It’s been an extraordinary week for me where the pieces of a puzzle have fallen in to place in a fashion I never imagined possible.
I’ve always felt uncomfortable with the mantle of ‘crusader for women’s sport’ because quite simply I’ve never seen myself as having a special affinity for women’s sport.
What can I say? I was never the female athlete.
I was the pathetic, unhealthy kid in primary school that the nuns thought they’d need to call an ambulance for if I ran around too much. In those days I suffered acute exercise-induced asthma.
Also I was unco, slow and prone to sunstroke. Apart from that though I went alright!
Despite this lack of physical prowess, my weekends were filled with sport. Every Saturday in winter I went with dad and his family to watch rugby league at the SCG.
In summer dad played cricket and I often went along, or I stayed home and listened to the races. My mum’s father started taking me to the races when I was 10 or 11 and I loved it.
I was the kind of kid who carried a form guide around with me on Saturday then cut out the photos of my favourite horses from the Sunday papers and put them on the cover of my school books.
In short, I was reared on the traditional ‘male’ sports. Loved them, learned them, lived them.
When I got my dream job in the media many years later, I was gobsmacked to find some women thought I should be a flag bearer for women’s sport.
What did I know about women’s sport? I’d worked assiduously at building my sports credentials. I was umpiring men’s cricket from the age of 16, getting my entry level rugby league coaching qualifications when I was 19, even running an SP bookie operation on Melbourne Cup day at my high school – telling the nuns I’d figured out how to run a sweep where everyone got the horse of their choice.
For the first several years I worked as a sports journalist I felt a sense of ‘otherness’ – akin to that which besets the offspring of immigrants.
I was not universally welcomed by the group I sought to join, those who reported on established male sports. And I was seen as a sell out, and sometimes berated, by women who were increasingly militant about their sporting endeavours getting the short end of the media coverage stick.
For a long time I went out of my way to avoid women’s sport and those lobbying for it.
I didn’t want to focus on covering what they were doing or pushing because I didn’t relate to it. Besides, it wasn’t what an ambitious sports journalist aspired to do. Those at the top of the sports media tree covered the sports I’d cut my teeth on and I wanted a piece of that action. I wanted to prove a woman could do it.
Over the years, ups and downs notwithstanding, I’ve had enough success to carve out a career covering, and occasionally working within, traditionally male sports. I’ve been very lucky.
But as the years have passed I’ve also mellowed.
I’ve met some wonderful female athletes, watched some inspiring women’s sport, been embraced rather than upbraided by some female sport activists and learned enough to feel I’ve got the basic knowledge to talk about women playing sport – something that didn’t come naturally to me.
Some years ago I decided that female sports journalists and female athletes were fighting a parallel battle rather than the same one. They share many challenges and obstacles and can learn from each other. But neither is the solution to the other’s problems.
In recent years, I’ve felt the camaraderie between women sports journalists and sportswomen more keenly. The opportunity to do a program like Hens FC on ABC Grandstand has consolidated that.
I started it as a forum for women who work in sports media, marketing and administration to chat on air and show they understand, appreciate and have opinions on sport. It seemed a natural counter to the plethora of sports talk panels loaded with men, who in moments of great generosity would allow one representative of the female gender a seat at their table.
Gradually a selection of current and former sportswomen showed interest in appearing on the Hens FC panel – Lisa Sthalekar, Alyssa Healy, Julie Dolan and Katherine Bates to name a few. Bringing together female sports reporters and communications people with female sports stars was great because we all met on fertile common ground we loved, talking about sport.
It’s such a ridiculously straightforward concept it almost seems a fraud to claim it as innovative, but that’s how it’s been treated. Through it, I’ve met so many women I didn’t previously know who are involved some way or another in sport. It’s been invaluable, and some of us jokingly refer on occasion to “the Hen’s network”. But it’s not really a joke.
Which brings me to the events of the past week.
On Tuesday night I was the MC for a Women’s Sport NSW showcase event in Sydney where administrators of sports and representatives of local councils (who control most suburban sporting facilities) discussed ways of achieving more gender equity in sports participation and administration.
Seems a dry old topic, but during the evening politicians and academics talked about the need for more women to be on boards of sports controlling bodies. Councillors talked about the difficulty of sharing limited facilities around when men, who’d had sole use of some sports grounds and stadiums for many years, felt they were permanently entitled to have primary access to those facilities.
Sports women discussed ways they could build spectator interest in their events and competitions and proposed solutions for stemming the drop out rate of girls in their teens from organised sport.
But most significant for me were the comments from Cricket NSW CEO, Andrew Jones, who admitted the “male skew” of cricket fans (live at the ground and via TV) was something his sport was keen to address.
Getting more girls playing cricket he said was a one strategy for addressing that problem because he felt playing the game promoted understanding and appreciation of the sport.
At the very least, more women playing was likely to lead to more women equipped for managerial positions and coaching roles in the sport. Not to mention the likely long term benefit of encouraging their own children to play and understand the game.
And this was the point where it all came together for me.
