Being a feminist woman who loves sport is a sometimes difficult and incongruous position to hold.
This is especially true for women who are fans of both men and women’s sport. Straight off the bat (pun intended), female athletes (especially in team sports) are undervalued and unappreciated. They often have to work or study around playing their sport but they stay completely dedicated. They put their bodies on the line, suffering injuries just the same as the men.
The difference is that they aren’t compensated for their time, their dedication and their bodies in the same way. They aren’t paid huge sums of money to live and train and breathe it. They aren’t paid a huge wage that makes the ACL injury that takes them out for a year (as has happened to a lot of our female football players recently) a bit more bearable.
You will often hear only male commentators on an important women’s tennis match but never see the reverse. If there were a sport involving giving birth, I’m sure it would still be commentated by a man.
If you are a female fan of men’s sports, there is a whole new set of issues. There is an entire history of numerous male players not being punished suitably for domestic violence, sexual assault, and for general terrible treatment of women. There is the pervasive sexist language and treatment of women. This is all exacerbated by the dearth of women involved with commentating sport, presenting sports news, or participating on TV sporting panel shows, especially on commercial networks.
When they are allowed to participate, they are often still denigrated by sports fans, and even their contemporaries. They endure sexist comments about possible relationships with players and comments about their looks (something that also happens to female athletes continuously). Female presenters are also dismissed, presumed to know less than their male counterparts. For some strange reason (sexism), it is assumed that male commentators know more about every sport in the world and that only male commentators have the gravitas and experience necessary to describe what is happening.
You will often hear only male commentators on an important women’s tennis match but never see the reverse. If there were a sport involving giving birth, I’m sure it would still be commentated by a man. Bruce McAvaney, known for his commentary across several sports, was never a professional athlete; he rose through the ranks of sports broadcasting and journalism. What possible reason is there that a woman who knows as much as anyone about a sport shouldn’t be able to do the same? (Spoiler: the reason is because she’s a woman). A similar question applies to coaching.
There has been some encouraging progress in this area in recent times. Last month, Helena Costa was unveiled as the new coach for French second-tier football team Clermont Foot. Costa is the first woman to be given the role in the top two divisions of one of Europe's big five leagues. Australian Peta Searle was recently announced as the AFL’s first full-time female assistant coach after accepting a position with St Kilda. Tennis player Andy Murray has just announced that he will be trialling ex-player Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach.
There has been a lot of predictable and tiresome sexist reaction to this from some quarters but also a lot of positive reactions. Many people seem to realise that someone like Peta Searle, a five-time premiership player in the Victorian Women’s Football League who returned to coach the club to five consecutive premierships - someone with over a decade of successful and ground-breaking coaching experience - might be an asset to men’s AFL.
There is never a second glance when a man becomes the coach of a female athlete or sporting team, yet there is still outcry when the reverse happens.
They realise that Helena Costa, a former scout for Celtic, a coach who took Benfica’s youth team to two World Youth titles, a former coach of the Qatar and Iraq women’s national teams - someone with a Master’s degree in sports science and a UEFA A coaching licence - might just be an asset to men’s football. A
They realise that perhaps Amelie Mauresmo, a former women’s number one and Grand Slam winner might be a coaching asset to someone like Andy Murray.
These are women who are experts in their respective sports; they are women who fully and completely understand the sport they are coaching. There is no reason that someone who is an expert and/or experienced player should not become a coach of any team, no matter their gender or the gender of the team. There is never a second glance when a man becomes the coach of a female athlete or sporting team, yet there is still outcry when the reverse happens.
Hopefully, these latest advancements will have a positive effect, leading to more opportunity for women.
Maybe it will have an impact on the parts of the sporting worlds and sporting cultures that are still lagging behind in their inclusion or treatment of women.
Maybe these advancements will trickle down and the women who play sport, talk about sport for a job, or broadcast sport will be treated better.
Perhaps they will be taken seriously as women who want to make a living as an athlete because they love their game, or want to work in the sporting world purely because they want to be around the sport they adore.
Perhaps women who are supporters of men’s teams will start being taken seriously as people who love the game for the same reasons and in the same way that men do.
Perhaps women who love sport and know about sport will start being included more across the board, respected more in all areas, and given more opportunities.
Then it will be game on.
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