Women's Sport Biz - September 2020

When a woman beats a man but no one knows about it … World Surf League

• Brazilian big wave surfer Maya Gabeira set a new world record - she surfed a 73.5-foot long (22.5 metres high!) wave. Men’s record is a 70-foot wave (Kai Lenny). She did it back in February but World Surf League only announced it in September and not during the WSL Big Wave awards (like Oscars in surfing)
• Why? Her achievement was subject to a brand new set of measuring criteria which would be ok if the same were used for men’s record, right?! 
• They introduced the measures because the women’s race was a very close call so they had to use more accurate and less subjective calculations (they use only photos and videos for men’s race) involving photogrammetry techniques (more about it here)
• Debate in the community - To convert the skeptics, a photographer stitched the videos of Maya’s and Kai’s (men’s WR holder) race together for the community to decide - a cool content worth the watch 

While WSL is already ahead when it comes to equal pay for male and female surfers (from 2019 cash prizes for men and women in WSL events are the same), this is a missed opportunity to lift the women’s sport. On the other hand, it’s a positive for the sport to move away from subjective judging and making the decisions more data-driven. 

The Ireland Rugby team’s fail… or how not to launch women’s team kit

• On 22 August Flo Williams, a Wasps Rugby team player and women’s sport advocate shared below tweet highlighting a massive failure of Ireland Rugby and its official kit sponsor Canterbury of New Zealand. They decided to use standard models for women’s jersey while men’s players ‘were allowed’ to model theirs  

• As you can imagine that sparked a Twitter storm and many women’s rugby players shared photo of themselves in their kit using #IAmEnough (example 1, example 2, example 3)
• 5 days later, Canterbury responded and pledged to use only women’s players in the future (see tweet here). They have also been re-tweeting the #IamEnough UGC posts and created a campaign ‘A New Horizon’ to to support the launch of Ireland Women’s Pro kit this October 

On one hand a big fiasco, on the other it has helped to shine light on the issues and fight sexism. I’d say kudos to Canterbury for owning its mistake ever since. 

From Ireland to Australia… another kit launch fail? 

Matildas have launched their new Nike home and away kit via Zoom

• Positive - Made from recycled plastic bottles
• Negative - away kit not available in women’s sizes! This has sparked a Twitter storm yet again (and rightly so!) and now FFA and Nike are ‘consulting’ what they are going to do about it 

Sponsorship of women’s sport on the rise…

...and it’s encouraging to see it. I think we will see more brands jumping on the bandwagon and getting behind the women’s sport. It is indeed a great opportunity for a brand to promote gender equality and have a social voice which is demanded by consumers, especially the fans of tomorrow (89% Gen Z-ers want companies to respond to ‘solve’ gender equality)  

• Cadbury becomes a support partner of the Australian Women’s Cricket team. As part of its National Women in Sport initiative it will further extend its partnerships with AFLW, NRLW and the Matildas 
• In the UK, Vitality also expands its support of women’s sport by securing deals with Bournemouth Women, Newcastle United Women, and Leicester City Women. And most importantly, it secured a 3 year sponsorship of the Women’s FA Cup 
• Mastercard will be the new Lyon Women shirt sponsor. One of its digital activation will be around exclusive content for the fans who can’t be in the stadium  
• Over in the Netherlands, the women’s league Eredivisie gained its first ever sponsor, Dutch financial services company ING (they already sponsor KNBV)

In other news

Cricket Australia launched its new female participation strategy (The Next Innings: Accelerating Female Participation) with some bold goals  

Make cricket:

• Top three sports for 4-8 year olds
• Increase female coaches and umpires 
• #1 team sport for 9-12 year olds 

A former MD at Credit Suisse created a digital lifestyle and community platform for women's sport called Glorious (to be launched in November) worth keeping an eye out.

TOP CONTENT 

New Sky Brown on the block and she is only 3 years old! 

Weibo - Team China Women's Team Weibo

• A compilation video featuring multiple female footballers from China sharing where they studied and their inspiring college path
• The content is partnered with Alipay

More docus about women’s sport being created 

Cricket 

Like FIFA Women’s World Cup, it was watched by millions breaking records in viewership and attendance. 1.1billion views across ICC digital channels, the second highest number ever for an ICC event 

• A huge moment for women’s cricket but also women’s sport overall 
• You can now relive the tournament on Netflix - ICC partnered with Netflix to create documentary capturing all the action 

Boxing 

BamBam The Movie - Boxer. Woman. Muslim 

Now available on Prime, this docu is about Australian flyweight champion Bianca ‘Bam Bam’ Elmir who smashes the stereotypes of her family, society and her sport, to prove she is the best in the world.

Golf 

Women in Golf: Breaking with Tradition

A new docu highlighting the hidden stories of women in golf and their experiences. It will shine light on those leading the way in redefining the game. 

• Launch - next year