Just a couple of days before I’d been flattered to see Phil Rothfield go in to bat for me in the Sunday Telegraph, saying the SCG Trust had erred in not inducting at least one female sports journalist into it’s new Media Hall of Fame and suggesting me as the woman they should have included.
The Internet wave of support for that proposition stunned me with the recurring theme being “sport belongs to women too”.
It resonated more clearly when I heard the speakers on Tuesday night.
It’s not just that a lot of women want to be involved in and recognised in sport. Sports are actually realising they need women. Why? Well, bottom line, all sports need numbers — be they in the ranks of players or supporters. And there’s more potential females ripe for recruitment because they’re relatively untapped compared to men
That’s why women on sports boards, on sports show, in sports sections and on sporting arenas and, yes, in damned Media Halls of Fame matter. Because those appointments, those voices and those images all break down the message that sport belongs primarily to men, and that women are interlopers or outsiders.
And that’s how it hit me. I am a crusader for women’s sport. I can see now ‘women’s sport’ is a term that doesn’t just denote a specific gender playing sport, it’s a reference to ownership of sport.
It’s ours too. And most sports have now realised they need it to be that way.
Andrew Jones
Expert
Hi Debbie - Thanks for the shout-out in a very fine article. Just to clarify, Australian Cricket is 100% committed to being a sport equally for women and men, boys and girls for both equity AND growth reasons. So it all adds up to concerted effort and action to get females playing, watching, working and volunteering in the game, which of course many girls and women already do. We also want to change fundamentally the perception of cricket, so that it is seen to be a sport equally for men and women. To achieve this, women need to be able to see themselves in the game in all areas on an off-field. Tennis is the sport that has done this the best to date (although I hasten to add that it is not as popular as cricket overall). Cricket continues to be led and showcased brilliantly on the field by the Southern Stars (3 time World T20 Champions) and NSW Breakers (winners of 9 consecutive WNCL titles) and we are now working very actively on the off-field side of things - especially fans and employees - as well. In doing so, one of a number of key challenges to overcome is simply that, for various reasons, not as many women as men like cricket at the moment. This is a particular challenge when recruiting, as our candidate pools tend to skew heavily male. But we are on the case and taking steps to improve the situation, while continuing to hire strictly on merit. Thanks again for the article. Here's hoping the Breakers win a 10th consecutive title and that you are the first woman picked for the SCG Media Hall of Fame. All the best AJ
Amanda Spalding
Guest
Debbie, Thanks for being the MC at our Womensport NSW Showcase, and thanks for your comments since. So glad it was an epiphany for you. There is still a long way to go! Amanda Spalding, Vice President Womensport NSW
mushi
Guest
To be fair to all the commentators you are berating for not getting it you do need to wade through 30+ paragraphs of memoir before the ownership angle is mentioned. Even then there is hastily constructed assumed bridge between your life and the philosophical question (which is assumed that sport as a general concept is owned to begin with). I do wholeheartedly believe that sport in general is a community building pursuit which should reflect the entire community but I didn't really get that from your article at all.
Debbie Spillane
Expert
Why are you discussing whether you like watching women's sport or whether can compete with men? You've missed the point of my column altogether. I'm NOT saying people should be watching more women's sport. It's about ownership of sport, hence the heading "Whose Sport is it Anyway?" I'm saying it's in the interest of all sports to make women feel included. And that encouraging women to play any given sport is of long term benefit to that sport. Sport needs women to boost their playing numbers, gate takings and TV ratings. So the more ways women can be included, the more viable a sport is. The 50% of the population who aren't blokes are, for all sorts of reasons. crucial to sports in a highly competitive market.
GD66
Guest
Rabbitz, the original heading was "Who's sport..." BTW no question on this side Deb, on and off the field, and also in sport admin, girl power rules.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
Please, try spellcheck again!
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
"Whose" is correct -- I would say it has already been been corrected from "Who's". Note to other Roar contributors, "should have", never "should of". Check the use of "it's" and "its" -- it's not hard. Please check the meanings of dribble and drivel. A soccer player dribbles the ball, someone talking rubbish is talking drivel, not dribble. Please check the meanings of "fazed" and "phased". If you're on the sports field you are probably fazed or unfazed, if you are in a recording studio you might be "phased". Those points alone would help my blood pressure.
Glenn Innes
Guest
No sport is not primarily a male thing but it' is by it's very nature an elitist activity if you are talking about competitive sport,which is the kind of sport people want to watch. The simple biological reality is that men are better than women at most sports so people gravitate to watching male sport because male sportsmen are the elite. There are some sports in which women in theory could compete with males like snooker or darts or even some forms of motor racing but cricket is most certainly not one of them..So if you are watching women's cricket you know you are watching the sport played at a level far below male cricket which is why most people, including women ,do not want to watch it.
