![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Suzie-Bates-Bball-3a.jpg\")
New Zealand\u2019s Suzie Bates puts up a shot for the Tall Ferns against Japan 2009. Photo: Basketball NZ<\/p>\nDuring her seven-season reign as captain of the White Ferns, Suzie Bates was called Queenie by her teammates. From the moment Beatrice Faumuin\u0101 became the world\u2019s best discus thrower in 1997, she\u2019s been known as Queen Bea. <\/p>\n
From today, both queens of Kiwi sport will also be known by the extra letters after their names \u2013 Faumuina as CNZM, a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for her services to sport and governance; and Bates, currently in England preparing for her swansong Cricket World Cup, as ONZM, an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to both cricket and basketball.<\/p>\n
They are two of 11 New Zealand women involved in sport to receive King\u2019s Birthday honours in 2026.<\/p>\n
Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM):<\/p>\n
Beatrice Faumuin\u0101 \u2013 for services to sport and governance<\/p>\n
While Faumuin\u0101 is best known by the Kiwi public for her exploits on the inside of an athletics track, her careers as a director and a diplomat have been equally impactful.<\/p>\n
A former world champion discus thrower, four-time Olympian and three-time Commonwealth Games medallist \u2013 who received an ONZM from the Queen in 2005 \u2013 Faumuin\u0101 has since held multiple governance roles in sport and business, and worked in international relations.<\/p>\n
From 2015 to 2018 she was the New Zealand Trade Commissioner and Consul General in New York, and a member of the New Zealand and Samoa Trade Investment Commission. She\u2019s been a director of Sport New Zealand, helping shape High Performance Sport NZ\u2019s wellbeing initiatives for athlete mental health. As deputy chair of The Trusts Area in west Auckland, she coordinated assistance for families evacuated to the Arena during the 2023 Auckland Anniversary floods. <\/p>\n
A New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Faumuin\u0101 is today a leadership advisor and a public speaker. <\/p>\n
Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM):<\/p>\n
New Zealand\u2019s Suzie Bates puts up a shot for the Tall Ferns against Japan 2009. Photo: Basketball NZ<\/p>\n
Suzie Bates \u2013 for services to cricket and basketball<\/p>\n
Later this month, Bates will end a phenomenal career as an international cricketer, and one of the greatest players the game has seen. Bates (Ng\u0101i Tahu) is New Zealand\u2019s leading run-scorer in ODIs, and the world\u2019s top batswoman in T20Is \u2013 a record she intends to extend at the T20 World Cup starting June 12.<\/p>\n
The White Ferns captain from 2011 to 2018, Bates has multiple awards to her name, including ICC Women\u2019s ODI and T20I Cricketer of the Year in 2013 and 2016, and Player of the Tournament at the 2013 World Cup. And the Tall Fern who played basketball at the 2008 Olympics hopes this honour reflects the team-mate she\u2019s been across her 20-year international career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stats and those things they come and go, but I guess what you can hold yourself true to is how you turn up every day to the team and what kind of teammate and person you are\u2026 I feel like the way I\u2019ve led myself within this group for that time is something I\u2019m really proud of,\u201d she said from England last night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels a little bit overwhelming that other people have recognised what I\u2019ve done, even though when I first started in women\u2019s sport it wasn\u2019t that well recognised. To see where the game is now, it\u2019s really special to still be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A champion of \u2018Balance is Better\u2019, who works with teen girls in Otago cricket, Bates says she hopes she\u2019s led by example and shown younger players coming through the White Ferns the work ethic required to be a professional cricketer. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a really good chance at this World Cup, so I know once I\u2019ve finished and I leave the team, I\u2019m going to be really proud of the impact I\u2019ve had,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d struggled with keeping the news a secret from her family in Dunedin and \u201cin a very Suzie way\u201d, she\u2019d continue to keep it under wraps from her White Ferns teammates today. \u201cThey can read it somewhere,\u201d she laughed. <\/p>\n
Sharon Williamson \u2013 For services to hockey<\/p>\n
The former chair of Hockey New Zealand, Williamson was instrumental in delivering the $50m National Hockey Centre in Albany \u2013 awarded the Sultan Azlan Shah Award by the International Hockey Federation in 2020 for her efforts.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s given more than 30 years to North Harbour hockey \u2013 \u00a0from coaching youth and senior women\u2019s teams to and chairing their board from 2010 to 2013.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s been a member of the Hockey NZ board since 2014, as chair from 2023 to 2025, and also headed the National Hockey Centre Governance Group. Her international advocacy has strengthened Hockey NZ\u2019s presence globally.<\/p>\n
Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM):<\/p>\n
Barbara Beable \u2013 for services to athletics<\/p>\n
A 1970 Commonwealth Games silver medallist in shotput, Beable (n\u00e9e Poulsen) has contributed more than 60 years to sport and athletics as an athlete, coach, and educator. She won 16 senior national titles between 1966 and 1978 \u2013 nine in pentathlon and seven in shot put \u2013 and competed at three Commonwealth Games. Her highest international ranking was fourth in pentathlon.<\/p>\n
She worked with her husband, Dr Michael Beable (also honoured in these awards), creating a unique training environment helping other athletes to national and international success.<\/p>\n
Head of PE for 26 years at Queen Margaret College in Wellington, she introduced modern fitness programmes and was part of the pilot group who pioneered PE as an academic subject. She also brought strength and conditioning to Dame Lois Muir\u2019s Capital Shakers netball team in the early 2000s. She continues to coach at the Aspiring Athletics Club in Wanaka.<\/p>\n
Lisa Kingi-Bon \u2013 for services to rugby, particularly player welfare<\/p>\n
