Another week and more allegations of inappropriate behaviour from male coaches of women’s sports teams. Last Friday, the coach of a women’s football team in the top U.S. competition was fired after allegations of sexual misconduct. Complaints had been made in 2015 which were apparently investigated and completed, but the only action taken was to move said coach to another club. Former All White Gavin Wilkinson, the Thorns’ general manager and president of football, has been placed on administrative leave after pressure from the players. He was in that role at the time of coach Paul Riley’s departure from the Thorns, which is now being re-examined as the coach was able to continue working in the NWSL.
This week, a recently retired top Australian footballer has shared allegations of inappropriate behaviour from coaches and players, stating it has been prevalent for many years. I’m not sure which is more horrifying, that this appalling behaviour has been going on for so long, that it was apparently happening in plain sight but no one thought to call it out, or Football Australia’s response. After the player, Lisa De Vanna posted the allegation on social media (in a reply to U.S. footballer Megan Rapinoe’s post about the situation in the U.S.), the FA decided the best response was a press release that opened by stating that they had implemented 75% of the recommendations of a 2019 review into the national teams (congrats?), that board members had recently met with Lisa but she hadn’t raised these issues (implying?), and that players should make complaints through the formal process. If someone would rather share the allegations on social media than go through an organisation’s formal process, that suggests the formal process is not fit for purpose. The onus is on FA here, not the players. The FA have since announced they are working with Sport Integrity Australia about potentially a review into historical abuse.
Ahead of the Farah Palmer Cup finals this weekend, check out the profile of women’s rugby by Professor Toni Bruce, who outlines how far we’ve come in women’s rugby in Aotearoa, and also how far we still have to go. It’s an interesting read, dipping into the history and attitudes towards women who play sport. The championship final between Manawatū and Hawkes Bay is at 11.30am, and the premiership final between Canterbury and Waikato is at 2pm, with both games live on Sky Sport.
This week in herstory, the Equal Pay Act was passed in Parliament and Title IX was introduced in the US, both in 1972. This week in 2017 the NY Times published the first #metoo story and in 2018 NZ Football released the public version of the report from their independent review.
Check out all the media headlines in women’s sport for the week of 8th October right here.
Alida Shanks 