Women’s sport in Australia will be copping a much-need and looooong overdue funding boost courtesy of the federal government. And all it took was over 11 million people tuning in to watch the girls’ semi-final!
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to announce the Play Our Way program on Saturday.
The scheme will be worth a total of $200 million and contains a raft of measures designed to boost participation and outcomes in women’s sport.
One of the biggest announcements in the package will be the updates to TV broadcast regulations.
For major sporting tournaments, the broadcast rights will need to be offered to free-to-air stations before they’re offered to pay TV services in a bid to increase total viewership.
“The government’s preferred reforms will bring online services into the regulatory framework and broaden the range of events on the list to include more women’s sports and para-sports,” Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in a statement.
During the FIFA Women’s World Cup, just 15 of the total 64 matches were aired on free-to-air TV.
The package will also aim to ensure that women have their own facilities and equipment, so they don’t have to borrow from the blokes.
“Too often women and girls are changing in men’s bathrooms, wearing hand-me-down boys uniforms, playing with men’s equipment on poor fields that boys’ teams wouldn’t train on,” Sports Minister Anika Wells said.
While the money isn’t just aimed at soccer, it’s expected a decent portion of it will be directed toward what has become the “highest participation sport in Australia,” according to a government media release.
The funding announcement comes after Matildas captain Sam Kerr sternly called for more cash to be injected into women’s sport.
“I can only speak for the Matildas [but], you know, we need funding in our development, we need funding in our grassroots.
“We need funding, you know, we need funding everywhere,” she said after her team’s 3-1 loss to England on Wednesday.
Headline photo by Mark Metcalfe – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images
