This article was first written for and published by The Roar.
There are some topics I am afraid to write about.
I am someone that is passionate about diversity and inclusion in sport. When I write about sport, I want to make sure that I am coming from an educated, considered and respectful position. Hurting the sports that I am passionate about or making someone feel like they were not welcome in the Australian sporting family is the last thing that I want to do.
This story was first written for and published by The Roar.
And then there were 14 (well, not until 2020).
This week the AFL announced that the AFLW is about to get a whole lot bigger with a bold expansion plan which will see North Melbourne and Geelong join the eight existing clubs in the third season of the AFLW in 2019, with Richmond, West Coast, St Kilda and the Gold Coast set to follow in 2020.
What generated plenty of excitement though was that for the first time, Tasmania will have a team that it can adopt as its own through its joint bid with North Melbourne.
This story was first written for and published by The Roar.
In Week 1 of the NRL finals, two very special women will make history.
On Friday night, in the game between the Sydney Roosters and the Brisbane Broncos, Kasey Badger will become the first female to officiate an NRL finals game.
Not far behind her is Belinda Sleeman, who will run the touchline in the game between the Penrith Panthers and the Manly Sea Eagles.
This story was first written for and published by The Roar.
Each week in preparation for writing this piece, I spent half an hour each morning scouring the news looking for my favourite stories in women’s sport.
So when Roarers comment that I have missed something, in some circumstances it’s me making a choice to include news about one sport rather than another, while in other cases it’s because I just haven’t seen the news.
Well, 2017 you have certainly started off on the right foot! This year has seen females dominating the freshly mowed Australian Football League fields, the unyielding Netball courts, the sandy bases of the Softball arena and the dusty creases of the Cricket oval. We’ve witnessed the Jillaroos overcome the Kiwi Ferns in a clean sweep to achieve the first ever Auckland Nines Series win. We’ve heard the heels of the ASC Chief Executive taking steps towards change for women at a National level. Our role models have discussed body image and anxiety with such purity and transparency. And the AFL Women’s League has encouraged all women to “Be Strong. Be Ready”.
While, Collingwood Football Club did not come away with a premiership in 1988, it was the year that popular Collingwood trio, Scott Pendlebury, Moana Hope and Sharni Layton were born. The trio are the new faces of the north-east Melbourne suburbs Women’s and Men’s Australian Football League teams and National Netball League team.
It seems that rugby league is not the only sport where women are making a name for themselves officiating.
Earlier this year, an exclusively female set of umpires officiated at a TAC Cup match this year. This follows on from the news that three women, have cracked umpiring at the elite AFL level being Eleni Gloufits, Lucinda Lopes and Libby Toovey.
As we edge closer and closer towards the end of the year, that means we are edging closer and closer to the launch of the AFL women’s competition set to begin in February 2017.
In June, it was announced that 8 clubs were successful in obtaining a licence to have a women’s team in the inaugural competition. These teams were the Fremantle Dockers, Carlton Football Club, the GWS Giants, the Brisbane Lions, the Adelaide Crows, Collingwood Football Club, the Melbourne Demons and the Western Bulldogs.
Last week I was at an event with some clients. Following some normal chitchat about how busy work had been and how quickly this year had passed, conversation turned to plans for the weekend.
From February to October, my weekend plans are always the same – sport, but mainly rugby league.
