Women in new sports battle
FIRST rule of fight club: female athletes can’t afford to be vanilla.
Second rule of fight club: keep fighting.
This was the year that women’s sport in Australia finally went mainstream but now – says Channel 9 sports presenter and women’s sport advocate Sam Squiers – this is when the real games begin.
Because while female sports have been given professional or semi-professional status and crowd and television figures have soared, the challenge is now to maintain the groundswell of support.
“Without a doubt it has been a breakthrough 12 months,” Squiers said.
“We’ve seen the national women’s rugby sevens team win Olympic gold, the inaugural AFLW season attract big crowds and TV numbers ... the second season of the WBB, but I don’t think it’s time to crack open the champagne just yet.
“We should look back on 1999 as a reminder.
“The USA women’s soccer team had just won the 1999 World Cup and put women’s soccer on the map. Before then, the rest of the world didn’t know who Mia Hamm or Brandi Chastain were.
“Then they became celebrities and role models. But by 2012, women’s professional soccer in the US had gone bust.”
And that is the lesson for today’s champions of women’s sport. With this in mind, Squiers will host a one-day Sportette Summit on the Gold Coast on November 22 bringing together leaders in sport and business.
The likes of Tenielle Stoltenkamp, senior marketing manager for Uber (Aust/NZ), Jordana Kirby, Director of Marketing from Nickelodeon and Cricket Australia’s Executive GM of Broadcasting Ben Amarfio will discuss all things women’s sport – from sustainability through to engagement, growth and the business of women’s sport.
“We have to be having conversations right now about sustainability, about growth,” Squiers said.
“Change and sustaining change doesn’t happen on its own. Athletes, brands, sponsors, the media – we all have to be part of this conversation
“I think this year, we have seen the public embracing the diversity of female athletes.
“That nice girl image that we used to have to be is gone.
“It’s too vanilla. We now have personalities that show this diversity and the public and sporting community has responded to that. And brands are responding to that.”