Has history really changed anything?

What a game! What an outcome! That is the most likely headline you will find concerning the 3-1 to Sydney FC win at home. For a sell-out game, it was certain to produce the loudest cheers for the home and away fans, the hottest atmosphere of the competition given the importance of the points on offer for a win, and the most tantalising of outcomes to report on for this round.  It has been everything and then some that the FFA could have hoped for as a #SydneyDerby contest.

Despite the win for Sydney FC, I left disappointed. Not in my team who amazingly defied the odds, but in my own supporters and general view of Sydney FC management and then the FFA. There will be many articles that will discuss at the length the tactics, the structure, the personnel and the general on field influence that lead to a Sydney FC win. Let’s be honest – it’s worth evaluating as the hunt for a finals birth continues to unfold. But this is not what I seek with this article. I feel it’s also worth evaluating the failures from the stands point of view right up and though to management on its failures concerning the inclusion of women. If you are unaware, Saturday marked International Women’s Day. Specifically I saw nothing from Sydney FC to symbolise the importance of women’s contribution to the game we all adore. This is the same for the FFA. I am loathed to admit it, but the NRL does it better to even simply recognise women within the ‘game’.

I won’t try to deceive you; this article is my own opinion and a reflection from a night that I wish had been a better experience. I am likely to be outnumbered and somehow I don’t care in the slightest if that is how society, or you specifically, may wish to think. If you wish to divide us in the modern era, yes, I am a woman and I support football. I do this wholeheartedly and uncompromisingly like you. I am not necessarily in the majority, but nevertheless this is still me. And I am not alone. I may not be privy to the whole workings of the FFA, the clubs or the supporters groups, yet I am entitled to an opinion.

What set me off tonight is being the recipient of a disgusting display from the Cove’s “new” capo. I have written about him before as the ‘work experience kid’. I have been begged to give him a go. I did so and now I am utterly disgusted by the way he treated me and spoke to me this evening when he was ask to look at how he was failing to engage with everyone. To be honest, if I was allowed to vote on our incoming Capo – the one to unite and solidify us for the future – he would NEVER receive my vote. Straightforwardly, I wish he would disappear, along with his same two songs and lack of enthusiasm, wider encouragement or lack of heart that he displays throughout the game. But this let me to think. It has made me think about my own voice. My solo female voice in the game I love, and how if ever, I can be heard in a masculine dominated sport.

Here is a sample as of today – the FFA comprises of two female executive officers, Emma Highwood (Head of Community Football) and Jo Setright (Head of Legal & Business Affairs and Integrity) out of 9 senior management positions. Sydney FC Board does not comprise of a single woman on the board of directors. The Marketing & Membership Manager, Rawya Jammal is the only female to sit in an administration position within the club publicly advertised. The other A-League clubs are similar in the nature of administrative/management positions that women hold within the clubs. It doesn’t appear to be extensive or equal in terms of the positions held by women. The FFA lists no female referees in their own right despite a number of female assistant referees have taken part on the sidelines of officiating duties to high commendation. Yet, not a single one of these women assistant referees has a profile available on the FFA website detailing their referee profiles.

I don’t know what to make of it specifically. I don’t know the specific gender distributions in the membership of clubs or the league in general. I believe that women do however make a significant contribution from the grass roots right thought the supporting our local teams in the W-League and A-League.  I really don’t know how much the administrators really think or feel that women contribute to our game. For me, I see these current levels of engagement of women as disproportionate. Women support theirs partners, husbands and kids when it comes to our game while also playing right through to the elite levels themselves.

Today I don’t have a specific solution, but I believe that there is a problem in our representative positions and influence. I think it’s something worth discussing, something worth being on the front foot about. It doesn’t matter if it’s the stands, the voice of the membership, the boardroom or the future of our league. Women are equally important to making our game a success. I remain open minded and hopeful that our future can be more respective of gender in the contribution to this game that we all love.

Google+