Charlesworth questions motive behind rise of women’s sport in Australia

LEGENDARY coach Ric Charlesworth has warned Australia’s sporting bodies not to use the countries rise in female competition purely as an image booster.

Ric Charlesworth has questioned Australia’s sporting bodies

LEGENDARY coach Ric Charlesworth has warned Australia’s sporting bodies not to use the countries rise in female competition purely as an image booster.

The Australian Women’s sport and Recreation Association Ambassador believes that our major sporting codes have made successful progress in promoting our female athletes, but fears the direction of the motive behind the push.

“I hope their motivation isn’t just about image or commercial gain,” the AWRA ambassador said.

“Are they really committed to the women’s game? We’ll have to wait and see.”

As the former coach of the Hockeyroos and Kookaburras, Charlesworth has an intimate knowledge of elite sport and the struggles elite women face.

“There’s been good progress in elite women’s sports and there’s been a fair bit of noise from soccer, cricket and football about expanded competitions and building a pathway to the highest level,” he said.

“These gains are not easily won and the progress must be real and sustained. But it is not fast enough or big enough.

“We’re still a long way off the pace when it comes to full recognition for women in sport. The playing field is still tilted.”

Charlesworth hopes Australia’s sporting bodies are fully committed to the women’s game

Charlesworth said sport reflected society and urged sporting organisations, corporates and government at all levels to fix the imbalance in the number of women in senior and leadership roles.

“As the father of two highly-talented daughters I know women can do anything a man can in terms of ability, intellect and making a difference,” Charlesworth said.

“We need to get rid of this historical stereotyping and the chauvinistic environment that exists at all levels of society and in sport. We’ve still got a long way to go.”

AWRA president Carol Fox said Charlesworth was a very worthy Queen’s Birthday Honour’s recipient.

“Ric received an AM Queen’s Birthday Honour as a player in 1987 and now he’s been appointed an AO which recognises his enormous contribution as one of Australia’s greatest all-time coaches,” Fox said.

“Ric is a great ambassador for AWRA, for Australian sport and for women-in-sport in particular.”

AWRA’s Carol Fox also paid tribute to the other women-in-sport recipients on the Queen’s Birthday:

Member of the Order of Australia (AM): Debbie Spillane - sports broadcaster.

Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM): Mo’onia Gerrard – netball, Elizabeth White – netball and Cynthia Langley - table tennis.

Ric Charlesworth represented Australia 227 times as a hockey player over 17 years and coached the Hockeyroos from 1993-2000. He retired from coaching the Kookaburras after winning the 2014 World Cup and now works as a high- performance consultant. He also worked for the AFL Fremantle Dockers and New Zealand Cricket in high performance.

Originally published as Charlesworth questions motive behind rise of women’s sport in Australia