Kingi-Bon is a fierce advocate for safe and inclusive rugby environments, working with players and their families living with catastrophic injuries from rugby.<\/p>\n
Since 2012, she\u2019s been the chief executive of the New Zealand Rugby Foundation (NZRF), supporting lifelong care for seriously injured rugby players and their families. She\u2019s led planning for brain health and concussion risk management, and has ensured defibrillators are in every rugby club in the country.<\/p>\n
Kingi-Bon has also been an administrator at five Rugby World Cup tournaments and was a King Country Rugby board member.<\/p>\n
Vicky Lassen \u2013 for services to netball and life saving<\/p>\n
Over four decades, Lassen has given voluntary service to netball and life saving in the Hawkes Bay.<\/p>\n
After 15 seasons playing for the Hastings High School Old Girls\u2019 Netball Club, she\u2019s served as coach, secretary, umpire, sponsorship co-ordinator, and committee member. At Napier Girls\u2019 High, she\u2019s coached, umpired and managed teams, and has multiple awards for her service to the school game. She\u2019s also served in various coaching and administration roles for Hawke\u2019s Bay Netball since 1987.<\/p>\n
For more than 45 years, she\u2019s served as an administrator, instructor, and national examiner for the Royal Life Saving Society of New Zealand \u2013 receiving the Bar to Service Cross from the society in 2013.<\/p>\n
Shirley Mackay \u2013 services to swimming<\/p>\n
One of the stalwarts of Auckland swimming, Mackay has contributed her sport for more than 40 years. She been both president and chair of Swimming Auckland since the late 1980s and was awarded life membership in 2010. She\u2019s led several major governance projects which modernised the sport and developed its membership, including merging with Swimming Northland.<\/p>\n
Since 1982, she\u2019s held various leadership roles at the Waitakere Swimming Club, continuing to support the club as its patron, and organises swimming meets for the Central and West Auckland zones. Mackay has received both the Jackie Clarke Award and a service award from Swimming New Zealand.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Vania-Wolfgramm-c-Bill-Osborne-and-Farah-Palmer-at-2019-Black-Ferns-capping-GETTY.jpg\")
Vania Wolfgramm (centre) with baby Seth, Bill Osborne and Farah Palmer at the 2019 Black Ferns capping. Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Vania Wolfgramm \u2013 for services to rugby<\/p>\n
Black Fern and Sky Sport commentator Wolfgramm (nee Lavea) has laid significant paths in women\u2019s and Pacific rugby development. She played for the Black Ferns XVs from 2003 to 2007, the Black Ferns Sevens in 2008, and made 45 appearances for Auckland in the Farah Palmer Cup.<\/p>\n
She became a women\u2019s rugby development officer with New Zealand Rugby in 2012, and later game development manager of women\u2019s rugby. She was key in the development of the Ako W\u0101hine and Teine Toa programmes, providing leadership pathways for women and Pasifika youth in sport and governance.<\/p>\n
Wolfgramm co-developed the Pasifika Cultural Competency programme, played a key role in shaping the current Pasifika Strategy and has fostered Pacific rugby at a grassroots level with the Pacific Aotearoa Cup. At the Marist Brothers Rugby Club, she mentors young players, directs club strategy and advocates for balanced resourcing between the men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams. She\u2019s also one of the first Pasifika women analysts in New Zealand rugby broadcasting.<\/p>\n
The King\u2019s Service Medal (KSM):<\/p>\n
Honey Amner \u2013 for services to sport<\/p>\n
Honey Amner (Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu) has been an outstanding volunteer and a super-manager in local sport in Hawke\u2019s Bay for more than 40 years \u2013 particularly in touch rugby, rugby and netball.<\/p>\n
A national selector for all New Zealand and M\u0101ori touch teams from 2000 to 2014, Amner helped the growth of competitive touch by advocating for equitable recognition of high-level athletes. She\u2019s been part of Hawke\u2019s Bay Touch Rugby for 30 years, managing teams ranging from young children to senior grades.<\/p>\n
Amner was team manager for the Hawke\u2019s Bay women\u2019s rugby team for 10 years, working alongside coaches and mentoring young players, and she\u2019s supported Hawke\u2019s Bay netball team from social through to representative, awarded Volunteer of the Year multiple times.<\/p>\n
Karen Burrows \u2013 for services to sport and the community<\/p>\n
New Zealand\u2019s first female provincial rugby president, Burrows has been heavily involved with the Hokitika\/Westland community.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s volunteered with Wests Rugby Club for more than 33 years \u2013 navigating the club through a period of hardship back to success. She\u2019s held all officer roles in the club, and coached and managed young teams. In 2013, she made history as president of West Coast Rugby Union. A life member of both Wests Rugby Club and the West Coast Rugby Union, she\u2019s volunteered with the Hokitika\/Westland RSA for 23 years.<\/p>\n
Marleen Morrison \u2013 for services to swimming administration<\/p>\n
For four decades, Morrison\u2019s unstinting volunteering has helped to grow swimming in Canterbury and New Zealand. From grass roots through to regional level, she\u2019s been a staple at competitions \u2013 from organising meets through to announcer at national meets in Canterbury for 10 years. She\u2019s held numerous roles in Wharenui Swimming Club, and run two of the top events for junior swimmers in the South Island.<\/p>\n
Morrison has been a selector and regional delegate to Swimming NZ, and was a keen fundraiser for the Doreen Brown Trust, helping under-privileged kids to learn to swim. She\u2019s been recognised with multiple Swimming NZ service awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During her seven-season reign as captain of the White Ferns, Suzie Bates was called Queenie by her teammates.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26568,16558,14719,111,43,139,69,177057,6327],"class_list":["post-454466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-basketball","tag-cricket","tag-lockerroom","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-olympic-sports","tag-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}