The Long Run: We look back at how we will remember 2019 in sport
2019 was a big year.
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2019 was a big year.
Whether you remember it by the Melbourne Renegades winning their first BBL title, Richmond winning their second AFL premiership in three years or the Sydney Roosters going back to back in the NRL; 2019 was a huge year.
But how will we remember 2019?
What was the single defining thread that we will look back on in 50 years’ time and say ‘2019 was the year we……’
For me, 2019 is the year that we finally gave women’s sport the recognition it deserves.
Women’s sport and women in sport in Australia has enjoyed unparalleled success in 2019 and subsequently set the tone for how we acknowledge female athletes in the decade to come.
The rumble of crowds is only getting louder.
Prize money for females is slowly reaching equality.
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Women are matching and in some cases, exceeding the performances of their male counterparts.
In March, Tayla Harris showed us the true meaning of the phrase kicking ‘like a girl.’
Leg fully outstretched with her foot
raised beyond her head, it was one of the most technically perfect and visually stunning kicks to ever grace the game of Aussie rules.
Yet Harris didn’t make news for the kick but rather and horrendous and sexist remarks that followed.
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Australia rallied and we will no longer remember the story of incessant trolling but rather the purse strength, poise and prowess of the Carlton forward.
A bronze statue now stands in Melbourne’s Federation Square as a reminder to all that women’s sport is here to stay.
In June, Ash Barty won the French Open, the first Australian since Sam Stosur took out the US Open in 2011, and became the WTA’s number one ranking, the first Australian woman to do so since Evonne Goolagong in 1976.
In June, the Matilda’s made it to the round-of-16 in the World Cup and Sam Kerr became the first Australian player to post a hat-trick at the tournament.
A few months later and the Football Federation Australia and Professional Footballers Australia bodies signed a historic deal that closed the pay gap between the Socceroos and Matilda’s, males taking a pay cut in the process.
Then just this month, a sellout crowd watched on as the Brisbane Heat claimed back to back WBBL titles in the first stand-alone season of women’s cricket.
In among mountains of success there still remain an abundance of haters who continue to belittle and abuse women’s sport.
And while they make their voice heard from behind the guise of their keyboards, I for one am excited to enter a new decade.
If 2019 was the year of recognising women’s sport, 2020 must be the year we champion it.
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