Women's sport weekly wrap: Lions denied Gabba grand final

Whether it’s in relation to players and clubs abiding by the rules, governing bodies treating each club in the same way, or consistency in decisions made by governing bodies, officials and judiciaries, there is an expectation that sport is an even playing field.

If something is not fair, fans will make their voices heard.

There’s been plenty of talk about fairness this week in the lead up to the AFLW grand final between the Brisbane Lions and the Adelaide Crows and, in particular, where the game will be held.

It’s hard to envisage the AFL grand final being held anywhere but the MCG, but when it comes to the AFLW grand final, there is no precedent. The choice of venue presented an opportunity to reward the Lions for finishing the inaugural season on top with a home advantage for the most important game of the season.

It was not to be.

Despite it being clear from the opening rounds of the competition that there were two stand-out teams and the very real possibility that one of these two teams would likely be given the opportunity to have a home grand final, the Lions’ preferred venue, the Gabba, is not ready.

After Adele’s two shows at the ground earlier this month, someone foolishly decided to sow the turf near the centre-wicket area, despite this not being needed until cricket gets underway later in the year.

As a result, the grand final will be held at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast, at 1pm, ahead of the QClash between the Gold Coast Suns and Brisbane Lions.

AFLW fans in the area should continue to vote with their feet and get there for what will be a physical contest to end the season.

But I’m not going to let the disapointing stadium situation detract from what has been a phenomenal first season, with the majority of the coverage being positive and celebratory.

Before the season started, nobody knew much about the team from Brisbane, but coach Craig Starcevich has done a remarkable job – his three years of experience as Queensland’s female football high-performance coach has helped produce one of the most balanced teams in the competition.

The Lions ended this season undefeated and will go into the finale as favourites.

Adelaide had two losses – one to Fremantle and one to the Lions.

Their position in the grand final was not locked in until the last round, when they played a must-win game against the Magpies.

The Crows found themselves seven points down at three-quarter time but fought their way back, producing the highest-scoring quarter of the year, scoring 32 points to secure a 24-point win, thanks largely to the efforts of Erin Phillips and Sarah Perkins.

With the conclusion of the competition this weekend, I want to congratulate everyone who has been involved – from administrators, to players, to umpires and to fans. In eight weeks this competition has helped change the face of Australian sport.

The challenge will be to keep the momentum going and work toward more teams getting involved, increasing pay for our athletes and ensuring that there is a genuine pathway from the grassroots to the professional competition.

Cricket
This week, when I saw headlines like ‘women’s pay deal set to double’, ‘Aussie female cricketers to get massive pay day after historic offer from Cricket Australia’ and ‘CA’s landmark pay deal for women’, I was pretty excited.

I’ve written before about how cricket continues to lead the way when it comes to women’s sport – I still believe this is the case – but after doing a bit more reading (thanks Mel Farrell!) it is clear there is still work to be done before we celebrate the deal.

While women’s salaries have been in the media over the last couple of months, the male cricketers have also been part of an ongoing negotiation with the Australian Cricketers’ Association about pay.

Currently, the agreement between Cricket Australia and the ACA is symbiotic – the approach is a revenue-sharing agreement, so when Cricket Australia do well, so do the players (and vice versa).

There have been pushes by CA to end this agreement and enter into a new one, which has led to protracted negotiations about what this new deal will look like and how revenue will be shared.

The offer made by Cricket Australia earlier this week (which includes a ‘landmark’ pay deal for women), is very much that, an offer being made to the ACA. This offer could well be rejected and the headlines that were so celebrated earlier in the week may come to nought.

Rather than seeing the Southern Stars used as a bargaining chip for the men’s salaries, I would love to hear more about a collaborative process where we look to reward all our female cricketers based on the standard they set on the field.

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Touch football
Finally, well done to all the women named in the women’s open and mixed open teams for the upcoming Touch Football Trans Tasman series to be played on the Sunshine Coast in May.

In particular, I want to congratulate some of my favourite touch footy players, including Lizzie Campbell, Danni Davis, Hannah Dyball, Kimberley Sue See and Marikki Watego.