Gayle Broughton

Last updated

Gayle Broughton
Date of birth (1996-06-05) 5 June 1996 (age 28)
Place of birth Hāwera, New Zealand
Height1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight70 kg (154 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Utility Back
Senior career
YearsTeamApps(Points)
2020 Taranaki 3 (315)
National sevens team
YearsTeamComps
2014–2021 New Zealand
Medal record
Women's rugby sevens
Representing Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2020 Tokyo Team competition
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team competition
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2018 Gold Coast Team competition
Rugby World Cup Sevens
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2018 San Francisco Team competition

Gayle Broughton (born 5 June 1996) is a New Zealand rugby league player, beginning her NRLW career at the Parramatta Eels in June 2022, where she played one season prior to joining the Brisbane Broncos in 2023. She formerly played rugby union sevens for the New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team. She made her international debut for New Zealand in 2014 and called time on her rugby career in March 2022. She had scored 315 points in 112 World Series matches. [1] [2] and has won every trophy on offer in the sevens game. Her accomplishments include six World Rugby Sevens series titles, Olympic Games gold and silver medals, Commonwealth Games gold and winning the Rugby World Cup Sevens. [3]

Contents

Early life

Gayle Broughton was born in Hāwera, New Zealand, on 5 June 1996 [2] to Karen Broughton and Alfred Hauparoa. [4]

A naturally talented sportswoman with six brothers, Broughton was raised by her Broughton grandparents but had a troubled childhood, which led to her being expelled from high school at the age of 16. [5] [6]

Rugby career

In 2012, the New Zealand Rugby Union organized a "Go for Gold" campaign to identify talent with the potential to represent New Zealand in the sevens competition at the Rio Olympics. A promise of $10 [6] by her grandmother Patsy Broughton if she would attend the trial being held in Taranaki was sufficient to tempt Broughton to meet Patsy the morning after a party and be driven by her to what she thought would be a "dumb trial". [5] At the trial she was put through various fitness, rugby skill and character assessment activities. [5] She discovered that she liked the game. Of the 800 who attended a trial, Broughton along with Michaela Blyde and Lauren Bayens, who were also from Taranaki, were among the 30 most promising who attended a training camp at Waiouru in mid-2012.

Accepted for the sevens programme, Broughton initially remained in Taranaki, having to get up at 6am to train in New Plymouth alongside Blyde. [6] However, her lack of commitment and repeated failures to turn up for training sessions resulted in her receiving two warnings from the Taranaki Rugby Union, who were supervising her training on behalf of the Sevens coaching staff. At the second warning she was informed that if she did not commit to what was expected she would be dropped. [6] Broughton admits that at the time she did not care about the opportunity she was being given until her grandmother took her aside and urged her not sabotage this opportunity to better herself. [6] This talk prompted Broughton to take the next day’s bus out of Taranaki and relocate to the squad’s training hub at Mount Maunganui. [6] Here she boarded with coach Sean Horan and his family, along with Kelly Brazier and Portia Woodman. It was her first time away from home and for the first three months she absolutely hated the experience. [6]

At the age of 18, Broughton made her international debut for New Zealand in 2014 against Netherlands at the USA Women's Sevens. [6] [7] Later in the year, she was part of the team who won the World Cup in Moscow. She was part of the New Zealand's women's sevens squad that qualified for the Rio Olympics when they won the 2014–15 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series. [8]

2016 Rio Olympic Games

Broughton ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) at the São Paulo Sevens tournament in February 2016 and opted for a non-surgical treatment that allowed her to play without ligaments in the affected knee. [5] [6] She was selected as a member of the playing team for the 2016 Rio Olympics. [9] She pledged to give her medal to her grandmother if the team won gold. [10] The team scored 109 points and conceded 12 in pool play, before beating USA in the quarter-finals and Great Britain in the semi-finals, before losing 24–17 to Australia in the final. The loss hit the squad hard. [5]

Broughton was a member of the New Zealand team that won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. Outside of her Sevens commitments she also played on occasion for the Taranaki Whio, scoring a try and kicked seven points for them against North Harbour in September 2020 in what was the team’s first ever Farah Palmer Cup win. [11]

