Equitable access to facilities and opportunities. Pay discrepancies. Social and cultural barriers to participation. From the coaches box to the press box, to the field or the court, being a woman in sport has long presented challenges. We were inspired this week by the story of Elinor Penna, a woman who covered American football in the 1960s.
“...I was writing about football for 40 newspapers and I wasn’t allowed in the press box, being a female.” - Elinor Penna
Throughout the 1960s, Elinor Penna, working under her maiden name Elinor Kaine, was a sensation. She wrote about football in a style Vogue called ‘funny, gossipy, frank and technical’. You can read more about Elinor and her work in this fascinating profile by Natalie Weiner.
Elinor’s story is as inspiring and compelling as it is infuriating. It’s a familiar story, too. One marked by exclusion, so often deliberate.
Deliberate exclusion is a story we are all too familiar with. The AFLW season kicked off over the weekend. The Matildas were playing on home soil and the Australian women’s cricket team were playing a thrilling tri-series against India. But, yet again, women’s sport was less than a fifth of mainstream sports coverage.
Just 19.19% of mainstream news sport coverage on Sunday February 9th featured women’s sport. Source: @YaThinkN on Twitter.
We’re excited to be bucking that trend here at Siren.
In this edition we're thrilled to bring you a T20 women's world cup preview by Bobby Macumber.
We've been able to commission Bobby's expert cricket commentary because of our Siren supporters whose financial contribution is helping us meet our mission of amplifying more women's voices. We're working behind the scenes to find ways to do more and more of this.
In this issue
The T20 World Cup kicks off next week and we’ve got you covered with a preview from the inimitable Bobby Macumber.
The AFLW is back and so too is The Roundup, a comprehensive review of the round’s matches by Gemma Bastiani. You won’t want to miss it.
Kasey Symons spoke to Melbourne Boomers Maddie Garrick and Lindsay Allen about the feeling in the team as they head into the WNBL finals. They also cover the state of play for women’s basketball in Australia, Monique Conti’s decision to pursue AFLW and why a CBA is an important next step for the WNBL.
Plus there’s the latest episode of Kick Like A Girl from Kate O’Halloran featuring guests Brooke Lochland and Nell Morris-Dalton and Kirby Fenwick’s regular segment, Voices From the Stands.
They’re back! Fan favourite This AFL Life is back on the airwaves with host Alison Smirnoff and co-hosts Rachel Hibbert and Susan Cadman talking all things women’s Aussie rules football. Catch up on the first episode of the new season here.
We hope you enjoy this issue and thanks again for subscribing to Siren!
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 Preview
By Bobby Macumber
Australia have won 4 out of the 6 ICC Women’s T20 World Cups (WT20WC) since it’s inception in 2009, making them the stand-out favourites, which is very exciting considering we get to see them in action on home soil in 2020. Will they withstand the pressure at home, or will they struggle to live up to expectation?
The Roundup
By Gemma Bastiani
Vivien Saad gets a kick away against the Dees. Photo: Megan Brewer
AFLW season 2020 kicked off over the weekend, and Gemma’s broken down each game including the impressive debuts, huge performances and the most surprising win of the round.
Boomers Prepare for Finals in the League's 40th Year
By Kasey Symons
“I get goosebumps thinking about how much I love this team and how special our team is. And I just want the best for our team. And I think that we're going to create something really special coming into finals.” Kasey Symons interviewed Boomers Maddie Garrick and Lindsay Allen ahead of their WNBL finals campaign.
This AFL Life Returns
New year. New AFLW Season. New This AFL Life panel.
Alison Smirnoff, with new co-hosts Rachel Hibbert and Susan Cadman, cast their eye over the 2020 AFL Women's Season.
Kick Like A Girl
Western Bulldogs players Brooke Lochland and Nell Morris Dalton catch up with Kate O’Halloran on 2020’s second episode, and fan favourite segment Darcy Vescio’s Smash the Patriarchy returns.
Our Collective members don’t just talk sport for Siren, they’re writing and talking on other platforms too! This new section of our newsletter will give a shout out to those pieces so you know where else you can catch the team. Heads up, the AFLW season kicking off means a lot of these pieces are footy-centric.
