Pass the women the BBQ tongs
Sportswomen getting business-class travel, women commentating on Super Rugby, what next?, asks Emma Keeling.
OPINION: It’s OK you can stop now. Women are winning sports journalism awards, commentating on men’s sport and in some cases, getting paid to play sport. No need for any more collective bargaining agreements either.
Sports media is saturated with women’s sport so we can stop putting energy into this gender balance thing. Go home and get your wives, mothers, sisters and daughters to cook some eggs.
It may seem to some of you that because we are talking about equality so much and seeing more women in our sports pages, that we’ve addressed the uneven playing field. I mean, suddenly women are EVERYWHERE! It’s almost as if they’re half the world’s population??!
Please remain calm and stay in your seats. It may feel like a group of women’s libbers have stormed sports desks around the country, interrupting important groin-adjusting time but only because we’re not used to seeing women talk about and play sport other than netball and the Olympics.
If you’re struggling now I will have to drop the oxygen masks because women’s representation in all areas of our sporting lives will continue to increase.
Instead of those women ruining what was a great little one-sided game, they will breathe new life into it, like Richie McCaw in a ruck.
This week Football Fern Sarah Gregorius wrote of her pride at the new collective bargaining agreement, meaning our male and female reps would be treated as equals. I wasn’t surprised when she revealed some people were annoyed, angry even that the women would now get first-class travel like the All Whites, with their support.
I too am outraged women aren’t better at playing for their pro club before getting on a long-haul flight, training for a couple of days and being at their best for an international.
Despite being a professional footballer with 84 international caps and a place on the the New Zealand Professional Footballers’ Association (NZPFA) board, Gregorius has to put up with wowser comments and opinions like these. I guess it’s like talking to a front-rower about the art of the side-step – no matter how patiently she explains, the message doesn’t always get through.
Why are we so happy to support our female Olympians and then get so fickle over our sporting teams? Super Rugby squads are treated well despite going through long periods of poor play. I’m sure the Blues would wonder how they would be in the best condition to break their hoodoo if they were asked to spend their time raising money with bake sales, as well as saving cash by only having a day to train after a long flight.
Media companies are breaking fans in slowly by introducing one woman at a time. Too many and you might break like startled fawns. When I first started in radio I remember a well-known male announcer telling me women and men do not like listening to women’s voices on the radio. Back then, and it was way back then, women announcers had deep voices. It had been proven that higher-pitched voices melted listeners’ ears off the sides of their heads.
I heard well-respected broadcaster and top woman Rikki Swannell commentate Sky’s Crusaders match last week, and it was beautiful. One day that will be the norm but right now it’s exciting and I know she’s worked her arse off to get there. And her male colleagues seemed to handle her presence OK. Men can get overemotional when watching sport so it was good to have someone of her experience there.
It’s a bit like when my English mum met my Kiwi dad in London. He started playing rugby and she would go along for the after-match when couples would all get together and talk about all sorts. When they moved to New Zealand, mum noticed it was very much women in the kitchen and men at the BBQ. Kiwi habits die hard.
Maybe we could all gather round that BBQ, as if we like and respect each other?
Ahh I’m going all soft again. Someone tweeted me last week to say I needed to harden up. He’s right. I’m being too nice about all this.
So you, large hairy man, grunting by the flames, pass me the tongs now! Oops, too much too soon? Tough! Harden up and get on with it.