Women the real sport deal
EVERY Saturday the team talks about the big issues in sport locally, nationally and internationally.
Sean is enjoying a well deserved mini holiday so it’s just Glen and Jason in the hot seat.
Earlier this week women’s sport recorded another major milestone when Ada Hegerberg was named as the inaugural women’s Ballon d’Or winner – football’s highest international honour for an individual.
Today Glen and Jason will ignore the idiocy of host Martin Solveig who asked Hegerberg to ‘twerk’ and instead share their views on the rapid rise of women’s sport .
Jason Gibbs: I think the answer to this is extremely simple.
A significant rise in the coverage of women’s sport has exposed more people to the quality of the play.
I have been a long-time admirer of our Matildas – stating in this and many other columns that I believe their play to be superior to that of our men’s team – and they are not are only great team.
You only have to look at our rugby sevens, netball and cricket for other great examples.
Significant coverage of women’s sport used to be limited to what we saw at the Commonwealth (netball – the Diamonds) or Olympic Games (basketball – the Opals), but we now we can easily watch all manner of sports.
That coverage helped grow sport locally, nationally and internationally which then means we have better players picking up their respective - a win win for everyone.
I only hope we continue to see the continued rise of women’s sport – I know we will be doing our part here at The Chronicle.
Glen McCullough: In our day-to-day jobs both Gibbo and I are probably more aware than most of how rapidly women’s sport and its achievers are emerging both globally and locally. It’s amazing how far it has all come in such a short time.
Even two years ago you could not have imagined the success and interest suddenly surrounding women’s sport. It’s not token stuff either. I remember trying to watch women’s cricket years ago when the Aussie girls first kicked off and to be honest it was painful, with all respect to those involved.
But while they didn’t become households names and win television ratings, more importantly they laid the ground work for those who followed.
Our current day sporting females have grabbed the baton and with more funding and sponsorship, advanced coaching and stronger public support the girls have become the real deal across the spectrum.