2020 Tokyo Olympic Games

Broughton was selected for the New Zealand Sevens team to complete at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021. In the semi-final, the Black Ferns Sevens faced a much-improved Fiji, who up until that time had never beaten New Zealand. With the score 17-all at full-time, the game was forced into extra time, during which Broughton who had been bought back onto the field to replace Brazier, scored the winning try. [5] The final score in favour of the Black Ferns was 22-17. The team went on to win the final and claim the gold medal. [12] [13]

In early March 2022, Broughton announced that after nine years she was retiring from rugby to migrate to Australia with her family. [1]

Rugby league career

In April 2022, Broughton began playing with Mounties in the NSWRL Women's Premiership. In early June 2022, the Parramatta Eels announced that Broughton had signed to play for the club in the 2022 NRL Women's season. [14] [15]

At the end of the 2022 season, Broughton was voted by the NRLW players as their Rookie of the Year in the Rugby League Players Association awards. [16]

Awards and honours

Personal life

Of Māori descent, Broughton affiliates to the Ngāruahine and Ngāti Ruanui iwi. [18] She is openly lesbian. [19] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team</span> Rugby team

The New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team represents New Zealand in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Hirini</span> New Zealand rugby union player

Sarah Hirini is a New Zealand women's rugby union player. She has played fifteen-a-side and seven-a-side rugby union, as a member of the New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team and New Zealand women's national rugby union team. Hirini was captain of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team that won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and back-to-back gold medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. During her time with the team they won the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series in 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2019–20 and 2022–23 as well as the Sevens league title for the 2023-24 season. She was a member of the fifteen-a-side 2017 and 2021 Black Ferns Rugby World Cup winning squads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portia Woodman</span> New Zealand rugby union player (born 1991)

Portia Woodman-Wickliffe is a New Zealand rugby union player. She plays fifteen-a-side and seven-a-side rugby union, and was a member of the New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team and New Zealand women's national rugby union team. Woodman was a member of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team that won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and gold medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. She retired from international sevens rugby after the Paris Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellia Green</span> Australian rugby union player

Ellia Tiriseyani Green is an Australian rugby union and rugby league player. He was formerly a member of the Australia rugby sevens team that won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. He also played for the New Zealand Warriors in the NRLW.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theresa Fitzpatrick</span> New Zealand rugby union player

Theresa Matauaina Setefano is a New Zealand rugby union player. She was a member of the Black Ferns champion 2017 and 2021 Rugby World Cup squads. She has also represented New Zealand in rugby sevens; she won gold medals at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens, 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. She played for the Blues Women in the 2022 Super Rugby Aupiki season.

Shakira Baker is a New Zealand rugby union player. She has represented New Zealand in both the fifteens and sevens rugby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyla King</span> New Zealand international rugby union & league player

Tyla King is a New Zealand international rugby union player, professional rugby league player and Olympian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby Tui</span> Rugby player

Ruby Malae Tui is a New Zealand rugby union player. She competed internationally when the national rugby sevens team won the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics tournament. She won a gold medal in rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She was a member of the Black Ferns team that won the 2021 Rugby World Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niall Guthrie</span> Samoa international rugby league & NZ rugby union player

Niall Williams-Guthrie is a New Zealand rugby league player. She has represented New Zealand in rugby sevens and touch rugby at an international level. She has won silver medals as part of New Zealand's touch football team in 2011, and in the 2016 Rio Olympics as a member of New Zealand's sevens team. She also won gold medals in sevens in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stacey Waaka</span> New Zealand rugby union player

Stacey Jamie Aroha Kirsten Waaka is a New Zealand rugby league player. She played fifteen-a-side and seven-a-side rugby union, and was a member of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team and New Zealand Women's National Rugby Union team prior to switching to rugby league in 2024 to play an injury-disrupted season with the Brisbane Broncos. Waaka was a member of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team which won gold medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. She was also a member of the New Zealand fifteen-a-side team which won the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup and the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup.

Michaela Blyde is a New Zealand professional rugby sevens player and a double Olympic gold medalist. She was the first female player to win back-to-back World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year titles, in 2017 and 2018. Blyde holds the record for the most tries by a New Zealand women sevens player in a single match and also the record for most tries in a single fixture when she scored five tries against England in Langford in 2017. Blyde has won gold medals at the 2018 Sevens World Cup, 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2024 Paris Olympics and six Sevens titles. In December 2023 She was the second woman to score 200 tries in the HSBC international seven series.

