Putting on a show

Lessons from league

The rivalry between league and union is long standing. From the push to professionalism, to attacking shape, to the adaptation of rules, the 15s game takes a lot from the 13 player code. But I would argue, we are pinching the wrong stuff.

I could write you a 1000 words about all the ways I hate that being held up over the line now earns you a goal line dropout over a 5 metre scrum. Or all the other modifications that have brought yet more kicking to a game that can already resemble a tennis match.

What we are missing is the show, the pageantry of it all.

I saw a clip from Haley Rosen, founder and CEO of Just Women’s Sports, TedX talk last week (recommend watching the whole thing in full) in which she unpacks the way we market women’s sport.

Her central point? “We do not treat women’s sports like sports, we treat them like a charity.”

This worthiness is something that drives me up the wall. Our athletes are covered earnestly at best, at worst, patronisingly, that’s if they are covered at all.

I’ve written before about how the emphasis on all the hats a woman athlete wears is doing us a disservice. We shouldn’t have to do it all, our skill as athletes should be enough and paid as such. While we are stretching ourselves thin as full time workers, mothers and athletes, you are never going to see our talent fully realised.

I would love to dig into an actual analysis of player’s performance and selections but instead we elevated certain players to an untouchable status while failing to acknowledge that others exist.

Take the stand out performance of Georgia Daals at the Oceania 7s tournament this weekend. The Black Ferns account told us to “remember the name” when many of us learnt it years ago as she has been a regular feature of the Wellington Pride and Wellington 7s side.

So I sat on the couch last night, watching the build up to the State of Origin Game Two kick off and thought, it’s no wonder people love this, look how much effort they are putting in to make it look cool. We’ve got storytelling giving us ties to legacy and community, we’ve got 100 of camera angles, we’ve got past players adding colour and leaning into the rivalry.

Contrast this with the coverage of the first Kiwi Ferns test after a long hiatus. Footage was interrupted with frequent shots of the men arriving and warming up. The lead commentator thought it more interesting discuss a player’s lashes rather than her line speed. And the half time break had us interviewing the the coach of the Kiwi about a game that hasn’t yet happened rather than the Kiwi Ferns about the one that was.

All of this says to those watching, we know what you’re really here for and it’s not the women’s match. Let’s all just get through this before we can get to the “real rugby”.

Piss off with that. Believe it or not, there were those of us that were only there for the women’s game. And there would be more of us were you to market and package it properly, rather than treat us like a charity. Tithing as much to the broadcast as necessary to cover your sins.

We do not need absolution, we need revolution. We need to put on a show and make women’s sport the main event.

With you,

Alice