished Māori artist. And they’re appreciative of the opportunity to collaborate with the Silver Ferns.
Their connections to this Netball World Cup campaign continue through to the mauri stone gifted to the Silver Ferns last week - a piece of pounamu carrying the energy and spirit of New Zealand’s World Cup captains before them.
The carver, Dean Marjoribanks, is the uncle of Maia Gibbs’ son, and Brooking has worked with him and they share whakapapa connections to Te Whānau-ā-Apanui.
Head coach Dame Noeline Taurua describes Manawa Rau as key to strengthening the identity of the team at this Netball World Cup in South Africa.
“We are not the same team as 2019, we are different and we need to be prepared to carry ourselves in our own space in our own unique way. Manawa Rau has helped us to do that,” Taurua said.
“Our P.U.R.E.D values we developed leading into the 2019 Netball World Cup have been intertwined into the design. The team wore parts of the design on the inside of the dress during Commonwealth Games last year.
“Over time we have evolved and for this team, they will have the honour of unveiling and wearing the dress. They will leave something of themselves for the next generation.
“Manawa Rau has become embedded in our performance culture. The many different elements of Manawa Rau helps us to conceptualise what performance is about - the good times, the tough times, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, the duality around performance that sometimes you can’t explain but can feel.
“The ultimate pursuit of dominance in the performance realm while providing meaning, substance, purpose and strength from the spiritual realm and Te Ao Maori. Manawa Rau is the pou – the pillar of guidance and steadfast strength. It’s so uplifting.”
It’s not surprising the design carries so much mana, especially considering the two Māori artists who created Manawa Rau have their own strong connections to the Silver Ferns and grew up surrounded by netball in Aotearoa.
Maia Gibbs and Henare Brooking, respected tā moko artists from Te Tairāwhiti (East Coast), were invited by the Ferns to create a dress design for their Netball World Cup campaign.
Brooking (Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is the nephew of Netball New Zealand President Tina Karaitiana.
And Gibbs (Ngāti Tāmanuhiri, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Kahungunu) is the son of Leigh Gibbs, one of the most versatile and successful women in Silver Ferns history. She played in three Netball World Cups, including captaining the Silver Ferns to victory in 1987, coached the side at the 1995 world tournament and was assistant coach when they claimed the title again in 2003.
Leigh Gibbs had no idea her son was helping to create the design, based on Māori weaving patterns, until it was presented to the Ferns team.
The connection came through her other son, Pera Gibbs - the strength and conditioning coach for the ANZ Premiership champions, Northern Mystics. The Mystics captain and seasoned Silver Fern, Sulu Fitzpatrick, had mentioned the team’s wish to incorporate an indigenous design into their World Cup dress.
Maia Gibbs and Brooking, who work out of the Toi Ake Māori art gallery they established in Gisborne, had just designed a jersey for the New Zealand Warriors, which they wore in their NRL indigenous round match in 2022. Called Te Amokura, it was an “expression of connection, unity and identity”.
The Silver Ferns wanted a design which linked them to the players who’d gone before them, and represented who they are as players today.
“Henare and I are really only pencils to their designs,” Maia Gibbs said.
“We are truly grateful and humbled they came to us.”
But it was important to the two artists that their work might have more meaning than just a drawing on a dress.
“We are tā moko, we move in a Māori space where everything has meaning, everything is inclusive,” Gibbs said.
“We didn’t just want it to be a design. It needed to be grounded.
“That’s what’s really special to us. From when we had the first korero with the team last year, to coming back and hearing their thoughts on what we had delivered, has been really amazing. We’ve learned how they’ve added their own whakaaro [understanding] to what we had given them and seen how it has been reflected as an entirety.”
Fitzpatrick, who is travelling to Cape Town as a Silver Ferns reserve, says the team were thrilled with the way the design captured what their campaign represents.
“Our patterns placed intricately on our black dresses represent Te Ao Marama – light and life – and Te Pō – darkness and hard times – working in tandem,” she said.
“The duality of light and darkness, challenge and clarity, feminine and masculine attributes, Te Ao Māori and our own world views.”
Within the design name, ‘Manawa’ represents the heartbeats of Silver Ferns players of the past, present and future, beating in unison.
“It’s an acknowledgement of Silver Ferns who have passed on, like Margaret Forsyth,” explained Gibbs, who played with Forsyth’s children on netball sidelines growing up.
“And the current team expressing themselves to make their mark on this stage - and what they can do to leave it in a better place for the next generation.”
‘Rau’ is the multitudes - “Not only those who’ve worn the dress, but all those who sit behind every player.” Rau is also a fern frond.
Around the skirt of the dress runs the tāniko weaving pattern Aramoana – which represents the pathway to the sea, symbolising the players’ wider connections, to family, culture and nature.
The sharp angles of the Niho Taniwha pattern reflect the style of Netball played in New Zealand - agile, dynamic and explosive.
“The shark’s teeth represent the rows and rows of Silver Ferns past and present, the strength of our collective,” said Fitzpatrick.
A continuous red thread runs through the design, signifying “a human rope”.
“In a literal sense, we turned our minds back to when we were kids watching the Silver Ferns play -that moment when they all stand together for the national anthem,” said Gibbs.
“In a metaphorical sense, it’s a line of whakapapa that ties them together –the opportunity they have to play together – facing the now while acknowledging the past.”
There are a couple of unique features that sit on the back of the dress, Brooking reveals.
Down the spine run five small Patiki (diamond-shaped designs symbolising “the womb, and the power and strength of women”) - one for each of the Silver Ferns teams who have won the Netball World Cup in the past.
“It’s a pou tuarongo [the back wall post of a meeting house], the legacy on the players’ backs. And now they’re ready to add to that legacy,” Brooking said.
“And not to put them under too much pressure, we mentioned when we presented it to the design to them that hopefully this collaboration will continue, and we can add a sixth patiki after this World Cup.”
A figure that may not be spotted immediately is a small, stylised lizard.
“It represents Maui – the greatest shapeshifter of all,” said Brooking.
“It’s about being able to adapt, problem solve and be elusive under pressure.
“That’s the narrative for the team – when they are in pressure situations, they have a solution to overcome any challenges in front of them.”
Both Brooking and Gibbs are proud of the dress design, putting toi Māori on the world stage, and representing their iwi, hapu and the people of Te Tairāwhiti. They’re grateful for the mentorship of their artist fathers - Jack Brooking is a tohunga whakairo (carving expert), and Dr Tipene Gibbs is an accomplished Māori artist. And they’re appreciative of the opportunity to collaborate with the Silver Ferns.
Their connections to this Netball World Cup campaign continue through to the mauri stone gifted to the Silver Ferns last week - a piece of pounamu carrying the energy and spirit of New Zealand’s World Cup captains before them.
The carver, Dean Marjoribanks, is the uncle of Maia Gibbs’ son, and Brooking has worked with him and they share whakapapa connections to Te Whānau-ā-Apanui.