This week, one of Australia’s favourite footballers, Lisa de Vanna from Canberra United, was slapped with a one-game suspension for her behaviour during a W-League game.
At around the 110th minute of the semi-final between Canberra and Melbourne City Women, match officials missed de Vanna charging into the back of captain-coach Jess Fishlock in an off-the-ball incident.
Her conduct was not missed by the cameras though and de Vanna was charged with Serious Unsporting Conduct by the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee of the FFA (FFA DEC).
For people who are used to sports with an established judicial system for players that break the rules on the field, this might not seem like a big deal. In those sports it’s an established process when a player does the wrong thing. The player is charged, fronts up to the judiciary and a decision is made resulting in the player either being let off or penalised.
When it comes to the W-League though, this decision has the potential to be a game-changer, particularly because it has brought into question the use of video technology.
In the A-League, video evidence is frequently used when it comes to fronting the judiciary. However in the W-league, de Vanna’s case is the first example of a player being brought before the FFA DEC and the first time that video evidence from a game was used to impose a penalty for on-field behaviour.
Why? The reason is consistency.
At the moment, not all games are broadcast and each match has a different number of cameras used. It’s completely inconsistent, which is why video evidence has not been used in the past – it’s been seen as unfair. So unfair in fact, that earlier this year, the Brisbane Roar tried to use video evidence to appeal a decision made in respect of Mackenzie Arnold. The Roar were prevented from doing this and unfairness was cited as one of the reasons.
Before the next season of the W-League commences, the FFA has to get a consistent approach on this isssue – and I really don’t see why it’s so hard.
The solution is simple. Broadcast the games. Have the same number of cameras and angles available for each game, and allow video evidence to be used both to sanction and appeal penalties.
It’s been a big week for…
Debi Hazelden, who this week set a world record when she completed 32 consecutive half-Ironman triathlons.
Debi isn’t done yet either, and is committed to 68 triathlons in the next 68 days. For all you maths nerds out there, that means she has 129.2 kilometres left to swim, 6120 kilometres left to cycle, and 1434.8 kilometres left to run.
Debi is similar to plenty of other female athletes, having more than just being an athlete on their plate. While juggling her training and competition commitments, Debi also fits in time to be a mum to her seven-month-old son.
She’s an inspirational woman and was quoted earlier this week saying, “I want to show people that being a mum doesn’t mean you need to put your goals on hold. Go get them!”
Not only is this a mammoth effort physically, Debi is also using this platform to raise money for Iron Century. It’s a joint fundraiser between her and her fiancé John Merfler, and through participating in 100 triathlons in 100 days they hope to raise $100,000 for the Australian Red Cross.
So far the team has raised almost $20,000 and this total is set to significantly increase over the next 68 days. Watch this space.
What are you doing tonight?
I want to say a big thank you to the Greater Western Sydney Giants this week for scheduling a double-header on my birthday.
Tonight history will be made, when GWS return to Blacktown International Sports Park and compete in both the men’s and women’s competition for the first time, back to back.
The Giant’s women’s team is still looking for their first win of the season and I’m hoping that they can bounce back against the third-placed Demons, following a 34-point loss to the Brisbane Lions last weekend.
Despite the fact that the Giants are still looking for their first AFLW win, I was very pleased to see Gabrielle Trainor honoured by the club this week, when it was announced that the Giants AFLW best and fairest award will be named after her.
Gabrielle has been deeply committed to the Giants and to women in footy. She joined the NSW/ACT Commission in 2000 and has been on the GWS board ever since. She is also the third generation of her family to be involved in football administration at the highest level – her grandfather Frank and father Tony were both president at the North Melbourne Football Club and long-serving VFL delegates.
My favourite quote from Gabrielle came earlier this week, when she said in “1989 the Berlin Wall came down and women’s sport in Australia has experienced something like that, it’s turned. It’s not only our code it’s everywhere and people everywhere are waking up to how fantastic women’s sport is.”
Hear hear!
All the best to…
The Sydney Uni Flames, who last weekend defeated the Townsville Fire in the WNBL, taking them one step closer to their first title in 16 years.
The Flames will take on Townsville tonight and a win will see the Flames progress to the grand final, with a home ground advantage for the best-of-three series.
Waz
Guest
And the FFA should establish a prestigious tournament like the Algarve Cup
Lionheart
Guest
Matildas next week too
Martyn50
Roar Rookie
Perhaps the FFA could set up its own football channel for men and woman.
Josh
Guest
Ummm, did you miss the first part of this wrap? It's quite clear the focus of this end of week update is women's sport and the W-League, which is why this piece appears on the Football tab (an editorial decision, by the way, and not one made by the author). That this appeared at the same time as the A-League game is neither here nor there - it's possible for a broad-based sports website to focus on a number of things concurrently, and for the football world in this country to extend beyond the A-League. I for one welcome a bit of attention on the W-League and issues like this. Some people really need to grow up, or at least try and ignore the chip on their shoulder every now and again. Not everything is an attack on football, as strange as that may seem to some.
Martyn50
Roar Rookie
Until crowd numbers at woman soccer are around 5000 for all the game no telecaster will look at it.
tom
Guest
so you come on the football site to thank gws for making your day. In doing so you want to remind every body that a match between two teams established yesterday is more important then a match between the top 2 in the a-league. Why make such a statement on the football tab. The roar needs to stop promoting stories against football. else football fans will just drop the site
Nemesis
Guest
Ok now I get what you mean. But, from my observation, the demographic that choose to LiveStream sport (music, TV shows, movies, etc.) will be on Data Plans that allow them to stream as much as they want; or at least on Big Data Plans. If they're not they shouldn't be streaming because we all know streaming eats up huge amounts of data.
