{"id":652588,"date":"2026-05-06T04:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T04:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652588\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T04:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T04:50:11","slug":"nz-football-recognised-at-diversity-awards-by-taking-home-two-top-prizes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652588\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ Football recognised at Diversity Awards by taking home two top prizes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">Maretha Smit, Te Uru T\u0101ngata Centre for Workplace Inclusion chief executive, said NZ Football\u2019s work in these areas has helped to build foundations for change.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"New Zealand Football took home two top prizes from the 2026 Diversity Awards. Photo \/ Photosport\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>New Zealand Football took home two top prizes from the 2026 Diversity Awards. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWhat stood out for our judges was the depth of partnership and co-creation, ensuring that M\u0101ori are not only included but are actively shaping the direction of the organisation,\u201d Smit said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe combination of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/sport\/football\/new-zealand-football-nominated-for-cultural-competence-award-at-diversity-awards\/7YGGCUMNJ5EHXFSQ5ASUDXFFB4\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/sport\/football\/new-zealand-football-nominated-for-cultural-competence-award-at-diversity-awards\/7YGGCUMNJ5EHXFSQ5ASUDXFFB4\/\">governance reform, capability building, and participation<\/a> outcomes reflects a highly credible example of Tiriti-led transformation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThis positions New Zealand Football as a leading example of how national bodies can meaningfully respond to Te Tiriti obligations while strengthening identity and performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">NZ Football won the Supreme Award later in the ceremony and CEO Andrew Pragnell was excited to have taken home some of the top awards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe are thrilled to accept these awards from Te Uru T\u0101ngata Centre for Workplace Inclusion, it shows we\u2019re on the right track although there\u2019s still a lot of mahi to do before we achieve our targets,\u201d Pragnell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cBy 2035 we want to increase participation across the country, aiming for 60,000 new female footballers, 14,000 new M\u0101ori footballers and 22,000 new players of Pasifika and Asian backgrounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cOur mahi and how we look to the future is aligned around our strategic objectives, which includes making football the most inclusive sport in Aotearoa New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maretha Smit, Te Uru T\u0101ngata Centre for Workplace Inclusion chief executive, said NZ Football\u2019s work in these areas&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[10968,1929,64,63,1703,7504,19212,596,315633,191,1697,53869,315632,85,3209,4048,29525,3205],"class_list":["post-652588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-10968","tag-at","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-awards","tag-by","tag-diversity","tag-football","tag-gongs","tag-home","tag-nz","tag-prizes","tag-recognised","tag-sports","tag-taking","tag-top","tag-two","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}