Mystics Welcome SKYCITY as Sponsor, Reveal New Dress Design

Northen Mystics Welcome SKYCITY as Principal Sponsor
(And Reveal New Dress Design)

4 February 2015

The Northern Mystics netball team are pleased to announce another critical piece to their puzzle for 2015, with SKYCITY today welcomed as their new principal sponsor. For at least the next three seasons, the side will be known as the SKYCITY Mystics.

The announcement was made at a function in Auckland today, where the team also unveiled a new Maori and Pacific-influenced dress design and confirmed that Maria Tutaia would captain the side for a third season.

The sponsorship deal will see the SKYCITY Mystics hold key events at SKYCITY – as they did with today’s Season and Dress Launch – stay with SKYCITY prior to home games and make promotional appearances.

“As a major sponsor of several top sports teams in New Zealand, this will be the first sponsorship we have done in professional women’s sport,” said Nigel Morrison, SKYCITY Chief Executive.

“SKYCITY is extremely excited to be a principal sponsor of the SKYCITY Mystics and we’re really proud to now be part of such a popular team, which is so central to the Auckland community.”

For the SKYCITY Mystics, being the first professional female sports team that SKYCITY has joined with – following associations with the SKYCITY Breakers, Blues and Warriors – is significant.

“Our players work very hard to be recognised on an equal footing with male athletes,” said Julie Paterson, the CEO of the SKYCITY Mystics.

“So this sponsorship is not just important for us, but for women’s sport in New Zealand. We greatly appreciate SKYCITY’s support in helping level the playing field.”

Paterson believes that SKYCITY’s involvement this year, along with other key developments, such as Noeline Taurua joining as a specialist coach under Debbie Fuller, leaves the team in “a far stronger place than it has been in some time.”

Another major element of today’s event was the launch of a new SKYCITY Mystics dress.

Last year’s SKYCITY Mystics team identified a disconnect between the side’s uniform and the cultural diversity of the community the team represented. So Brad Walker, from Native Council, worked with Graham Tipene (a Ngāti Whātua artist) and Glorie Misa (a Samoan designer) to provide key design elements for a new dress, with senior players also involved in the process. The result is something the team feels reflects who they are and who they play for.

Maria Tutaia (27), having bounced back from a foot tendon injury at the end of last season, will captain the SKYCITY Mystics for a third ANZ Championship campaign.

“Maria is a big time player who leads on game day,” says Debbie Fuller, the SKYCITY Mystics coach. “When the pressure is on to shoot, she wants ball in hand and delivers.

“Maria is Auckland proud, she respects this opportunity, and she understands the responsibility to lead the team in a tough competition.”

Tutaia is one of four current Silver Ferns – alongside Kayla Cullen, Laura Langman, and Millie Lees – in the side. An interesting newcomer is Serena Guthrie, who has played for England many times against the Silver Ferns.

The SKYCITY Mystics travel to Sydney tomorrow for the pre-season Summer Shootout tournament. Then there are just over three weeks until their first ANZ Championship game against the Tactix in Christchurch (March 2).

The SKYCITY Mystics have six home games this season, starting on March 23 when Irene Van Dyk and the Central Pulse come to The Trusts Arena.

- Ends -

EDITOR NOTES:

SKYCITY
SKYCITY is a sponsor of a number of top New Zealand sports teams including the SKYCITY Breakers, Vodafone Warriors and Blues. It also has a number of charity partnerships including with Variety the Children’s Charity, Leukaemia Blood Cancer NZ, Prostate Cancer Foundation, Breast Cancer NZ and Kidz First.

SKYCITY’s three Community Trusts have also donated more than $40 million to community groups across the country.

NEW DRESS DESIGN
From Brad Walker at Native Council, who led the design:
A key for us was to capture the essence or mana of the organisation within the design, to highlight the spirit or wairua of the team and its supporters.

The Niho (teeth) and Mangopare (hammerhead shark) elements within the design represent that ‘go get-em’ attitude (the desire and staunchness, the bit of mongrel needed to win).

The pūhoro design talks of the fluidity in the game and the style with which the Northern Mystics play. You may not notice, but on some of the pūhoro designs there are seven triangles. These represent the years since the team first appeared 2008 – 2014.

The Pacific pattern through the main part of the uniform incorporates two motifs we have used that are traditional patterns found throughout the Pacific. They’re inspired by nature and can be found in tapa cloth designs, in wood and shell carvings, in Tatau (tattoo) and many other art forms of the Samoan and Pacific people. Its origins are widely held to be representative of a flower or manulua (two birds) motif and add a feminine element to the design.

2015 NORTHERN SKYCITY MYSTICS SQUAD
Elsa Brown, Katherine Coffin, Kayla Cullen, Temalisi Fakahokotau, Paula Griffin, Serena Guthrie, Laura Langman, Cathrine Latu, Camilla Lees, Nadia Loveday, Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick, Maria Tutaia (captain)

2015 SKYCITY NORTHERN MYSTICS HOME GAMES
(All at The Trusts Arena)
23 March v Central Pulse
29 March v Southern Steel
26 April v Queensland Firebirds
3 May v Canterbury Tactix
18 May v Waikato BOP Magic
1 June v Melbourne Vixens

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