OPINION
There is an adage in women’s sports, ‘can’t see it, can’t be it’. That premise being that we need to see ourselves reflected in our sports stars in order to dream our place amongst them.
This visibility offers a sense of validation that can be magic for those who experience it. My friend and England PWR rugby player, Stef Evans, has a modifier to this expression which keeps us looking forward. It’s the mantra I will carry with me into 2024: ‘Once you do see, you cannot unsee’.
This year must be the end of the surprise that women’s sport can draw a crowd. We have sold out Eden Park five times in the last two years. Two of these matches didn’t even feature a New Zealand side. The Fifa Women’s World Cup opening 10 matches around the country tracked at 97 percent of the attendance of the first 10 matches of the 2011 Men’s Rugby World Cup. Now that we have seen the fans, we cannot unsee them. We have proof that if you market an event with the same energy and resource you put into men’s sports, you will find your audience.
This wave of major women’s sporting events has turned the tide on our audience’s demographics. Many who thought themselves immune to the pull of sport’s spectacle witnessed the different experience of those attending these matches. Realising folks don’t need to be pissed up or pissed off in order to watch sports, we finally attracted more families to our sidelines. Once we saw the change in wairua this brought into our stadiums, we cannot unsee it.