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Events That Changed Australia - Season 1 Episode 5 - Unstoppable - Women's Sport
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Short filmTranscript
00:10the story of women's sport in Australia is one of the greatest underdog stories you'll ever hear
00:22I'm still getting goosebumps thinking about it
00:28as a young girl growing up really my heroes were men there were no female coaches there
00:39were no female participants there were no female facilities they pay the men's captain
00:45two million dollars to be on the team captain of the women's team two hundred thousand dollars
00:51they are doing the same thing they should be paid the same I think on the whole women athletes
01:01experience a level of venom and vitriol that men absolutely do not this is Taylor Harris in
01:08full flight the photo of her at work has sparked a vulgar social media storm and that is a scourge
01:15sport it is a scourge on all of us a breakthrough moment I think was when the kid was wearing
01:23a
01:24Socceroo shirt he'd crossed out Cahill and he'd written Kerr in Texter and I remember thinking
01:29we're on to something here what they did for women's sport it was a tipping point everyone
01:37in the country tuning in at home stadium filled with a hundred and twelve thousand people women
01:45are at the peak of their sporting powers right now but gee it's been a long journey to get here
01:52and she swims into history
02:20this is a great country to play sport in
02:25beautiful weather lots of space thinly dispersed population that needs reasons to come together
02:31our sporting clubs are our social glue so we play a lot of sport it's hard to imagine an Australia
02:38without sport sport has always been part of the Australian national identity today Australia is
02:50doing brilliantly at sport across the world and that's largely driven by the success of our female
02:57athletes but that has not always been the case for years due to the domination of male sport and the
03:06attention to male sport they've had to fight hard and long to break through that barrier to be seen
03:12to be heard to be celebrated
03:22Bradman's betting that gives him a century
03:28historically there wasn't the scope for women to play sport it wasn't identified with feminine roles
03:37in some ways it was one of the things that divided the sexes in Australia
03:42for a spectacular try kids talked about their sporting heroes all the time people like Donald Bradman and Clive
03:51Churchill but the problem for women was all of the household names in Australian sport were men
04:02that classic saying if you can't see it you can't be it but in 1956 the stage was set for
04:10that to change
04:13Dawn Fraser takes to the blocks with the weight of a sporting nation on her shoulders I think her legend
04:20has surpassed so many decades so many generations swimming women's 100 meter freestyle final Australia
04:28favored to win Fraser in lane four and what an incredible you know icon she has been for women's
04:35sport watch her perfect tumble turn such a strong incredible competitor and have really held the torch so
04:42to speak for female athletes don't raise her with a burst over the last few yards that's a new Olympic
04:47and
04:47world record Dawn won four gold medals at the Olympics that was a game changer for Australian sport
04:55Australia one two and three Dawn Fraser became a household name in Australia in sport perhaps the
05:02first female athlete to have that honor and why she was brilliant she excelled at her sport and that opened
05:10the way for female athletes to follow I think that really encouraged a lot of young women like Shane
05:22Gould even go to gone when we think about any young woman success in any sport it inspires a movement
05:36it inspires a generation to believe I can do that too and I'm just really grateful for those pioneers
05:48those trailblazers in the 70s and 80s women were doing superbly at sport but mainly in sports that they
05:58were only allowed to play think tennis swimming netball they were denied from playing other sports and why
06:05because they were deemed as not tough enough they were blokey sports not female sports
06:14what we hear is women's sport can never be as good as men's sport because women's bodies are different
06:20they're never going to be able to achieve the feats of strength or the excellence that men can
06:27for some women the idea that some sports were too tough for them just wasn't a narrative they were going
06:34to buy
06:43big wave surfing was seen as the ultimate expression of manhood if you think about Lane Beachley and what
06:51she was doing at the time she really moved the needle for women in sport because a big wave might
06:58even
06:58kill a killer man no one expected to see a woman riding them have you seen those waves that they're
07:09paddling
07:09out to in Hawaii she's going through waves that are taller than a three-story building I didn't want to
07:23be a
07:23man I wanted to be a woman in a man's world when I joined the pro tour in 1990 the
07:30whole of professional
