“IS THIS fair enough?” Why must we feel the need to question “fairness” each time parity in sports prizemoney is in the spotlight? Talk should be about opportunity.
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Ballarat Athletic Club has unveiled its equal prize pools for the marquee men and women’s sprints in this season’s Ballarat Gift carnival.
This is fantastic. Parity of far from a token gesture by Ballarat Athletic Club. Nor is this merely following the well-supported and highly publicised standard made in the iconic Stawell Gift carnival last Easter. Ballarat has been building toward this well before Stawell’s surprise cash splash. The club boosted the women’s gift prize pool from $2,500 to $5,000 last season as it readied its significant move.
When The Courier promoted the story via social media, it asked followers: “Is this fair enough”? This question is designed to be provocative but really is outdated and non-constructive.
The debate has evolved in 2015, particularly for elite sport. Level the playing fields, provide opportunity and you will be impressed by female athleticism and skill.
Cricket Australia is working towards equal pay for women and there is an exciting vibe about the newly launched Women’s Big Bash League. Headline acts like Ellyse Perry and triumphs, like the women’s Ashes (something Michael Clarke did not win us this year), for promotion of the women’s game in its own right rather than something in the past you might merely have stumbled upon as a modest curtain-raiser.
AFL clubs are proudly announcing their push to field their own elite women’s team like Melbourne and Western Bulldogs have proven is more than just a fad. Supporters are intrigued, especially when elite sportswomen from other sporting arenas sign up. Opals star and WNBA basketballer Erin Phillips this week became the first female on Port Adelaide’s list.
The Matildas made general news headlines when they boycott a United States soccer tour for a pay dispute. Gutsy. And they had results on the field – a world cup quarter-final – to back it up.
This is not about competing against male athletes or even competing alongside them. This is about shared billing.
Ballarat teenager Grace O’Dwyer will be the headline act for her hometown gift at Eastern Oval. O’Dwyer captured national headlines as the first female to win a Stawell Women’s Gift that had the equal $60,000 prize pool as the traditional male-dominated gift, won by Queenslander Murray Goodwin.
O’Dwyer topped a decorated field featuring Australia’s fastest female Mel Breen and some of Breen’s toughest domestic rivals.
Greater equal prizemoney in Ballarat will lure more female sprinters and stronger female sprinters to Ballarat – just like when Ballarat Gift lifted its title race prize pool from $5,000 to $40,000 six seasons ago. Race quality lifts. Pressure is more intense. The overall spectacle is better to watch.
This is an exciting time for women’s sport. Rather than settling for the notion, “fair enough”, the best way to show your support is with your feet.
Go watch a contest.
