The women's T20 world cup has started, so my VPN has been set to India since the beginning of the weekend (India's version of iView has full replays of all the matches). Unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time to sit and watch it, so it's really just been background noise so far. Hopefully things will have slowed up by the time the finals roll around. Also Hoping the Aussie sheilas can do better than what the blokes are doing at the moment. So far, so good. They play their second match tomorrow morning against Ireland. I don't believe I've ever seen Ireland play before. Should be interesting.
I've come to the conclusion though, that women's sport needs to be smarter about how it markets itself. The official slogan for the world cup is "#WatchMe", which is cringey as shit. It sounds like something a six-year-old says before they do something completely unremarkable—Watch me, Aunty Alex! Watch Me! Watch Me!
Also, I think it might be a good idea to stop promoting women's sport in exactly the same way as men's sport—especially in sports where the women aren't even full-time professionals. That just invites negative comparisons and a general feeling of being underwhelmed. It's like with para-sport, right … you don't promote para-sport as being a showcase of top-level athletic ability; instead you focus on the whole idea of fighting-spirit, and triumph over adversity. That's what makes watching it such an emotional experience.
Of course, I don't know exactly what it is you could do differently with women's sport. Maybe focus less on the on-field action, and more on the personal stuff? The tales of blood, sweat, and tears; the ecstasy of victory and the agony of defeat; etc. Build up a little soap opera around the whole thing. Get people emotionally invested in seeing what happens next. It's a thought, anyway.
Oh, and one last thing, I had this Deborah Conway song stuck in my head, so I decided to look up the music video (which I hadn't seen in twenty years), and is it just me, or does she look a lot like a young Judith Lucy?
5 comments :
One of the things I really enjoyed about the recent Invictus Games coverage was the obvious spirit of love and support that all the participants had for each other. A lot of the coverage was very moving - I wasn't even interested in it until I caught some of the coverage. They can trot out a royal couple as much as they want, it was the actual stories that were the most interesting thing about it.
And the "I AM" slogan was just brilliant. I am.
Perhaps the AFLW should talk to the Invictus marketing team.
Agreed on all points.
Also, Ireland were absolutely woeful. It was like the first act in a zero-to-hero comedy flick. One girl bowled six wides in a single over. The wicket keeper didn't even have a proper helmet.
I don't want to shit on the Paddies, but it does give you some idea of what things are still like at the "elite" level of women's sports.
"Nigar Sultana Joty"
Yeah, yeah, I get that our names probably sound silly to people from Bangladesh; but come on, that name is objectively funny.
And yes, it's pronounced exactly how you're thinking.
Haha
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