07:30surfing was the misogynistic shit show there was no support no respect no recognition no one wanted the
07:37women there guys would grab my leash to stop me from catching waves that pushed me off my board that
07:44splash water in my face they'd paddle up to me and go you're a girl get out of the water
07:48I don't agree with
07:51them actually surfing together I think it's just it's great for publicity but as a spectacle I think
07:56they should be showcased in there in their own right fortunately we're able to overcome that and
08:05push through that so an athlete like Lane Beachley is really a testament to the resilience and the
08:15determination that it takes to succeed in a sport that is traditionally dominated by men
08:29Blaine Beachley had the courage and the resilience to cut through that macho bullshit and become one
08:35of the best in the world she enjoyed the success that no other surfer had reached one World Cup two
08:45World Cups three four five six seven she was a standalone champion she was doing things and
08:54being as strong as the men and kind of showing them up but despite Beachley's success she never
09:01quite reached the iconic status of Australia's top sportsmen so for many years in Australian sport
09:15this notion of a sporting icon was very much a boys club there were the likes of Bradman or Warne
09:24or
09:24Walker or Lily or Thompson all blokes there were no female athletes who were listed in that number but
09:32then things were about to change just wondering how you're going to go in the 400 yeah question it's a
09:47good question um well the focus is always on relaxation because if you relax I'm able to run faster you
09:56know
09:56and and and cope with the pressure that say somebody on my inside or somebody on my outside might be
10:03placing on me and I it's really important to run my own race Sydney 2000 and Kathy Freeman's race was
10:11such a big deal because just the visibility around her Kathy had lit the Olympic flame at the opening
10:21ceremony she got the silver at the last Olympics she was in her prime she was ready to get the
10:27gold unlike
10:29Dawn Fraser's era by the year 2000 every Australian household had a TV my parents said to me Kate sit
10:42down in front of the TV something huge is going to happen tonight and you have to be a part
10:47of history
11:06and watch it just thinking about that Sydney 2000 athletics stadium filled with 112,000 people everyone in
11:17the country tuning in at home the whole nation was holding its breath at the start line when Kathy Freeman
11:26took to the blocks
11:33Seth I'm still getting goosebumps thinking about it because it was such a magical moment
11:41she was in our living rooms it was such a big moment in Australian life and culture and really captured
11:49the nation there was Kathy Freeman the entire country behind her and she dominated she was kind of like our
12:07new
12:07Donald Bradman you know it was one of those moments that will stick with you and it surely stuck with
12:18me
12:18it's it showed me what you know what was possible it was iconic it's one of those catalyst moments where
12:28just the
12:29vision of seeing her win that race wow if she can do it I can do it too
12:36what's amazing about the Kathy Freeman moment that race of her life and maybe the greatest race in
12:43Australian sport is that women have proven themselves to be iconic as individuals
12:50Australia as a nation has been changed by by the Kathy Freeman's the incredible females
12:59and I think that that changed a lot of people's minds and people became so proud of her and she
13:07was the
13:08national hero Kathy Freeman's wing was extraordinary you know she's a special role model in Australian
13:17sport not just for girls and women but but I think for you know for every young boy and who
13:24loves sport you
13:25you know this was the fairy tale come true and and she did it and she did it in style
13:44so in that early part of the 21st century women are far far more recognizable are they're far far more
13:50successful female sport becomes identified with excellence look at the smile they were largely
13:59individual athletes and Australians like to support team sports
14:20every weekend millions of Aussies watch sports AFL NRL soccer you want to support the team that is the
14:28winning team but women had never had a team that Australia really got behind a women's team that
14:34was supported in the same way the men's teams were
14:42a decade ago Australia won its first of five 2020 women's world cups now they want to raise the
14:48trophy for the first time at home the Australian women's cricket team were going to host the final of
14:54the t20 world cup at the Melbourne cricket ground the mcg the biggest venue in Australia
15:00the only question was how many people would show up I remember the build-up I could really feel the
15:10momentum and the excitement but there was a lot of conversation about how women can't put bums on
15:16seats or women can't sell tickets they can't sell sponsorship rights on Friday they will begin their
15:21campaign and have dismissed any form concerns after a shaky preparation make learning up close with a
