Welcome to issue 20 of Siren!
Whether you’ve been a Siren subscriber from day one or have joined us along the way, thank you so much for being on this journey with us.
The co-founders of Siren built this platform to add more to the coverage of women’s sports, to give voice to women in sport who too often aren’t getting the coverage they deserve and to share the stories of women in sports history who we never want to forget and can always learn from.
We came to this project with mostly AFLW experience, and after twenty newsletters, we’re proud to have been able to build on our collective knowledge, cover more sports in more ways, and bring in some experts to give their insights on a variety of sports and issues.
In this issue, we want to share some of the highlights of our first twenty newsletters in case you missed them, reminisce about some of our personal favourites, and share with you some of our most read pieces. We’re learning so much about what you’re loving from the numbers and it’s across a variety of sports and different kinds of reporting which is so exciting to see!
We also have a very special announcement! We are launching our brand new merchandise range!
Finding women’s sports merchandise is hard work, just ask our friend Lindsay Gibbs, creator of the newsletter Power Plays. We want to create some great products to help fill this void and allow fans to wear their love for women’s sports on their sleeve.
We’re starting with this badge collection. Which you can purchase right now!
Our three badges—I ❤ Women’s Sport (58mm), Women’s Sport is Not Expendable (44mm) & Strong Willed Women (44mm)—are available in a pack or individually right here.
We’re just dipping our toe into the world of merch at the moment but if there’s something you’d love to see, whatever it might be, let us know! You can contact us by replying to this email, get in touch at contact@sirensport.com.au or let us know on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
All profits from the sales of Siren merch will go directly back into Siren to keep us going and allow us to commission more great content from women’s sports experts who don’t get nearly enough opportunities.
Support Siren
While we’ll be looking towards more merchandise options as we grow, there are other ways you can support Siren right now as we continue to build our coverage of women’s sport.
Share this newsletter
Every newsletter sign up is a big help for us to grow our audience. If you’re not in a position to support us financially, every email forward, social media share and convo with your friends about how great Siren is helps us a lot!
Become a Siren Supporter
Some of you are already paid Siren Supporters which is amazing. You’ve helped us get off the ground. Thank you. If you are yet to consider becoming a Siren Supporter, there are a few options:
$5 a month Siren Supporter - automatic monthly direct debit.
$60 a year Siren Supporter - automatic annual direct debit.
Siren Supporters get access to a variety of benefits such as exclusive events (now occurring virtually of course!), discounts on Siren merchandise and access to our AFLW stats database. We’re always looking to add new benefits too!
If you’re interested in making a once off donation, please email us at contact@sirensport.com.au
Sponsorship and Corporate Partnerships
We’ll soon be launching sponsorship options for brands and businesses. If you, or someone you know, might be interested in potential partnerships and collaborations, we’re open for initial inquiries.
Please feel free to send us an email at contact@sirensport.com.au with the subject ‘sponsorship’ and we can answer any questions you have.
Ten most popular pieces
Kate Moloney. Image: Melbourne Vixens
In no particular order, here are our ten most read stories by you! From profiles to interviews, from netball to basketball, you can see the content that made an impact in our first 20 newsletters.
As mentioned, for a collective that was mostly formed in the stands at AFLW matches, it warms our collective heart to see so many different sports represented in the stories our readers engaged with the most.
How we covered the 2020 AFLW Season
Rhi Watt celebrates her first goal in footy. Image: Megan Brewer
With our 20th edition of the Siren newsletter it felt right to look back on how we covered the 2020 AFLW season, and some of the things we’re hoping to do again for AFLW 2021 and also for other leagues upon their return.
Halftime Huddle
Another highlight over the last twenty weeks has been announcing our new collaboration with the Halftime Huddle. We’re thrilled to share Sarah and Taylor’s work and this week they have another brand new podcast for you.
In this episode, Sarah and Taylor spoke to Richmond Tiger, Akec Makur Chuot.
Akec has an incredible story and speaks about her journey from growing up in a refugee camp in Kenya to moving to Australia and falling in love with Aussie Rules. This episode dives into family, culture and acceptance.