Alex
Guest
I personally have no issue with women covering sport, administering it or even coaching it. I would even like to see more (some, I feel more implies that there are some currently) women in punditry and commentary roles, they can only be better than some of the absolute dills that have the jobs at the moment ; see Bryan Taylor, Ray Hadley, James Brayshaw, Wally Lewis etc... However, I personally am not a fan of watching some Women's sport, except tennis. I would probably consider myself a bit of a cricket tragic and during the 10/11 ashes channel 9 broadcast couple of women's matches, maybe because i had grown up during the era of probably the greatest test side ever assembled it clouded my judgement however it just didn't seem right with the boundaries pulled in, smaller shots, slower bowling etc.. The other bugbear I had was the call for women and men to have equal prize money for tennis. To me this seemed preposterous and in fact I would prefer to see the prize money split depending on how many sets are won in the final, providing an incentive for the women's final to be 3 sets and the men's 5, furthermore maybe the women should play 5? In conclusion it would be terrific to see more women working in the aforementioned positions, however other than my suggestion for tennis I really can not see a way to improve the participation rates of women in male dominated sports. There needs to be some role models which is easy for boys, you want to grow up to play like warne or mcgrath or johns or waugh or ponting; these are household names and other than Lauren Jackson or Serena Williams i really struggle to name a female sports star in a similar vein.
onside
Guest
OOPS Basically is a question for a PHSYCOLOGIST ,not physiologist ( I didn't check spellcheck)
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
I am confused (a natural state some would say) but what is wrong with using "Whose" in this context? "Whose" is the possessive form of "who". So the phrase "Whose sport is it?" means "Who owns the sport?" - correct me if I am wrong but it looks and reads okay to me.
onside
Guest
Do male readers(and TV viewers) associate female journalists with women's sport. I can only fit so many sports in my head. For example, one of many I never watch is basketball. This despite it being a high octane game that is most entertaining. Olympics aside I rarely watch women's sport .An example of my mindset is this; every morning I look at the BBC sports site. I love football and follow Arsenal. This morning there are two stories in the HEADLINES. 1.FOOTBALL: Deadline day like poker-Wenger. 2.FOOTBALL:Losa named Arsenal ladies manager. I will read Wegner but am not in anyway interested in Losa. (two separate sports). One thrust of your article begs the question ,would I read Wegner if written by a woman. Probably. But I prefer reading articles by men.Its a visual thing in my head. In years past many great female writers had their work printed using a male name. This begs another question ,if your work went to print as David not Debbie Spillane, would more readers be non-judgemental about your articles. Basically its a question for a physiologist, because I do not have the answer, and cannot rationally explain my preferences. .
Debbie Spillane
Expert
Winston, I don't write a lot about female sports, that's the point I was making in this article. I actually don't even write that much these days. I'm a radio broadcaster, and chiefly I'm involved in covering men's sports. I work within a framework of a whatever program I'm asked to present. When I'm hosting NRL coverage on ABC Grandstand, then I'm talking rugby league topics. When I'm doing sports updates on TV or radio I'm covering scores and details of the major sports stories of the day. When I host HensFC I'm interested in exploring what women involved in sport as journalists, administrators or competitors think about what's happening in sport. What I was saying in this article is I don't have a history of covering women's sport but I've suggested that female participation in sport is linked to female interest in sport. Only as one factor though. What I'm proposing here is that there are many ways women can be made feel sport is not something that belongs to men. But the main point I'm making is that sports, major and minor, elite and social are better off if they find some way to involve the half of the population who aren't blokes.
bigbaz
Roar Guru
Ah Debbie, after first registering that you were/are a woman I think your abilities simply made you a reporter. Have enjoyed your observations for far too many years.
Simoc
Guest
Ex players always bang on about the refereeing. That's when you know there's not to much happening between their ears. Both in cricket and football there are few good explayer commentators, expert comments. Only Peter Stirling, and the Ian Chapple vintage of cricketers spring to mind as being very good or outstanding. Most of the rest dribble. Far better having professionally trained commentators like Dennis Cometti.
Debbie Spillane
Expert
Good point, I need subbing when I write late at night.
GD66
Guest
Faceslap...WHOSE sport is it anyway ? And good grammar in sports journalism has went...
Winston
Guest
Midfielder, I see it the other way. I just remember watching the Olympics years ago, could be the Sydney one, where for the gymnastic there was Gary Wilkinson paired with an ex gymnast. This guy did a vault and stuck the landing perfect, and Gary shouted out with huge excitement. Then his fellow commentator was like, "let's see the replay... a bit of angle in the knee = .2 deduction; feet not straight... height not good enough... some sideways deviation through the air...." And I just thought what an idiot Gary Wilkinson was! I have to say, my opinion on the subject has not changed a single bit since that day. I would much prefer listen to commentators who know what they're talking about than those who don't.
Debbie Spillane
Expert
Johnno, you seem to have mistaken me for someone who's been to a ladies only gym. Or a gym, full stop.
Winston
Guest
I see. Maybe I wasn't clear, but I mean, even as a journalist, there would surely be things you want to write about more than others. And when you write something, unless it's purely summarising what happened in a match, there would be some message you want to deliver. So I guess my question was whether you write more about female sports, or female PARTICIPATION in sport, which is more general and involves not just females playing, but also watching, being part of the supporter group, etc. It's really a question about what do you want to write about. When I said having men and women play together, I don't necessarily mean at the elite level. It was a more general comment about how I like those sports because it means I can play with females together, and if there were more sports like that, female participation would increase because it gets more females involves.