Ben
Roar Guru
You do know that to watch the internet isn't for free yeah?... Point taken about the games being played in more than Australia but... Ya never know. I'm actually suprised that other major sports haven't tried the youtube market. It's a pretty smart idea.
Nemesis
Guest
Sorry, Ben I didn't understand a word you said in this post. Perhaps, your Auto-correct function is causing the problem, but this sentence is incomprehensible: "For people to watch a game on youtube, it’s asked of them that they use they’re data, so they’re effectively paying to watch it. " I'll make the following points 1) The match will be streamed on Youtube for anyone with an internet connection, anywhere on the planet to watch for FREE 2) The only proviso will be that the viewer log into their Free YouTube account to access the match. 3) I'm confident we can get 50k viewers for every W-League match if it were streamed for free on YouTube. 4) W-League streaming will not be limited to Aussies watching there will be fans - particularly from USA, Canada, Europe, Asia who know the quality of the WLeague and the players and this adds to the 50k viewing estimate & these foreign viewers will not be counted in ratings for FTA TV in Australia.
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
Really good call Diggercane! I actually chatted with Ashleigh Gardner on my podcast last week so that may have made me think that I had covered it enough. There's never enough cricket though so I'll include some words next week!
Ben
Roar Guru
Nemesis, you need to apply a bit of common sense here mate. For people to watch a game on youtube, it's asked of them that they use they're data, so they're effectively paying to watch it. Then take into consideration that currently, W-League games that are on tv from what I've seen, don't get 50,000 veiwers. At $2 a veiwer, you'll need 50,000+ veiwers per game for 93 games to generate the money you think it will, which is very unrealistic.
Waz
Guest
The NPL manages one game a week in each state
Nemesis
Guest
"They wouldn’t make anywhere near the money Nemesis is suggesting, but they’d go ok on youtubing it. And with streaming, everyone wins." Yes they would. Targeted ads specific to each viewer. Google/Youtube has the analytics to do this. Each viewer will be assigned 5 advertisers who pay 40 cents for direct marketing to that viewer. Focus on local businesses in the way local businesses would advertise in local newspapers in the past. The conversion of a viewer into a buyer will be much much higher than TV advertising. Why? Because the person watching wants the product your are advertising. If I'm a 23 year old female in Gosford, I may want to buy some new clothes. If I'm a 50 year old male in Melbourne, I may want a good deal on a dozen bottles of wine. On TV, the 50 yr old male will get ads for young women's clothing. What a waste of advertising money. With streaming you will target you ad to the viewer., Give me an ads when watching sport that specifically target goods & services I want to buy, provide a 10% discount and you've won me. I'll buy from you before I buy from another supplier. When I was running a small business a small newspaper ad in a local paper cost around $250-500. It would often return zero sales. For $500 with targeted advertising priced at 40 cents a viewer, I'll get my goods/services in front of over a thousand people & I'd be surprised if I don't generate sales with 50% of viewers if I target the right people with the right offer. If the average purchase for the goods/services I'm selling is $50 I'll generate over $20,000 sales for a $500 ad investment.
Ben
Roar Guru
Happy birthday Mary! I hope it's a cracking day for you! Interesting point with W-League in regards to broadcasted games and the judiciary. I would've thought they would have all games recorded in someway, and be able to use video evidence. Let's get to your real agenda but. You want all W-League games to be broadcasted because you believe they should be, in the name of "equality"... No one wins out of that idea but. Broadcasters will lose millions, and if the FFA paid for it, they'd eventually go broke. Simply bad business. The best way to have the W-League put out to its few thousand fans would be youtube or simply streaming it. They wouldn't make anywhere near the money Nemesis is suggesting, but they'd go ok on youtubing it. And with streaming, everyone wins. Debi Hazelen - it's very disappointing that women like this don't get more credit on tv and so on. I thoroughly enjoy it when people really go out of their way (in a good way) to justify their existence. What she is doing is amazing!
Jeff dustby
Guest
You are the man!
Ken Spacey
Guest
Oh please spare us! The season of of halfwit blokey journos waiting for the doors at AFL/NRL house to open and grill some guy about the verdict as if the fate of the world hung on it is about to begin a very long winter. Besides football is a doing sport. Instead of using side issues like the MRP and draft picks to fill the massive void where no actual play is going on naughty Lisa and co had a few days off and now they are off playing for their country. A-League clubs are flitting around Asia (not sucessfully so far) while Mr Sunrise equates Port Adelaide's singular China game to the firsyt moon landing. Put the W-League on TV for the football first.
pauly
Guest
NPL comps use Youtube and Facebook Live to broadcast their games, WWL should follow suit.
Nemesis
Guest
Every W-League match should be broadcast on social media. Given the young audience target market I'd say YouTube or Facebook would be ideal. From personal observation, YouTube has the better tech platform for such broadcasting; Facebook has the better social platform for viewer interaction. This type of broadcasting is already being embraced at NPL level. The W-League must do it. Have targeted advertising to raise revenue. Have a proper full H&A season: 10 teams playing 18 matches each Total matches = 93 with finals Targeted ads could raise $2 per viewer. If broadcast on Youtube/Facebook I'd guess we would get 50k+ people tuning in to each match on average. Total ad revenue = $10m per year = $1m Salary Cap for each of the 10 WLeague clubs.
Digby
Roar Guru
Thank you Mary, enjoy your wraps, and Happy Bday! Have to say I am quite surprised there is no mention of the rosebowl? It has been a fantastic series to date.
DH
Guest
It's quite costly to televise every game if there isn't a broadcast partner. Doesn't look like they'll be finding a broadcast partner any time soon.