Our individual favourites
Kirby Fenwick
‘I’m a bit of a history nerd’ is how I describe myself at least once a week. It shows in the work I’ve produced for Siren, and in most of my other work as well! I’m a big believer in the idea that we have to know where we’ve come from to know where we are—and where we’re going. That’s why the history of women’s sport is so important. But, it is also just a really incredible space to spend your time.
However, as wonderful as books about the history of women’s sport are, getting to actually speak to someone who was there, who lived it and played it, is on another level. Oral histories are powerful testimonies and historical documents in their own right.
It’s why our interview with Anne Gordon, the captain of the Australian women’s cricket team who played in the first game of women’s cricket at Lord’s, is my highlight. Anne was a delight. Funny and kind and smart and generous with her time and her stories. Spending an afternoon with her was wonderful, but sharing her story—an important and incredible story—with the Siren community was even better.
Alison Smirnoff
The Matilda’s celebrate a goal at the 2019 World Cup. Image: Rachel Bach / By The White Line
I am so proud of the work Siren has done in our first twenty weeks to disrupt the status quo. During the COVID lockdown it feels like we have been inundated in the mainstream media with story after story of men’s sport nostalgia and ‘best of’ lists. While the mainstream has dragged its feet, Siren has proven that there are so many women’s sport stories to uncover.
With over eighty stories produced over our first twenty newsletters, it’s pretty difficult to name just one favourite - so I’m going to name two!
As well as featuring athletes and their sports, Siren has made a point of elevating women who work in women’s sport media. Two of those women are photographers Steph Comelli (She Scores) and Rachel Bach (By the White Line). Gemma and Kasey interviewed both of them about their background in sports photography as well as sharing some of their favourite images.
Do yourself a favour and check out the work of these absolute superstars.
Kasey Symons
The last live sporting event I went to was with 86,174 of my friends at the MCG.
The T20 Women’s World Cup Tournament and Final was one of the most thrilling experiences of my sports fan life. To see the MCG that loud, excited and passionately cheering on Australia’s women was a defining moment of what investment in women’s sport looks like and it caught the imagination of the world. And I think I’m a Katy Perry fan now?! The mainstream media coverage of that event was the highest we’ve recorded in the work we do covering the coverage.
Sitting in the stands with thousands of other fans seems like something we did in another life right now—and remembering that day—that moment gives me hope that as sport looks to recover, women’s sport should be considered a force to be reckoned with.
Gemma Bastiani
Mim Strom battles it out in the ruck. Image: Fremantle Dockers
It will come as absolutely no surprise that I am going to choose one of my AFLW pieces. Obviously I love footy, and I’d like to think it’s pretty clear that my interest in the game is largely the on-field action, which is why it was so brilliant to be able to speak to Fremantle coach Trent Cooper and young ruck Mim Strom. I’m fascinated by the strategic angle of footy, and Fremantle were probably the most exciting team to watch (objectively, obviously biased Gemma would say Melbourne were the best to watch). For this reason, it was really interesting to speak to Trent and Mim about how the Dockers were able to attack the season despite losing so many players in the off-season.
Funnily enough, I was meant to do this one in person, and in the time between setting it up and actually conducting the conversation, everything COVID-19 and social distancing came into place so it was switched to a phoner, so it was right on the precipice of everyone’s world practically shutting down.
ICYMI and need more #womeninsport content in your life—we have lists!
During the sport shut-downs and social isolation, we’ve been putting together lists to lead you to the good stuff. Here they all are if you missed them!
Sports writing, documentaries and films:
10 women’s sport documentaries and films to add to your must watch list
Women in Sports Writing to the Front
Women in Sports Writing to the Front – Creative Edition
Women in sport books from Australia
Need to follow some fun people on insta?
10 women in sport Instagram accounts you should be following
Reminisce about AFLW 2020:
Siren’s favourite AFLW moments and performances of 2020
Working out in iso? Add these Aussie jams to your playlist!
10 Australian songs to soundtrack your at home workout