15:28cute and cuddly koala today but come Friday the competition she'll face will be fierce and for the
15:36first time on home soil the mcg it is one of the greatest arenas in the world awesome when it's
15:44full
15:45entirely empty it is a horror show no one had ever filled the mcg for a women's sport event
15:59so leading up to the t20 world cup the big question was with such a huge stadium as the mcg
16:08is the australian team going to fill that space or are they not
16:19on international women's day australia's 2020 team has a world cup on the line and can maybe a
16:24world record too yes well they could get very close they've got a big crowd down there as
16:27australia takes on india at the mcg
16:32and there were like crowds trying to get into the mcg it was packed i'm delighted sitting in the
16:39commentary box the ground's full and australia play well and australia win the game comfortably so
16:46i wasn't punching the air it was almost like it was sort of like a bit of a relief
16:52i was absolutely delighted that our girls won it's a bit like job done that women's cricket had moved
16:59into a professional era they had over 86 000 people show up to the gym and they were turning people
17:06around i think sent a very clear message to cricket australia and cricket globally
17:11that people especially in australia love their sport and now they particularly love women's sport
17:23it takes something special to fill melbourne's fed square but this lineup of stars did exactly that
17:28selfies handshakes autographs
17:32we've never heard a roar like that in our careers and we soaked it all up completely and
17:37um i think we embraced that uh that's why we played so well last night this group embraced that
17:42for the first time we had had a huge impact in a team sport not just one woman not just
17:48a
17:49kathy freeman moment or elaine beachley here was a team that the nation rallied around and they were
17:54women the impact that of people who were skeptics watching that happen who said oh no one's going
18:01to come and watch women's cricket no one likes women's sport no one watches women's team it was so wrong
18:09i'll tell you a story a few years ago i was giving a talk in a library to a group
18:15of very enthusiastic
18:16young sports fans and six boys were asked to stand up and say their favorite cricketer and i think four
18:23of
18:23them named male cricketers but two of them named female cricketers two of them really liked elise
18:28perry and elissa healy i thought that's something that i don't remember from my childhood i didn't
18:34know who was in the women's cricket team in the in the 1970s
18:51so in that early part of the 21st century women are far far more recognizable or they're far far
18:57more successful but they're still their awards are well in arrears of where their male counterparts are
19:03the gender pay gap in sport is probably one of the biggest in any industries ever out of the top
19:1050 highest paid athletes in the world not one of them is female
19:18and that is a scourge sport it is a scourge on all of us
19:24i think the argument has long been that they don't feel stadiums you don't get bums on seats you don't
19:30get
19:30the same sponsorship so therefore they can't be paid the same but you look at women's cricket you
19:36look at the t20 women's final they pack out stadiums they sell merch all the time so that argument just
19:45doesn't stand in my heyday in my prime uh my pay packet did not reflect that of the best players
20:02in the men's league at all we we weren't remunerated very well and there is still work to do
20:12so another battlefront for women in sport is to be paid fairly to be paid equally even the number
20:22one draft pick now in the wmba is only getting uh i would say maybe seventy thousand dollars
20:30whereas the number one draft pick for the men is is upwards of 13 million
20:45cricket australia they pay the men's captain pat cummins a retainer of two million dollars to be on
20:52the team captain of the women's team is elissa healey her retainer two hundred thousand dollars
21:00that is one tenth of what the men's player is being paid
21:06they are doing the same thing they should be paid the same and not just money in hand
21:15so when we talk about the gender pay gap we're actually not just talking about athletes we're
21:21talking about the system as a whole and it's a big beast and it's slow moving
21:28i mean it's still really bad to this day but back then it was it was atrocious
21:34there are rumblings here after it was revealed the men's team the boomers
21:38made the flight to london in business while the girls made the journey booked an economy
21:46us opals were you know back down in in cattle class and i'm six foot six
21:52we know that's an ongoing challenge with support of facilities and resources and sponsorship
22:03the first women's pro surfing contest it was sponsored by chapstick and they didn't put up any
22:09prize money because they didn't think any of the women would show up and so the women are there
22:13and chapstick and now got their pants down thinking well we don't have actually any prize money for you
