Two former Bucklands Beach Association Football Club (BBAFC) players are set to suit up in the black jersey for the Football Ferns during their FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign.
Milly Clegg and Jacqui Hand will both make their FIFA Women’s World Cup debuts this month as New Zealand co-host the tournament with Australia.
For Clegg, representing New Zealand is in her DNA. Her mother Kylie Clegg was a Women’s Black Sticks player and represented New Zealand at the 1992 and 2000 Summer Olympics.
To add to her athletic genes, Clegg’s uncle Mark Foy also played football for New Zealand, pulling on the All Whites jersey on three occasions.
Clegg joined BBAFC at the end of 2019 to play striker in a boys NRFL Youth League team. She scored the most goals for the team in 2020.
“Milly is very driven and you could see from the age of 14 that she was this good and would make it as a professional Footballer. Her attitude is amazing and she always wants to be the best and trains hard. She loved playing in a boy’s environment that really pushed her to be the best,” says BBAFC Director of Football, Sander Waterland.
In 2020, the Times reported that Clegg scored 14 goals in just six games for BBAFC during a Labour Weekend National U19 football tournament in Napier.
She was included in the women’s team of the tournament as well as named in the New Zealand U17 national training team.
Now three years later at the age of 17, Clegg is the youngest player in the Football Ferns’ FIFA Women’s World Cup Squad.
It was recently announced that she will not be returning for a second season with the Wellington Phoenix after rejecting a new offer to instead sign with fellow A-League women’s side, the Western Sydney Wanderers for the 2023-24 season.
As for Hand, she is becoming a regular face in the black jersey after making her international debut for the NZ U20 team at the 2018 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup and her senior debut in 2021 against Canada.
The 24-year-old has now notched up a handful of games for the Football Ferns as well as a couple of goals to boot.
Hand attended Pigeon Mountain Primary School and played her junior Football for BBAFC before joining Eastern Suburbs.
In their pre-World Cup friendly match against Vietnam on July 10, Hand helped the Football Ferns over the line, scoring a goal in the 44th minute.
The Football Ferns’ World Cup campaign will get underway on Thursday, July 20 when they face Norway at Auckland’s Eden Park in the tournament’s opening match.
Football Ferns’ Women’s World Cup Schedule:
Pool Game One- New Zealand vs Norway (Thursday, July 20, 7pm) at Eden Park, Auckland.
Pool Game Two- New Zealand vs Philippines (Tuesday, July 25, 5.30pm) at Sky Stadium, Wellington.
Pool Game Three- New Zealand vs Switzerland (Sunday, July 30, 7pm) at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin.
