'We must not let the narrative turn negative' — listening in on the Women's Sports Trust

Sat in their bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms and gardens across the UK, 29 of Britain’s leading sportswomen are all staring back at me on a Zoom call.

Asma Elbadawi, basketball player, coach and campaigner, wants to know how to tell her story in the media without being made to feel like the token Muslim woman in sport.

Eilidh Gibson, a Scotland slalom canoeist, wants to know why women’s sports teams and events have the tag “women” added when referred to, while their male equivalents do not.

Melita Emanuel-Carr, an England basketball player, wants to know how to address a controversial issue in an interview without her quote becoming clickbait.

All 29 of them want to know how to get across their collective feeling that, no, the coronavirus crisis is not going to halt the momentum behind women’s sport. And they are looking to me for answers.

When the Women’s Sports Trust launched its Unlocked Programme in January, the aim was to propel the growth in women’s sport by matching female athletes with influential leading figures in the industry. Midway through the five-month programme the country went into the Covid-19 lockdown, but that did not halt their efforts. Instead they pivoted, launching a weekly meeting between all the athletes, where they could continue to tell their stories and support each other in boosting women’s sport.

This is the privileged position I find myself in on a Thursday morning, invited to listen in and participate in these progressive and challenging conversations from my own desk, in my own bedroom.

It begins with a “show and tell” icebreaker. Cricketer Kate Cross shows her first England cap; Paralympic long jumper Stef Reid brings a microphone as she has taken up singing lessons during lockdown; Elbadawi shows everyone the camera she treasures. It finishes and I am relieved to not have been called upon (all I had within reach was my half eaten bagel or my dictaphone — slightly less inspiring).

But soon I am called into the conversation. And the questions have no easy answers, especially those about the post-lockdown future of women’s sport. While men’s sports have mostly rushed back to action as soon as possible, the same cannot be said for women’s sport which many argue is being cast aside. A Telegraph Sport special report found that live women’s team sport was set for a six-month absence in the UK.

But there have been uplifting narratives too. The Spanish football federation formally elevated their top two women’s football tiers to professional this week. Justin Rose and his wife Kate also gave a series of UK female golf tournaments the financial backing needed for reasonable prize money and to generate broadcast interest. Leicester City football club have boosted their investment in their women’s team too. And this month a women’s tennis tournament in the UK will give female players opportunities to earn while the WTA remains on hold.

There is no doubt, however, that the short-term outlook for women’s sport has changed. “In terms of Covid, obviously we’re going to see losses,” says England and Manchester City goalkeeper Karen Bardsley. “You can see it in men’s football, where the globalisation of football caused it to start relying too much on money and that’s had a massive knock-on effect. I do think there’s been some great articles that have come out about making sure we do fight for what we deserve.

“The thing for us is making sure we continue to put ourselves out there and change what could potentially be a negative narrative. We don’t want it to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, where we keep seeing all these things out there saying we’re losing momentum. In some ways this Covid situation has been an equaliser for men’s and women’s sport.”

The women have well-formulated arguments, built from weeks of group discussions alongside their years of experience. They have fleshed out their ideas, shared their varying but familiar stories of attempting to compete as professionals while on amateur funding and the effects of being cast aside in a man’s world. The programme seems to have made them more ready than ever to combat those challenges.

This opinionated and powerful community of women in sport is enough to make me feel more optimistic after 90 minutes. British shooter Georgina Roberts says the weekly calls have had a similar effect on all involved: “Even just using each other as sounding boards — if you’ve got ideas, if you want some help with something, or if you’re working with other athletes. Being part of that community has been really important and not just for a motivation but also keeping that connection with sport while there’s not anything on.”

Bardsley has felt the impact too: “It feels like a family. We all bat for each other, which I think is really great – because I don’t think there’s enough of that these days.”

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