26 June, 2020 (June 25 in Europe) will forever go down as one of the greatest days of my life. It is, of course, the day on which Liverpool FC was finally confirmed as Premier League champions, some thirty years after having last won the title. That long-overdue coronation had been further extended by the coronavirus pandemic, but let's be honest, having been 23 points clear of the chasing pack at one stage that season, there was no way LFC was going to be denied our due reward. Getting confirmation that the title was ours once more - by virtue of Chelsea beating our closest rivals Manchester City - was hugely satisfying. There were tears of joy, for sure, but because we were so far out in front, nowhere near as many as I'd already shed that morning. For in the early hours of that same day, 26 June, FIFA announced the winning bid to host the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals, and it was the joint submission of New Zealand and Australia which got the nod over that from Colombia, with Japan, the other contenders, having dropped out of the running at the eleventh hour. (Brazil had also put themselves forward to host the event, but withdrew early on in the piece). To say I was overjoyed at the news that we would be hosting the Finals is an understatement. I know I wasn't alone in feeling thus, of course, but having been actively involved in promoting and publicising the women's game in NZ for over thirty years, I'm sure it certainly meant a helluva lot more to me on a personal note than to the vast majority in the NZ sports media world. When the news came through, my immediate thought was how proud Roy Cox would have been to see the sport into which he ploughed forty years of his life realising the greatest honour short of winning the FIFA Women's World Cup itself. Thoughts then turned to all the other folk who've contributed to the women's game here over the years and whose efforts have played a part in making this day possible. Barbara Cox, Carol Waller, Lesley Boomer, Eric Pritchard … all those working behind the scenes who've steered the women's game along the path to the stage where it's at today.

Hand in hand with them, the players who've carried the torch on the park over the years, and whose on-field efforts for club and/or province and/or country have laid the foundations for today's stars to enjoy this opportunity. Many of these women have been tremendous inspirations to me over the past three decades, as I've endeavoured to do justice to their efforts by way of the written word. The list is too long to name them all, but this quintet - Michele Cox, Maia Jackman, Hayley Bowden, Monique Van de Elzen, Hannah Wall - will always be right up there, in my eyes at least! My thoughts then turned to my experiences of previous Finals - China 2007, followed by the 2008 Olympics there … NZ08, the inaugural U-17 Finals which we hosted … Germany 2011, my first full Finals abroad … Canada 2015 - being present to report on a hat-trick in a World Cup Final is something very few in football media circles realise … France 2019, which I ended up covering in entirety from my living room after my funding fell through at the eleventh hour. Every one of these tournaments, plus the U-20 qualifiers in Samoa 2006 and my numerous trips across the pond to report on and support the Football Ferns there, have all been steps along the way towards seeing what is one of FIFA's showpiece events take place on our doorstep, with the action kicking off right here in Auckland at the national stadium, Eden Park. The very same Eden Park where I was heading on 24 May 1987 to watch Marist give Ponsonby what for when I stopped off along the way at Pollard Park to take in my very first women's football match, a top-of-the-table clash in the then AWFA Premier Women's League ... talk about coming full circle! It's been an incredible journey so far, that's for sure. And the great thing is, there's much more to come! While it's disappointing to see Christchurch miss out on hosting games due to the lack of a decent stadium courtesy the earthquakes a decade ago, nonetheless, roll on July 20, 2023, when we welcome the women's footballing world to New Zealand and OUR World Cup Finals.