Siren 31: the importance of Indigenous role models, the digital revolution of women's sport & AFLW trade wrap
A Women in Sport Collective
Australian swimmer Chloe McCardel swam her way into the record books over the weekend, completing her 35th—yes, you read that correctly—crossing of the English Channel.
McCardel swam the 35 kilometres—from the south-east coast of England to northern France—a remarkable four times in only 16 days to reach the milestone, breaking the men’s record for the number of crossings while at the same time earning second spot for the women’s record.
Last month McCardel was granted an exemption by the Australian government that allowed her to travel to the UK and make her record-breaking attempt. Now she sits only eight crossings behind the all-time record holder Alison Streeter, a British long-distance swimmer.
Two women holding those records is something we can absolutely celebrate!
Speaking of breaking records, Cricket Australia released their Annual Australian Cricket Census last week and there was plenty to celebrate there.
According to the census, female participation grew by 11.4 percent, contributing to a doubling of female participation in only four years. Alongside that growth, the census revealed a 25 percent increase in the number of girls in the Woolworths Cricket Blast program. That growth has encouraged an increase in the number of girls teams in junior competitions.
They’re certainly healthy numbers, and a testament to the work Cricket Australia has done to grow and develop the women’s game. More encouragingly, they don’t seem content to rest on their laurels with Belinda Clarke, Cricket Australia's Executive General Manager of Community Cricket also announcing that Cricket Australia will soon launch a ‘new female participation strategy to accelerate this momentum’.
We are very here for taking women’s sport seriously!
As exciting as it is to see these numbers from Cricket Australia, this week we were also reminded that many women in sport are still having to make some tricky decisions. Rebecca Beeson, who plays for the Giants in the AFLW, wrote about the precarious nature of pursuing a career in the AFLW. Following Beeson’s piece, we learned that Ellie Brush, also from the Giants, and Carlton’s Chloe Dalton would step away from the AFLW in 2021 to focus on their Olympic pursuits. They join the Western Bulldogs Aisling Utri, who stepped away from the game prior to the 2020 season to focus on her hockey career, and Adelaide’s Maisie Nankivell making the hard decision to pursue her career in netball at the Adelaide Thunderbirds.
Whether Brush, Dalton, Utri or Nankivell return to the AFLW remains to be seen, and it isn’t really the point. It’s the having to choose, it’s the precarious nature of many women’s sports. It’s, as Beeson writes, ‘the possibility that I’ll be done with football in my 30s, with only a couple of dollars to my name and no proper career path to step into’.
That is something that should be right at the top of any professional sporting body’s list of concerns.
In this issue
Samantha Lewis chats to Olly Winton of Twitter Australia about the digital growth of women’s sport. Tash Gunawardana speaks to Danielle Ponter and Tarnee Tester about Indigenous role models in sport and our resident AFLW oracle, Gemma Bastiani has the full round up of the AFLW Sign and Trade period.
The revolution will be digitised
By Samantha Lewis
Image: Rachel Bach / By The White Line
What does the digital revolution mean for women’s sport? Samantha Lewis spoke to Olly Winton of Twitter Australia about the digital growth of women’s sport.
AFLW illustrates importance of Indigenous role models
By Tash Gunawardana
Image: Megan Brewer
Indigenous footballers in the AFLW have a positive impact as role models for Indigenous women and girls, encouraging them to be active and play sport.
AFLW Trade Wrap 2020
By Gemma Bastiani
Image: Megan Brewer
The AFLW trade period saw a number of big names change guernseys, giving us the first look at how the competition will look in 2021.
Halftime Huddle
In celebration of Akec Makur Chuot signing on for another season at the Richmond Tigers, we wanted to remind you of her AWESOME episode on Halftime Huddle. Check it out if you haven't already! She has an incredible story and speaks about her journey from growing up in a camp in South Sudan to moving to Australia. This episode dives into family, culture and acceptance.
Congratulations to Australia's newest record holder, Jessica Hull who broke the 18-year-old Women's 5000m Aus Record by 3.8 seconds at the Monaco Diamond League, setting a 16.52 second personal best!
Who watched this on the weekend?! And who is going to watch it again this weekend?! Brillant.
Our Aussies are smashing it in the WNBA—be sure to follow their journeys!
Participation is up again for women and girls playing cricket.
Erin Delahunty writes on how the controversial introduction of the Super Shot was supposed to dominate conversation, but the netball highlights reel is nevertheless full.
Samantha Lewis looks at the trend towards youth and how it gives a glimpse of W-League’s development.
Sydney FC were the first W League club to announce their squad for the 2020/21 season.
It was great to hear from Rebecca Beeson in the Guardian last week to learn about the position of AFLW players from one of the athletes, but it wasn’t so great to hear how precarious the position is. We hope some more certainty is provided for the AFLW as soon as possible.
Indigenous All Stars captain and Jillaroos forward Tallisha Harden talks about the ways more and more Indigenous culture is being embraced and celebrated in the game.
Cecilia Brækhus is the world's best female boxer and she shares her amazing, and challenging, journey in the sport.
Kathryn Nesbitt became the first female official to work an MLS final last week! Go Kathryn!
Kate Rowan writes for the Telegraph on the power revolution in golf and why women's golfers are driving further than ever.
Dr Madeleine Pape writes brilliantly in this great article: the unlevel global playing field of gender eligibility regulation in sport—Dr Pape is an expert in this space and we love her work.
We loved this memory from Anna Meares—what a moment. What a champion!
We’re so excited that the amazing Dr Bridie O’Donnell will join the SBS commentary team to cover the Tour De France!
And be sure to join in for Women Onside’s next online event all about women’s football broadcasting—check the details in Danielle’s tweet!
There will be some discussion on the data we’ve collated about media coverage and Sam Lewis’ latest on W League coverage so there will be plenty to talk about!
This fan is all of us! And maybe more so us sports fans in Victoria who are feeling a bit desperate!
Runner up
Seeing one of our favourite people Megan Maurice post this pic in response to our women’s sports merch round up last week made our day! We need some vintage women’s sports merch on the shelves asap!
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