Amazing Grace
In a drip drip feed of scurrilous revelations, one more depressing than the next, the (latest)FIFA corruption scandal has exposed the truly obscene amounts of money that the world’s favourite sport generates, distributes, and embezzles. In its noxious wake you cannot but feel sorry for the great Women’s soccer teams heading off for their World Cup, already ferreted away in an odd number year so as not to clash with the most minor of male-orientated events.
The Women’s soccer finale will have all the prestige and joy of FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s most recent election win, a damp squib in a sky strewn with shrapnel and smoke from an organisation that is doing the best thing it can now do, destroy itself. Its tragedy is compounded when the last three years have seen a profound difference in the way women’s sports are consumed and viewed. In Ireland, where many of our males still see the woman’s place as somewhere nearer the sink than the rink, it helps to have the most dominant athlete a sport has ever seen to help perception move along. Boxer Katie Taylor won the hearts of Irish people (and a lot of valuable endorsements) in the sport probably viewed as the most difficult for modern society to accept women performing in. On these shores, the massively elevated platform for women’s sports at the London 2012 games gave a new audience and a new appreciation to the feats of female athletics and has enacted genuine change in media coverage and participation levels.
Taylor lifted a baton for Women’s sports that Michelle de Bruin threw into the Liffey in 1996, trying to front crawl away from one of the more stunning falls from grace any Irish athlete has ever known. That baton was handed to her from Sonia O’Sullivan, a true hero and a wonderful example to young children and athletes of any sex. O’Sullivan was a loveable badass, a fearless runner with great spirit, determination and a lethal kick in the final 150 metres where she put her rivals to her spike, injecting a searing pace when most of the field’s legs were searing with pain. The point is, O’Sullivan lifted that baton from Eamon Coghlan, or even Barry McGuigan. This athletic hall of fame goes from woman to man and back and forth in a sexless relay that perhaps who knows, may go back to the foundation of the Irish Free State, where Women have always had the vote, always been treated as equal citizens. Not that this media market differs from any other, women’s sport comes second to the more populous male equivalent. Only the elite become truly recognised, but when they do, they are accorded a rightful pedestal that is shoulder to shoulder, glove to glove with anyone else who ‘laced them up’.
In Canada over the past three weeks, the Women’s soccer finals have put the spotlight on FIFA as an organisation struggling to come to terms with how it has eaten itself from the inside out. All that is left is a hypocritical, sorry mess of a dictatorship, with a few billion dollars to kick around the now vacated desks. With six senior officials in the dock and more indictments to come, the future is bleak for FIFA and a long road lies ahead for whatever poor soul is charged with the clean-up. They may need a haz-mat suit in the first week. In his latest farcical move in executive leadership, the apparently not-yet-resigned Blatter has mercifully stated he will not attend Sunday’s Women’s final for ‘personal reasons’. And yet, a fortnight and a half of wonderful matches, incredible goals and true athletic endeavour has done more to repair the global image of soccer than any FIFA PR agent could hope to do. Indeed the English Ladies if they can make Sunday’s decider against the US, may finally strike a decisive blow in gaining a foothold for their sport in the country where soccer enjoys arguably the largest platform in the world through the Premier League.
What is also under the microscope is how seriously the world takes women’s sport. There are standalone events within the Olympic Games that occupy large airtime and attract millions of eyeballs, but rarely does a Women’s sporting event stand up tall like this to be counted. In America the Women’s NBA basketball finals lie in relative obscurity, a sport that is starting to see its stars lured away to big money leagues in Russia. The comparatively pitiful salaries in the US make this jump to a different country and culture less of a dilemma than for example, Irish and English rugby players to cross the channel for the free spending and geographically more proximate French squads.
Despite a wave of publicity, the arrival to the world stage for boxer Nicola Adams, and Jessica Ennis’ coronation as female athlete supreme, the 2013 BBC Sports Personality Of The Year (SPOTY) Awards nominations included just two female nominations from a total of eight. It seemed the old habits had died hard. The mirage of London 2012 appeared in Ennis’ case down to a beautiful woman being put on magazines , with the fact she was a world class athlete a somewhat distant footnote. The 2014 BBC SPOTY nominations were sureto be different and with all the predictability of Father Ted’s coronation at the Golden Cleric Awards, the England Women’s Rugby squad won team of the year. Women’s Rugby. I wonder do the members of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association in Ireland resent their endeavours labelled as ‘Ladies Football’ when many other sports opt for the moniker of ‘Women’s’.
Elite Sportswomen surveys year on year, confirm an anecdotal perception of women’s sports gradually improving in stature, but still lagging way behind in remuneration. Therein lies the dilemma, sports like any major global initiative is controlled by those with the moolah. Wayne Rooney’s challenging appearance hasn’t hurt his commercial value to advertisers. Mind you, neither has Cristiano Ronaldo’s Adonis-like frame. I would imagine he turns up at photo shoots with the top already off, and would be sulking in the studio corner for an hour if asked to put his t-shirt back on. You cannot say Women’s basketball, soccer, rugby carries the same appeal as the men’s equivalent. The scoring is not the same, the way the players move is different. That is not to say they are worthless, of no value or interest, but they are genetically different and the key to a higher profile for these games does not lie in a slighted female populous demanding equal pay, and staging a walkout like the women of Vauxhall. Female sports will be best served by further capturing the attention of its target audience — women, and girls! Sports are consumed in a male majority, with the decision makers choosing the menu of materials to suit those tastes. Of course, we would hold out for ‘Role models, not glamour models’ as Baroness Campbell put it. But Jessica Ennis-Hill’s greatest impact on the young girls of this generation may have been proving to them you can be sporty and attractive at the same time.