22:18so this is what we'll do we'll put out a national lottery and the winner gets to go on a
22:23date with one
22:24of you
22:28and then the first sponsor the first sponsor that came forward to sponsor the women
22:32we're candy pants edible underwear how do you promote that especially in the water hungry
22:44when you have pay parity you have the situation around you that enables you to succeed not have
22:52jobs at the same time to have a fully professional career focused on training and playing and flying
22:58in business class and not getting jet lagged it's getting the setup right so that you can be successful
23:06and then be taken seriously
23:12it wasn't that long ago that female athletes didn't have their own change rooms they had to use the male
23:19change rooms and these quiet expressions of inequality are still pervasive in sport today and
23:33yet when our athletes go out and compete on the world stage we expect the very best of them and
23:42we're
23:42giving them leftovers to train with the matildas paltry pay packets have come under scrutiny the socceroos
23:51are paid 16 times more to turn up for a game than the women i used to get changed in
23:56the car park
23:56facilities as always joint with the the men or the boys in 2015 the matildas weren't quite the team we
24:05know them as today we're gaining massive momentum but they weren't being paid properly and so
24:12in 2015 they went on strike demanding a pay rise we just wanted equal opportunity to get there
24:20and i think that was the basis of why everyone wanted to do it and why we were so passionate
24:25about it
24:31i was the ceo of the ffa when the matildas went on strike
24:36it was courageous for them to boycott the games against the usa but it brought focus to the issue
24:45and it allowed us to move towards the historic agreement that we entered into in 2019 which is
24:52to pull sponsorship revenue around both the matildas and the socceroos and allow us to pay them equally
25:01the matildas are about to become our best paid female athletes under a new pay deal with football
25:07australia things that happened required a lot of strength by the individuals and
25:13they're required to put their careers their lives their reputations on the line for the sake of the
25:20future football australia boss james johnson today signed off on a new pay deal with national players
25:27you want to be rewarded for representing your national team and that's what we have
25:32this was a world first and quite revolutionary so i'm proud that we were part of that
25:39and you know perhaps that strike you know it helped put focus on those things
25:45it was a massive moment everyone sits up and pays attention because they were enabled to have a fully
25:52professional career that focused on training and playing we were gaining massive momentum it was
25:58just the start no one could have predicted the impact of the 2023 world cup
26:17so when you think about teams as brands as being icons
26:22you think about the wallabies the kangaroos the australian men's cricket team they're men's teams
26:31and australia win the world cup for the 16th to this stage there's been no female team to break that
26:38next ceiling to be recognized nationwide as a beloved brand and all of a sudden this new
26:47world cup in the 2023 matildas soccer was a women's sport and they're bloody good at it
26:53well the countdown is on for the fifa women's world cup with the trophy unveiled here in sydney
26:57today every time i talk about it i get kind of emotional because i'm like i can't believe that
27:02we're going to be hosting a women's world cup all of a sudden you see with the hype around that
27:11event
27:11how a little bit of good marketing and a concerted effort to pay women correctly and give them all
27:18the resources they need to succeed can make them bigger than ben-hur this particular awesome group
27:26of female athletes just captivated all of us young old male female and there was something about
27:37this team i think the mateship that that connection that they all had they were just all great humans
27:45and great athletes we had a sporting side that was good on a world stage one of the greatest moments
27:53in australian sporting history unfolded in front of us i will never forget the night of the quarter
28:02finals watching the matildas play france the penalty shootout i i've never been at a pub watching
28:09one game of sport where everyone was following the one team
28:17and when courtney vine slotted that ball home for the win
28:24the ceiling blew the place became a zoo of ecstasy it was astonishing
28:35god it was a special moment when the matildas played that game with the epic shootout at the
28:42end the penalty shot that was the longest ever i think in all of soccer history i was just in
28:49pure joy
28:50tears streaming down my face as the tournament unfolded and the team kept getting those results
28:58a brand was born everyone was getting around in in matilda's gear with a courtney vine you know sam
29:07kerr i mean and the thing is that we knew every single player we just got behind the whole team
29:14it was
