So it took for womenâs sport to break all records for Government to do the absolute bare minimum and invest in us.
Meanwhile men just had to breathe to get funded
Anyone want to say women donât need to work ten times harder for the same recognition, pay & conditions
#auspol
Let me tell you a story about being a sporty woman in Australia today.
And why itâs relevant to the #Matildas win.
This story started when I was 2 years old and my grandpa registered my younger brother for membership of a football club after his birth ⊠but didnât do this for me or my older sister when we were born.
It continued when I was 7 and my other grandparents won a big trailer raffle and saved the new basketball in it to give to my younger brother *in front of my older sister and I* as he was their oldest grandSON.
It continued when I was 12 and the school banned all girls from playing footy on the oval at lunchtime because sometimes when we kicked the ball our knickers showed (and we werenât allowed to wear shorts).
It continued when I was in Year 12 and won the Open Cross Country Run event at school, yet that night my father asked my younger brother how he performed in the run (he came 7th or something) and my father didnât ask me how I went till my mother made him. (My father was a kind, decent man who never deliberately hurt me but was also very much a product of his time.)
It continued when my son played Under 10âs Aussie Rules and I ran water for the team the entire year but when it came time for end-of-year photos, the team coach wouldnât allow the women team helpers in the photo (but my boyâs father who was the team runner and all other men helpers were in the pic).
This is an incomplete list. And yes, itâs very minor in the general scheme of oppression and discrimination faced by so many people in so many ways.
But almost every woman on earth has stories a bit like (or very like) mine, and they hurt. Because while most men certainly face unfairness in their lives, they donât face systemic oppression just for being male.
Yet for women such stories are part of the fabric of our lives. We never know when the harm will come or how much it will hurt, but weâve been psychologically braced for it at all times since we were little girls.
There are stories in the media already about the kinds of harm some Matildas players have faced since they were little girls, too.
One of them talked about how she was forced to play for boyâs teams when younger and sometimes had no team at all: because she was a girl. One talked about her club having no womenâs toilets or other facilities, which made their games very difficult. Others have spoken about the years and years where they played to crowds of just a few hundred, and have had to continually fight tooth and nail for fair conditions and pay (which was only kind-of achieved just a couple of years ago).
This means their current achievements are even more extraordinary, because they were gained despite a cacophony of oppression and male derision running like a poisoned stream alongside everything they did on a sporting field (and off of it).
It means the sheer guts they displayed last night is even more remarkable because they all had to overcome the myriad ways others tried to undermine their confidence at every stage of their sporting lives, as well as focus on the game.
And still, they had the courage and mental toughness to stand up and win.
For this reason, theyâre true heroes in ways that male sporting stars rarely are. And this is why we women are so proud of last nightâs victory, and so utterly absorbed by it.
We recognise the unbelievably difficult slog it is just to survive in a world dominated by menâs power. Weâve all (in sport, and elsewhere) suffered the hurts of being regularly ignored, laughed at and demeaned.
So the victory feels like a victory for all women, and an even bigger victory for the little girls whoâll suffer a little less in future because those incredible women have eased the path for those coming after them.
There are literally no words for how wonderful they are, for what we owe them, and for how much we wish them well for whatever comes next.
Forever and ever, letâs play like GIRLS.
#PlayLikeAGirl
#TilitsDone
âOâConnor, who died this week, spoke and sang for the ones who didnât survive. She spoke and sang an angry, scarifying truth.â
#SheWasRight@LOUDfence https://t.co/meeWb5YxaC
Congrats Uni of Canberra on creating these much needed Guides. LOUD fence Inc is incredibly proud to have been involved in the development - released today. Thanks to the many survivors who provided feedback during consultation sessions. Your voices matter https://t.co/AV8cWJEOsE
You know in zombie movies, when even after the heroes have blown a zombie into a million pieces with a shotgun, the fingers are still grabbing along the floor trying to kill them?
Thatâs Collingwood.
#AFLCrowsPies
âFor a lot of First Nations people, she represents pain and trauma and ongoing oppression that they donât want to celebrate..."
Daisy Pearce has been brought to the edge of tears in an emotional speech on the AFLWâs Queen tribute.
https://t.co/4MgQGr3axx
After Queen Elizabeth II's death, Indigenous Australia can't be expected to shut up. Our sorry business is without end https://t.co/3YtT19wiBX via @ABCaustralia
I just wanted to thank the entire Magpie Army for all your support in 2022. You have helped inspire us to rise to new levels, achieve amazing things and we are so grateful to all of you. So proud of this Club @CollingwoodFC our players and staff, a year we wonât forget đđ»