Charntay Poko is a New Zealand rugby league and union footballer. Primarily a halfback or lock, she is a New Zealand representative. She previously played for the New Zealand Warriors and Newcastle Knights in the NRL Women's Premiership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Risi Pouri-Lane</span> New Zealand rugby sevens player

Risealeaana "Risi" Pouri-Lane is a New Zealand rugby sevens player. She captained the 2018 Youth Olympics squad that won gold in Buenos Aires. She also won gold medals with the Black Ferns sevens team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2024 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shiray Kaka</span> New Zealand rugby union player

Shiray Kaka is a New Zealand rugby sevens player. She won a gold medal with the Black Ferns sevens team at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alena Saili</span> NZ rugby union player

Alena Saili is a New Zealand rugby sevens player.is a New Zealand rugby union player. She plays seven-a-side and fifteen-a-side rugby union, and is a member of the New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team.

Tenika Willison is a New Zealand rugby sevens and rugby league player. She is currently contracted to the Newcastle Knights in the NRL Women's Premiership. She previously played for Chiefs Manawa in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. She also plays for the Black Ferns sevens internationally and won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Katelyn Vaha'akolo is a New Zealand rugby league and union player. She played wing for the Kiwi Ferns at the 2021 Women's Rugby League World Cup and for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL Women's Premiership. She joined the Blues for the 2023 Super Rugby Aupiki season.

Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays for the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL Women's Premiership.

Tiana Davison is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL Women's Premiership. Her position is second-row. She previously played for the Sydney Roosters.

Cherry Blyde is a New Zealand rugby union administrator and former player.

References

  1. 1 2 Johnston, Will (13 March 2022). "Shock retirement announcement from rugby sevens star Gayle Broughton". Stuff. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Gayle Broughton". allblacks.com. New Zealand Rugby. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  3. ↑ "Sport News Taranaki". Sports News Taranaki. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  4. ↑ Groenestein, Catherine (9 August 2016). "Family and friends burst with pride despite NZ's loss in Olympics' seven final". Stuff. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Swannell, Rikki (2022). Sevens Sisters: How a People First Culture Turned Silver into Gold (Paperback). Auckland: Mower. pp. 20, 24, 43, 45, 48, 152–157. ISBN   978-1-990003-58-5.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Cowley Ross, Sarah (22 November 2018). "Sevens star: 'Rugby saved my life'". Newsroom. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  7. ↑ "New Zealand Women Look Good on Day#1 at the Usa7s in Atlanta". NZ 7s Magazine. 16 February 2014. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  8. ↑ "NZ women's sevens qualify for Rio Olympics". Radio New Zealand. 20 April 2015. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  9. ↑ "New Zealand names sevens teams for Rio Games". Samoa Observer. 3 July 2016. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  10. ↑ Baker, Brittany (17 July 2016). "Sevens player has nan-sized plans for her Olympic medal". Stuff. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  11. ↑ Johnston, Will (21 September 2020). "Taranaki Whio win first ever rugby match". Stuff. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  12. ↑ Matthews, Jane (1 August 2021). "Tokyo Olympics: Two sevens players bringing gold medals home to families in Taranaki". Stuff. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  13. ↑ McKendry, Patrick (1 August 2021). "Sevens heaven! 'I'm just so happy' – Black Ferns captain's tears for late Mum, gold medal". NZ Herald. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  14. ↑ "2022 NRLW Squad Announcement". Parra Eels. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  15. ↑ Newton, Alicia (2 June 2022). "Eels find Vette-Welsh replacement with Olympic gold medallist". NRL. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  16. ↑ "Broughton and Nanai voted players' best rookies". RLPA. 25 September 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  17. ↑ Harvey, Helen (31 December 2021). "Blacks Ferns Sevens stars Blyde and Broughton share Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year 2021". Stuff. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  18. ↑ "43 Māori athletes to head to Rio Olympics". Te Karere. 5 August 2016. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  19. ↑ Zeigler, Cyd (31 July 2021). "New Zealand, with many out players, wins COVID-delayed rugby gold". Outsports. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.