29:15just something else all together that semi-final game the matildas versus england
29:24was the most watched tv event in australian history 11 million people
29:35we recognized that we had a special group of players led by sam kerr
29:40i remember a kid was wearing a soccer ruse shirt with cahill on the back he'd crossed out cahill and
29:46he'd written kerr in texter and i remember thinking we're onto something here
29:51recently is uh i was talking about the soccer ruse with a young kid and he he said the boy
29:57matildas and
29:58that has become the vernacular it seemed like a final vindication of years of investment both
30:07financial and emotional
30:12i think the matildas have really changed australia not just in sport but as a collective culture
30:20forever it was women's sport meeting its moment and finding commercial success
30:29so in 2023 you could be forgiven for thinking that australian women's sport
30:35had reached its pinnacle ah it was only just getting started
30:50women have always done well at the olympics but 2024 was a whole new level
31:02and that's not just australia but what that tells you is that it's about opportunity it's a 93.18
31:13and what that means i think was just a really kind of important moment for australian sport and
31:19everyone was watching it will be gold there were 18 gold medals won at the paris olympic games 13 of
31:28them were won by women here we go athletes like nina kennedy she goes over she does that our greatest
31:39ever olympian emma mckeon wins an olympic gold medal then we have arnie tipness and she swims into history
31:49kaylee mckeown four individual gold medals jess fox the time's going to be fast have a look at that 96
31:56.08
31:58we are in the golden age of swimming in this country people forget that people hark back to the time
32:07of ian thorpe grant hackett they go all the way back to kieran perkins michael klim and i'm like honey
32:13the golden age is happening right now and it's not men it's the girls and they give us a moment
32:20for a
32:21wonderful effort
32:33despite all of the success and all of the victories women were achieving in sport in 2025 we were reminded
32:40that we still have a long way to go and bad behavior is not too far away unfortunately there
32:47are always some men who just want to drag things backwards you know what they remind me of year 10
33:03girls
33:04the rise of women's sport has changed australia but there's still barriers to participation
33:11because we haven't changed the very basic levels of misogyny
33:19when we talk about gender inequality we often think it's a woman's problem but it is not it is
33:24a man's problem this is taylor harris in full flight on the field but the photo of her at work
33:31has sparked
33:31a vulgar social media storm the comments were things that i can't even say like repulsive things if there's
33:38ever a point where on social media there's sexual assault if that's what that's what i've chosen to
33:44call it but i think it's that probably the most overt example of sexism was in the early years of
33:52the
33:52aflw when that famous photo of taylor harris in this most athletic pose with that spectacular kicking
34:01action that that became a sexualized image
34:14when i think about someone like taylor harris who copped incredible abuse online and sexualization
34:21of her body for her to stand up in that moment was such an act of leadership and a gift
34:26really for many
34:27of us to show us what it looks like to push back i think on the whole women athletes experience
34:35a
34:35level of venom and vitriol that men absolutely do not based on their appearance based on their physique
34:40about their body their face if i didn't call it out these people think it's all right and
34:47as i said they might they might think it's okay to take the next step
34:52the heartening aspect of this is that it created a movement of change it elevated our voices it also
35:02brought to light the subversive evidence of this attitude that still exists in society today
35:13i don't think anyone would argue that when it comes to
35:16sport women are under far more scrutiny than men it's really interesting the online trolling
35:27that female athletes receive and they receive in much higher numbers and in much greater ferocity
35:33than male athletes do and that is just so so disheartening but it is not surprising
35:48you know what they remind me of year 10 girls now i'm sorry to undermine the whole sport but that's
35:54what i think of it so you can stick it up the prime minister has weighed into the controversy
36:00surrounding marty sheergold's sexist on-air rant about the matildas labeling the comments shocking
36:07firstly he used year 10 girls to describe the matildas and to me that harkens back to the
36:15age-old trope that misogynistic trope is like the first thing you do if you want to insult someone
36:20is call them a girl you run like a girl you scream like a girl you're behaving like a girl
36:26the asian cut i'd rather hammer a nail through the head of my watch that got any men's sport
36:34that is a pretty extreme metaphor and bow to draw that you would rather do that than watch women's
