The Matildas doing so well in the FIFA Women’s World Cup has brought out some of the best and worst in sports opinion.
As a sports fan, I sometimes fail to grasp how toxic some people can be towards to women’s representative sides when compared against the men’s.
One of the major points that always gets dragged up is the money divide between men’s and women’s. I will split this into two categories for readability of this article.
There is funding the team receives from the governing body, and money received from sponsors. At the end of the day, the current Australian sporting landscape is the men’s representative sides in the mainstream sports.
I state mainstream, as it’s predominantly the four football codes in State of Origin, AFL, Wallabies or Socceroos. That’s where the viewers are, and that’s who the sponsors want to be seen by. Companies don’t sponsor teams purely out of the goodness of their hearts, it’s a business decision.
The other form of revenue is from the governing bodies. I separate this from specifically government funding, as sporting bodies do have alternative sources of income. This is one area again that comes down to a business decision.
Again picking on the four football codes, money comes in from grassroots; which are predominately men’s at this stage of the sporting lifecycle. So that’s where the governing bodies want to reinvest in, keeping that flow coming in.
However, the main crux that frustrates me is when punters compare the women’s competition directly against the men’s and call it inferior. The Matildas and the W-League have been compared against the Socceroos and the A-League. It’s not really a fare comparison at the best of times, the W-League is a part-time competition, and most players study or work part-time to pay the bills.
I doubt the majority of A-League players are working part-time at local restaurants to pay the rent. And the Matildas and Socceroos are always going to be different, because they play different styles of game against different opposition.
I remember reading one stupid comment on Facebook, where someone stated that the Matildas would be thrashed if they took on the men. Besides being inaccurate (the Matildas play warm-up games against men and win), it’s a pointless comparison of the two. Women and men play separate competitions, so I could use the same argument to pull two random teams from different competition tiers and rip into them.
One comparison I do laugh at is women and motor racing. How does gender in any way affect their ability to drive a performance car in a race? When they are in the car, you wouldn’t know who was driving unless you follow the sport closely enough to translate the number to the driver and make an opinion based on that.
The argument that they are worse than the men is ridiculous. Firstly there isn’t that many do make the comparison, so it’s a hard pool to crack.
Put 48 blue marbles in a box, and two pink marbles. Chances are, the first marble will be blue. This analogy is meant to represent that in a straight everyone is equal; the balance of probability is that the best driver is probably going to be a lad purely because there is so many lads to potentially lead.
We, as Australians, love our sport. If the women’s game isn’t your thing, then don’t watch it. I’ll support an Aussie in nearly any sport they play, regardless of gender.
When I watch our hockey teams play, I don’t see the men’s playing superior hockey to the Women, I see my national representative team playing the sport they love. Same as when I watch the Southern Stars play in the Ashes, I see 11 Aussies taking it to the English.
Will there be a shift that sees an equalisation of the women’s game to the men’s across all sports? Probably not in my life time. But the mindset that the women’s game is inferior to the men’s is past its use by date.
Celebrate sport for what it is, support your local team, your state team, your national team. If one team isn’t for you, then move along to one that is.
Stadia Cooperoz
Guest
In this WC the Commonwealth is quite well represented. Oz, England, Canada in top ten plus New Zealand Scotland, Various African, Caribbean and Asian nations of reasonable quality. Women's football should be in the Commonwealth games. Also a nod to the Kiwis they acquitted themselves well in tough group. Football should always push those elements that set it apart from other codes and the female participation and progress is a very big part of that strategy.
Marc
Guest
It went exactly where she wanted it to.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Well said, Cat cat. Totally agree with you and I can't believe some of the anti-female comments on this sports discussion. Cathy Freeman won the women's 400m at the 2000 Olympics. Her time was 6 seconds slower than Michael Johnson in the men's 400m. Catherine was superb. She was the fastest woman in the world over 400m at the Olympics. Who cares that she wouldn't have been placed if she ran against the men? In fact, she wouldn't have made it out of the heats against the men. Does that make Catherine's Gold Medal inferior? Does that make Dawn Fraser's many gold medals inferior? Only blokes - most likely, blokes who've never played sport at adult level - would call the best female athletes in the world "inferior".
James
Guest
women are not inferior to men or if people prefer men are not superior to women but in playing a sport, here soccer, women are inferior to men. if women were equal to or better than men then the elite leagues would have women in the teams. womens soccer is inferior to mens soccer but this does not mean that we shouldnt continue to make womens soccer bigger because even though the standard of play is inferior it is still the best women in the world playing the sport or if its lower leagues its women playing the best they can play just as the championship league and league 2 are inferior leagues to the premier league and la liga etc. we watch soccer and other sports because we love watching sports, in most sports the male leagues are superior and we should admit this but this in no way takes away from the female leagues.
Cat cat
Guest
I think that women should be encouraged to be more interested in team sports both playing and watching. As a women its inspirational for me to see women play like the Matilda's. However sport is seen as a blokes thing in our society and not for women, so many women don't watch it. It's just not feminine. Women's sport should not be compared to men's as it's different. It's women against other women - calling it inferior is basing your judgement against men- how would that ever be a fair judgement ? In fact it's like calling a woman inferior to a man because she is not as strong. Is "inferior" the right word? Anyway I am excited to see healthy, strong women excelling at sport not just on magazine covers looking passive. One more thing if you think you can beat these ladies at soccer you will need to get the snip, some drugs and call yourself 'caitlyn' - then just maybe you can play women's soccer. End rant. Phew.
