‘We’ve got so many strong role models we can use to capture imaginations’
In a groundbreaking summer for women’s sport, Danielle Carter, Anne Keothavong and Ama Agbeze tell Fiona Tomas about the challenges ahead during a game at Wimbledon
Can you remember a time in your life when women’s sport has been as visible as it is now or do you think this is a turning point?
Danielle Carter (Arsenal striker) It’s great coincidence that they’re all overlapping at the same time. I’m still quite young, but this is new ground for me. Everywhere I go, I can see women in sport. It’s in your face. I’m excited to see what happens afterwards. Hopefully the momentum will continue to be in people’s faces.
Anne Keothavong (GB Fed Cup captain) I can’t remember a time when women’s sport has had this level of interest across so many different sports. We’ve got so many strong role models in women’s sport and hopefully we can use that to capture a lot of people’s imaginations and show how capable female athletes are. Perceptions are definitely changing. I do think it’s important that the governing bodies of all these different sports do whatever they can, once these events are over, to make the most of it and make sport as accessible as possible.
Ama Agbeze (England’s Commonwealth Games netball gold medal-winning captain) I think there’s a crescendo in female sports and it’s reaching a climax now. But as Danielle said, hopefully it will keep on growing. When I was growing up, there wasn’t really any visibility. I used to want to be a Formula One driver and, as I grew up, I realised there were only men driving. Everyone says you have to see it to achieve it and the more young girls see that they can come out and do whatever sport they want to do, we won’t have to end up pushing females.
Ama, you’ve been very vocal about the introduction of maternity policies for sportswomen. Is this just one of a number of challenges that await women in sport? AA We’re only at the starting blocks. In the workplace, lots of things still aren’t acceptable, and within sport it’s heightened. For example, if you were on maternity leave and needed to go to a meeting, you couldn’t take your child. Serena Williams had the issue with her ranking when she had her baby, and a lot does need to be done. Until we start talking about it, nobody bats an eyelid. Towards the end of my career I’ve been thinking: “When can I stop? Am I going to be supported? Will I be able to come back in?” Those are all things that need to be addressed so that people starting now don’t see it as a barrier coming into sport. Being in a team sport, I think the idea is really difficult to entertain, with all the training and requirements. AK Tennis is definitely further ahead than perhaps some other sports, due to its individual nature. There are a number of women who have had children: Victoria Azarenka, Serena Williams, Tatjana Maria and Casey Dellacqua. I’ve got two kids, a three-year-old and one who’s 20 months. There was no maternity leave. I’m selfemployed, I’m a freelancer. I’ve been fortunate in the tennis world, where I’ve been able to take my baby into meetings, and I have family members I can rely on. More and more tournaments are opening to the idea of having creches. It seems to be the norm on the men’s side, but on the women’s, because you don’t have as many women travelling with kids, I think people are more aware now and tournaments are more accommodating. DC There are not many in football who have had kids while playing. Katie Chapman, Sophie Bradley and Helen Ward are the only ones I can think of. You need a supportive manager and team. I think it would take someone highprofile in the game to get pregnant – like Serena Williams in tennis – to change the rules and get people talking about it.
Who was your sporting role model growing up?
DC Rachel Yankey. I was fortunate enough to play with her for a few years when she was at Arsenal and we’re still in contact now. Growing up, I really liked Serena Williams, just for everything she stands for. I really admire her as an individual and how she battles things off the pitch as well as on it. AK Growing up, for me Monica Seles was always my role model because tennis was obviously the sport I played a lot as a kid. She was someone I was naturally drawn to because of her fighting spirit on the court and her intensity. I’d say, right now one of the athletes I really
enjoy following is Jade Jones. Taekwondo is a sport I did a fair bit of when I was younger. She’s done well, so I enjoy following her.
AA I used to love watching sport, I wouldn’t necessarily pick someone out. My dad watched a lot of boxing. We’d watch Muhammad Ali fights over and over on video. As I got older my role model was Denise Lewis. She’s from Birmingham, where I’m from, and she went to the same athletics club as me. She used to train and I’d see her and think, “Oh my God, she’s there!”
Do you think there will come a time when women’s sport is just … sport?
DC Yes, definitely, it’s happening slowly. Manchester City, for example, have dropped their women’s title. If they’re speaking about a female player, you can see it’s a female player, you don’t need to align it to men. I always see men’s football and women’s football as two completely different games and sports. The women’s game has come on leaps and bounds in a short space of time, but I don’t think it will ever be as big as the men’s game, but it’s on an upwards trajectory.
AK In tennis, we have come a long way compared to other sports. There is equal prize money at the grand-slams, but then when you compare the coverage the ATP gets compared with the WTA, it’s not comparable at all. There’s the argument over the duration of the match because women play best of three and men play best of five. I mean, who cares? I’ve seen very quick best-of-five-sets matches, but just because men spend half an hour longer on court doesn’t mean it’s a better tennis match.
AA Netball is slightly different because not many men play. There are always questions about whether men should play – I think they should. We can’t harp on about equality and then say men can’t play netball. When we talk about female sport, a lot of people think we’re talking to women and trying to address women, but actually it’s the whole of society. Women can’t do it by themselves. It’s predominantly men that still make the decisions and the people who typically watch sport are men. It’s about saying: “We’re here, we’re not men, we’re different but we’re equally as good.”