Kirby Fenwick recapped the AFLW season opener, and the round as a whole for The Guardian, Kate O’Halloran flagged the surprising—but real—problem with the AFLW’s free entry for the ABC and Gemma Bastiani has brought back The Play On Review podcast analysing the round one games.
Congratulations to the Opals for qualifying for Tokyo 2020!
And more congratulations must go to Ellyse Perry for picking up her third Belinda Clark award last night! Amazing!
The fixture for the SuperW Rugby has been announced, kicking off this Friday, Feb 14.
We’re getting in the habit of including something from the awesome Lindsay Gibbs every week —but she does such great work we can’t help it! There’s a trigger warning here so exercise self care, as this edition of her newsletter, Power Plays, discusses a new book that details the horrific abuse of gymnasts by Larry Nassar. It’s an important dialogue, but a heartbreaking one.
The Matildas are dominating on home soil as they work to qualify for Tokyo 2020, defeating Chinese Taipei 7-0 last Friday night and Thailand 6-0 on Monday night. Some W League matches have also been rescheduled for this weekend to accommodate the qualifiers so check out the updated fixture.
Liz Clay won the women’s 100m hurdles at the Melbourne Track Classic in 12.94 seconds, making her the fourth fastest Australian ever in the 100m hurdles! Jessica Hull also had an incredible run in the women’s 5000m at the Melbourne Track Classic, finishing 1st in the Australian Championship and receiving an automatic nomination for Tokyo 2020.
Mary Konstantopoulos interviews Ironwoman Courtney Hancock as she became Australia’s greatest female ocean athlete.
Wales Rugby were left out in the cold, literally, when they did not have access to hot water at the Six Nations. Sports reporter Beth Fisher tweeted about the incident, “WRU have told me that they eventually did get hot water in the end after it was fixed. But my point still stands that this is international sport & it is just a small example of how women's sport is still miles behind in terms of basic standards compared to the men's sport.”
In some (more!) AFLW news, we want to shout out to Dani Marshall, who made history on the weekend as the first American to play in the AFLW. Coming into the league from Colorado Springs via Arizona, Dani starred on debut for the Western Bulldogs, even slotting a goal! Artist Kate Birrell wrote (and painted!) about the feeling of being back at Moorabbin for this game for The Footy Almanac.
However, despite four more teams entering the competition this year, Peta Searle is the only woman as a head coach in the AFLW. Libby Gorr profiled Searle in this great piece detailed her coaching journey.
We're excited about the announcement of the new women in sport show All In with Emma Race and Sam Lane. First show airs tonight at 6pm AEDT on their social media channels.
We also want to congratulate Carlton forward Tayla Harris who announced the upcoming release of her new book over the weekend. We can’t wait to read it, Tayla!
The passion. Oh. The. Passion!
We love it.
Runner up
We felt like this with the return of AFLW too, Gabby.
SIREN FAN MEET UP: T20 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP, MARCH 2, MELBOURNE
Some of the Siren team are heading along to the women’s T20 World Cup double header at Junction Oval in Melbourne on March 2 and we welcome anyone to join us! We know it’s a work day so it’s a hard one to get to. But is there anything more Australian than calling in sick for work to go to the cricket?
The first match starts at 11am with Sri Lanka facing Bangladesh and then from 3pm Australia takes on New Zealand.
All are welcome to come along to the match and sit with us. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know anything about cricket or don’t have anyone to go with, come chill with us on the hill! We’ll tweet our location on the day and tickets can be purchased here. If you plan to come along, feel free to shoot us a DM on twitter or email us to let us know to look out for you. Or you can also just rock up on the day!
WANTED: VOLUNTEER COMMENTATORS AND REPORTERS
Ever wanted to try your hand at commentating a live footy match or looking hone your reporting skills? Here’s your chance! Women’s Australian Rules Football Radio is on the lookout for new volunteer commentators to learn the craft and get some great experience. Head to the website or check out the tweet for details:
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