Suzanne's secret battle - 'THE ENEMY WITHIN'

The sports journalist opens up about beating the boys' bias, getting married in a cave and living with chronic pain

- Fleur Guthrie

For 40 years, she's been the storyteller behind some of our country's greatest sporting achievements – including bringing lucky America's Cup red socks to public attention – and a pioneer in putting women's sports on the map.

Suzanne McFadden, 57, was recently made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the King's Birthday Honours for her services to sports journalism and women.

In the 1990s, she was the only female sports journalist in the NZ Herald newsroom, crafting stories on clunky typewriters and earning the nickname “Diva” for stamping her foot while fighting to get netball and minority sports on the front page.

These days, the proud nana of two grandsons freelances from home in Auckland’s Hobsonville, including writing for website LockerRoom and providing weekly sports commentary on TVNZ’s Breakfast show.

While she’s tried to shine a light on women’s health stories in sports – and considers it a “revolution” that female athletes can now talk about periods and pain comfortably with their male coaches – Suzanne shares she has also quietly battled an insidious enemy within her own body.

Growing up on a farm in Wellsford, did sport play a big part in your childhood?

My dad Ray played rugby for North Auckland and my mum Delwyn was a really good hockey player, so they encouraged my younger sister and me to be active. Every day when we came home from school, we'd spend hours playing sport on our front lawn. Everything was a competition! I played squash and hockey, and was captain of the Girls' First XI cricket team at Rodney College. I also kept scrapbooks for cricket, rugby, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games. I remember cutting out a newspaper story about runner Anne Audain and now we message each other all the time. It’s crazy! All these athletes I admired so much as a kid, like Yvonne Willering, Rod Dixon and Martin Snedden, and now I get to work with them.