36:43sport uh why i feel threatened by female athletes i mean what are you worried about they're going to be
36:50better than you at sport like they are newsflash they are when i heard marty sheergold's comments
36:58and the initial inadequate apology i thought oh really is this where we are in 2025
37:06the thing that then boosted my spirits was the subsequent response was everybody roundly saying no
37:14that's not okay today sheer gold is unemployed and in hiding he was asked late yesterday
37:21i think it sent a clear warning sign that said you need to be better these are standards that have
37:30been set and if you cross them there will be real hard consequences
37:35i think it's people standing up and being like you can't speak like that about female athletes you
37:41need to respect them you need to go and watch them perform and do what they do
37:47this has been a decades-long journey for women in sport with hard battles and well-won recognition
37:53and victories but now they're going into one of the physically toughest sports there is
38:15a fl and nrl are extremely tough men's sports so traditionally not places that women would be
38:23expected to be seen so conventionally those team sports those male sports the contact sports like
38:32rugby rugby rugby league australian rules they remained the final frontier
38:42well it's been a monumental day for women's rugby league todd greenberg today unveiled a new elite
38:48competition featuring six women's teams aligned with current nrl clubs to kick off next season
38:54but now women are out there on those fields too with just as much force and grit as the men
39:02i mean this is a classic story of glass ceilings this is happening but across the afl across the
39:08rugby league this has to be caught up pretty quickly too because there's so much more demand to watch
39:13women's sports
39:17these are physically tough athletes they have big hits they run hard they cover kilometers in every single
39:24game
39:28back again in 2025. australian women did what everyone said they couldn't they played one of the world's
39:35toughest sports and guess what they're killing it which it is the targets target of clients
39:43so those men's codes now are really investing in women's sports and competing for the best female athletes
39:53to show that they are a sport for everyone for men and women what a debout the 18 year old
40:02i think whether it's the nrlw or the aflw or women's cricket you'll see
40:07fathers and daughters and and mothers coming along to games
40:16so the success of australian female sports has not just brought success on the field
40:24and euphoria in the grandstands it also has helped us understand ourselves as a nation and culturally
40:33it's helped to reset our way of understanding who we are
40:41i don't think we're in a scenario where we can think that we have genuine equality in sport but
40:47there is an appetite for sport regardless of gender if it's good it will reach a public
40:59already they're getting more bums on seats already they're getting better tv viewerships
41:05you're the best thanks so much oh my god sam you are the actual best but now those figures are
41:11among the most recognizable in australian sport they're brand names in their own right
41:17jessica fox women are front and center and it's impossible to imagine the sporting environment
41:23without them ariann titman
41:30thinking of the power of the women's sport revolution and how it's changed australia
41:39it's not just women talking about women it's men talking about women's sport and appreciating the
41:45excellence of it
41:50we think of the success that we've got now and all of the women that have made that success possible
41:55it is standing on the shoulders of those women
41:59they were the true trailblazers
42:01shirley strickland australia's greatest woman athlete ever
42:04and it's those people that we really should be celebrating those people that were brave enough
42:09to step into the unknown to change the culture and the way that sport looks you know these athletes
42:15have been incredibly brave and have done far more for our culture in australia and for women's sports
42:22than any medal that we've ever won and i think they're the real winners there that change our culture
42:29forever so i think that sport is a really interesting mirror that we can hold up to society
42:38i see the rise and the celebration and the push and the desire for women's sport and female athletes
42:48as a representation of a society that is moving it is not perfect it is changing slowly
42:58i think that the changes that we are seeing in women's sport are reflective of a bigger broader social
43:06movement and most importantly it is a public visual representation of that change that is an incredible
43:19name it for her and what's really now being recognized through these magnificent accomplishments
43:30is that when we're given the opportunity we rise to the challenge and we shatter limiting beliefs
43:37the star is born unbelievable saints i'm blown away a magical moment in australian sport that is as good as
43:48it gets
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