Bondy
Guest
I just wonder with the upcoming Netball World Cup are people going to say its sh^^ as well because they're not athletic or as powerful as the Men who play the sport ? ...
Alex L
Roar Rookie
There have been a few Ice Hockey games held in football stadiums, which have had larger crowds despite just being provincial contests.
James
Guest
you said in your article that it was inaccurate that the ladies would get thrashed by the mens team, are you being serious? the best women soccer players are the equivalent the guys under 17 or 18 teams in skill and ability. and even that is being generous. there is absolutely a need for a womans league and a womans world cup and we should definetely do more for the womans game but at least acknowledge that doing so is only because we are being sexist. positively sexist but sexist none the less. the womans game is just not as interesting to the overwhelming majority of people, not because it is being played by women but because they are just worse in every aspect of the game. this is in a small part due to lack of funding but its mostly biological. lets give more money to the womans game, absolutely we should do this, the mens game should help pay for the womens game just as in other sports where women are the dominant sex, like netball, let them help pay for a mens league but dont try and say its because women are anywhere near as good as men in the overwhelming majority of sports.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Really enjoying how the Women's Game is turning the conversation by poking fun at the haters. :-D This from USA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTCsULdBMv4&feature=youtu.be And this from USA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmEoKXgBvSI&feature=youtu.be And this from Norway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Y1ZieyY_k
Barry
Guest
It is like here in New Zealand football coverage is really poor as well all they talk about is this and that rugby player has this injury or that or this rugby player is a bolter so on and so on they ram it down our throats all the time. We had the under 20 FIFA world cup here over the last month they are saying in some media circles that it was not very well attended, well the total number was 300 k thats not bad, its funny they had a rugby U20 in Italy at the same time no mention of the poor numbers at theirs, there was no one at the small boutigue stadiums to watch and at the final the stadium was only partially filled, compared to the FIFA u20 the stadium in the rugby mad country was full - sold out! the opening game was as well - sold out and a lot of the other games where during the week so you are always going to stryggle to fill stadiums during week days. I am from NZ and even though we got knocked out I still keep an eye on the games and with Aus being our neigbours I am hoping that they can go all the way - NZer
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Staggering TV viewing numbers for a tournament featuring amateur & semi-professional women playing sport. Fifa may get a lot of justified criticism but it's only because of Fifa's determination we've seen Women's football grow from nothing to this level in just 25 years. Imagine what the next 25 years will bring! > average 2.8 million viewers in Canada watched Canada vs Switzerland > average 5 million viewers in China watched China vs Cameroon > average 2.8 million viewers in France watched France vs Korea > Fifa's YouTube channel has reached 10 million views providing 19 million minutes of viewing content, which is THE most successful month on record for Fifa's online channel. And those were just R016 matches. The figures will be blown away with QFs featuring nations with strong attractions to women's football: USA vs China; Canada vs England, Germany vs France & AUS vs Japan Local professional male sports who claim to be "world's best" can only dream about such TV viewing numbers. Source: http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/news/y=2015/m=6/news=fifa-women-s-world-cuptm-breaks-more-tv-records-in-round-of-16-2653174.html
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
And so they should!!!!
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
I suggest either again watching the replay of the goal or visit an optometrist if you think she shanked it..
CG2430
Guest
Simon shanked the shot and nearly missed! (Also, following in a shot should be standard practice for a striker)
Kaks
Roar Guru
spot on Steve. Perfect analogy. Many will ignore it though.
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
Thank you Sheek, finally someone on this thread talking some sense.
Horto Magiko
Roar Rookie
Agree with everything you said Steve. I love beer therefore I love light beer? Absurd. I too want to know why "we need to embrace this sport". Power to em, I might watch the highlights if it's convenient but I won't go out of my way and def wont sit through 90mins. The funny thing is once the wwc is said and done let's see how many of these feminist theatre goers stick around to support the women's game...Or how many roar articles are written about it and commented on. Oh yeah, and Dilla over dirty south any day of the week lol
pjm
Roar Rookie
Guys wouldn't arc up about Women's sport if they weren't told they have to support it as much as Men's. The question is asked why don't you watch it and the answer is that it is inferior and then the little feminists have a whinge.
Steve
Guest
Also, the last time I checked there were no 54k ice hockey stadiums in Canada.
Steve
Guest
You are certainly free to embrace this and / or any other sport. I'd be keen to hear though why you feel as though "we have to embrace this sport" though? I'm a hip hop fan, but I don't really like hip-hop from the Southern USA. Should I embrace it because I like music or hip hop? I love thriller films, but I hate horror films. Must I embrace horror films because I love suspense in films? I love Australia but I don't have a particularly high regard for many of our politicians. Should I embrace them because they are Aussie, even though I may be more ideologically inclined to relate to politicians from a far? I love tennis but don't particularly care for Bernard Tomic. Must I embrace him because he is an Aussie tennis player?