The athletes and their advocates have to hold the industry to account to avoid ‘The Kournikova zone’, where beauty is rewarded regardless of achievement. Anna Kournikova famously out earned seven time major winner Venus Williams despite having never won a tennis tournament of consequence. Not her fault, but imagine a left back for Burnley being the best paid player in the Premier League because he has nice legs and wavy hair. The reality of marketing and populous success (and the subsequent increase in remuneration) for female athletes relies on the respective sports championing their own champions, putting faith and value in their own brand. In the way that Katie Taylor for women’s sport has given great stature to the achievements of other Irish females, it came after perhaps her fifth world title. Imagine Belfast boxer Carl Frampton having to wait that long. After his IBF super-bantamweight world title win in September 2014 Frampton was hosted at a civic reception in Belfast City hall, with a massive crowd to cheer him on. The key seems to be, put forth your stars, let them sell the ads, and that rising tide will lift all boats.
Here’s the thing with stars though. They have to shine a while in the sky. As a result of sheer persistence, Katie Taylor’s achievements shone through. That’s what a decade of gold medals will do for you. A different example is Cork’s Camogie star Anna Geary. She could not be accused of being in the Kournikova Zone despite more than a passing resemblance. Anna captained the Cork Camogs to All Ireland success last year, just after representing Cork in the Rose of Tralee. She wore both hats, one a helmet, and seemed to walk the tightrope of glamour and role model with exceptional poise. At the age of 28 she retired last year from sport, and although she will stay on our screens and on our airwaves as a broadcaster and analyst, as an athlete she will fade from the sporting consciousness. Female careers often end before their male counterparts and it takes something special like whatever is inside Paula Ratcliffe and indeed, Jessica Ennis-Hill to return to an elite level.
We all love a Stunner — Stephanie Roche ? How about her ? Stunning! Oh yes, her goal, Peamount United suddenly became a household name after Roche’s sublime volley rocketed her to global fame in the FIFA Puskás award, and won her a contract to the Houston Dash professional team in February 2015. And yet this chapter in how Facebook nearly won the Goal of the Year may be remembered for what ? A furtive look from Ronaldo and Messi at the 28 year old’s admittedly stunning legs and the white dress she wore. Everyone loves a stunner. Apart from seemingly the Houston Dash when they terminated Roche’s contract four months later. Should we however, feel guilty for loving a beautiful winner a little bit more than an average winner?
The other great domain of sports, coaching too remains something of a male preserve, with the presence of males sometimes viewed as a necessary pre-requisite to legitimise a sport. Ironically, the BBC’s all-female studio cast for the Women’s World Cup smacks of over-compensation. Geno Auriemma, the greatest women’s College basketball coach of all time has fashioned a behemoth out of the University of Connecticut women’s programme. His only contemporary rival Pat Summit, retired due to her battle with Alzheimers in 2012 and their rivalry as coaches reflected a fascinating duel of wits and of ideals. The ideal that not any man could coach women, so therefore not any woman could coach men, but indeed, some could. How fascinating to think that the US may elect a female President to lead the Country before it would put a woman in charge of a professional sports team. If Thatcher could crush the Unions, couldn't a woman crush Liverpool and Chelsea ?
When Auriemma tied the incomparable John Wooden with 10 college national championships each, Auriemma spoke eloquently and accurately about his career milestone reached :
“I’ll be the first to say, I’m not John Wooden. I’ve got a bunch of friends that would tell that I’m right… But as I said the other day, I just think what we’ve done here the last 20 years is pretty remarkable in its own right.”
An important statement — the accomplishment is about as valuable as comparing Pele with Michael Jordan, but it deserves to viewed in its own right, in its own context.
The San Antonio Spurs rarely think inside the box, and have carved a niche for themselves as the most internationally minded of the 32 professional NBA basketball clubs. So, when they became the first NBA franchise to hire a woman, Becky Hammon to a senior coaching role it almost didn’t seem like a surprise. She works alongside Gregg Popovich, a coach who has continually eschewed the conventions of his trade, crafting a roster of diverse cultures and languages, so why not add a woman to that mix.
Everyone likes a winner, and that will not change or matter if the winner is a boy or a girl. However the same media will not so joyously spend copy and article length on an unsuccessful women’s team. They will of course publicly flog the English cricket team because Kevin Pietersen’s will he wont he saga or Alastair Cook’s latest take on his own captaincy sells better.
No-one knew the Women’s Irish rugby team before they won the Grand Slam. However the success of that squad has provided a catapult that the IRFU are still in the air from. The English Women’s soccer team have now won themselves a nickname and the ‘Lionesses’ I’m sure will go a long way to winning new audiences for their fine players, and female athletes across the UK, if the opportunity is properly grasped. Skill and talent will outlast everything. Even under the intense glare of the US Sports Media market, the US team have in goal a woman twice accused of serious assault against her own family. Hope Solo still survived, and because she’s the best keeper in the States, she is still loved , just as soon as she did one of those tell all, cry a bit interviews in the public confessional of afternoon TV chat show land. Fact remains, everyone loves a winner, especially a beautiful one.
