Gotta support the team
I am not a sports person. It has been a reluctant feature of my life, from inter-school softball in Grade 6, to my high school’s compulsory badminton units in PE (the word ‘shuttlecock’ never lost its humour, though), to cricket and tennis dominating the telly every. single. summer.
But the older I get, the more open I am to sport as a source of entertainment. Last week, I attended my first AFL men’s league match since I was a kid. I used to read Goosebumps novels in the stands; this time, I left my emotional support novel at home. I’m still learning the rules, but in the span of 25 years the sport has slowly, but surely, grown on me. I even have a membership to my AFL women’s team of choice. The food, however, remains a highlight; nothing beats hot chippies in a paper cup on a brisk winter night.
So, like many Australians who are otherwise oblivious to sport, I was swept up in Tillies fever during the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup. At least, I was for their first match against Ireland. From there, my enthusiasm sort of…petered out.
Sadly, soccer just isn’t my scene
I really wanted to become the Matildas’ latest #1 Fan. I wanted to be as enraptured by the FIFA women’s league as the rest of the country. It’s just that, when you’ve been raised on AFL, soccer feels awfully slow.
In AFL, every goal is worth six points. If the ball hits the goalpost, it’s called a ‘behind’, which is worth one point. Sometimes the final scores can reach 80 or 90, even passing 100.
Now, compare that to soccer. By the end of the first half, there can be 0 goals apiece.
This tells me two things:
Goals are few and far between, so when someone finally does score, it becomes extra significant.
The beauty of the soccer match lies in its tension and release.
That first half of a professional soccer match is packed with smothers, near-misses and thrills as the ball approaches the goal. Chances are, the ball then doesn’t go in because a) it misses the goals entirely, or b) the goalkeeper is excellent. Scoring takes time because it relies on multiple attempts.
Watching the Australia vs. Nigeria match, I messaged my boyfriend: ‘After 45 minutes of tension, we finally scored a goal. Instead of feeling relieved, I'm just agitated.’
Soccer is a Sisyphean sport. I’m sorry I don’t have the stamina for it.
The social shifts we can expect from the Women’s Cup success
What I can get behind are the seismic shifts that could occur in the wake of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. They stand to benefit all women’s sports, from the grassroots to the professional leagues.
The big one is funding. Compared to the men’s leagues, women’s leagues are chronically underfunded.
Let’s start with FIFA: the prize money for this year’s Women’s World Cup was a pool of $110 million. The prize money for the 2022 Men’s World Cup was a pool of $440 million.
Let’s try another sport. Netball is one of the biggest team sport in Australia, but it relies on sponsorships and government support to function at a professional level. When the Australian Diamonds won the 2023 World Cup, they did not receive any prize money. Not even a bonus. World Netball’s flagship quadrennial competition does not offer prize money.
So, where does AFL, the sport that I am closest to, stand in the scheme of things?
The average salary for an AFLM player is $372,000 a year. The average salary for an AFLW player is $20,000 – paid as a six-month contract. This is because the women’s league have a shorter season; it’s September, and just as the men’s league are entering the finals, the women’s league are squeezing their season into the final months of the year.
Because of this, many AFLW players are working second jobs to supplement their income. Mikayla Bowen, a midfielder forward for the Geelong Cats, is the club’s Pride Ambassador and Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator. Erin Hoare, a ruck also for the Geelong Cats, moonlights as a Senior Research Fellow and Psychologist. She’s currently a Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Lead for the AFL. This pattern is repeated across all AFLW clubs. They are farmers, healthcare workers, lifeguards, academics – as well as being athletes.
At first, I thought there was something quaint about these players also having day jobs. It reminded me of the times before football was considered a career path, where male players were truckies and chippies off the field. But now, when being a professional football player is a viable career path for men, why should women need to clock off at one job in the morning, and clock on at a second in the evening?
It’s worth mentioning that, at the 2023 AFLW season launch, the AFL announced an equal prize money pool for the men’s and women’s competitions. Both will receive $1.1 million in total prize money. This is almost double the roughly $620,000 prize money the AFLW received in 2022. In the men’s league, the money will be split amongst the top four teams. In the women’s league, it will be split amongst the top eight teams. I hope this will ensure a broader spread of resources that will bolster the women’s league as a whole.
But the AFL can do better. AFLW players need contracts with greater job security and better pay. These things can only serve to make AFL a stronger, more supportive career path for women.
It’s time to end the disparity in funding and exposure
The 2023 Australia vs. England FIFA Women’s World Cup match was the most-watched TV program in Australia since 2001. Channel 7 estimates the broadcast reached 11.15 million people. This is after the Australia vs. France match reached 4.17 million Australians, making it the most watched TV sport program of the past decade.
In the wake of this success, Australian Wallaroos players shared a statement calling on Rugby Australia to end the disparity in resources, funding and conditions between the women’s team and the Wallabies; the Wallaroos have not had access to the same full-time contracts, including their coach, as their male counterparts.
A quote from their statement:
“You told us full-time contracts were in the pipeline, that there wasn’t enough money to keep the Men in the game, let alone us. Then you paid $5 million for an NRL player.”
And another:
“We’ve seen the impact that Women’s sport has had on the Australian sporting landscape, thanks to the Matildas. It’s time for the chairman, board, and CEO to prioritise the future of Australian Women’s Rugby and allocate adequate resources. It’s time to acknowledge that we are not promoted equally, even on a free platform.”
Optus paid $13 million to access all 64 FIFA Women’s World Cup matches. They then sold the Matildas matches to Seven Media for an estimated $5 million. As one reporter put it, “Seven and Optus have paid peanuts and received gold.”
But imagine if all 64 matches were broadcast on free-to-air television. Imagine if, instead of hearing the male commentators on free-to-air, Australians could have heard the women’s commentators – an Optus-exclusive – instead.
Not only does women’s sport need more funding; it needs greater broadcast exposure.
Shortly after the Australia vs. England match, the Federal Government pledged $200 million to fund sporting facilities for women and girls. It will be available for all sports, though the Government expects a significant portion will go towards soccer. They also announced they will ensure more sport is broadcast on free-to-air television, including more women’s and Para-sports. It’s likely this will include soccer, cricket and rugby union.
Gotta support the team
When you invest in women’s sport, you invest in more than stadiums and women’s bathrooms.
You invest in better training, uniforms that feel cohesive and comfortable, leading sport science and nutritional advice. You invest in full-time contracts and the players’ abilities to leave their day jobs. You invest in the broadcasts that bring the games we love across the country, because we all know you can’t be what you can’t see, not if the revolution is not televised.
You invest in the understanding that women’s sport is just as competitive, as rigorous, as entertaining as men’s.
Tomorrow, I’m going to my first AFLW game for the season. My dad and I will be proudly wearing our team’s colours.
