Rebecca Chaplow

Rebecca (Ribeka) Chaplow (née Faulkner) was born on 19 August 1942. A member of the Ngai Te Rangi iwi, she came from Matapihi, a suburb of Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. She started playing netball for the Rotorua A team in 1962. In 1963 she was photographed for a book by Gregory Riethmaier, titled Rebecca and the Maoris, in which she is seen going about her daily life in the Māori community. Judged against modern criteria, the book has been criticised for its patronising approach.[1][2][3][4]

Chaplow played four times for the New Zealand national netball team, being the 31st player to be selected for the team. She travelled with the team by ship to take part in the 1963 World Netball Championships, the first such championships, which were held in Eastbourne, England. This involved the players being away from New Zealand for three months. Although she did not play much, she was entitled to a silver medal after New Zealand came second in the Round Robin tournament, losing one match by one point to Australia. In the 1970s, Chaplow was a coach for the Eastern Bay of Plenty Netball Team.[1][5][6]

Chaplow trained as a nurse. In 1968 she met her husband, David Chaplow, who was a doctor, in Whakatāne. He would become Director of Mental Health in the Auckland region. She became a registered nurse with a diploma in mental health and a diploma in management. In the 1980s she worked at a psychiatric hospital in Australia before returning to New Zealand to work at the Regional Forensic Psychiatry Services Mason Clinic, a secure psychiatric hospital in Auckland and, later, for Māori Mental Health Services in Waikato. She then joined the Māori Health Directorate, part of the Ministry of Health, as a senior advisor. Chaplow was inducted into the Māori Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. She later changed her first name from Rebecca to Ripeka.[5][7][8]

• Chaplow interviewed as part of a film about the New Zealand team's trip by ship to the 1953 World Championships in England